After a constant shuffling of position in the standings and a victory in the play-in tournament, the Philadelphia 76ers are now slated for a collision course against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Of course, beating a team like the latter would be deemed a huge upset, though not a lot of people are giving the former even a considerable chance of pulling it off, especially with Joel Embiid out to start the series.
Be that as it may, the 76ers (now relatively healthy with the exception of Embiid) might actually have a deeper squad than their usual tormentors. In fact, one of their lesser-known players could end up being a hidden weapon. Case in point? Look no further than Trendon Watford, whose game and stature could prove especially useful against Boston's personnel.
Watford has been out of the normal rotation for quite some time now, which is probably an end result of his poor outside shooting coupled with the fact that the team's other options at forward have played well as of late. Then again, the playoffs tend to force the coaches to dig deep into their bench units, and Nurse might just have the perfect reason to re-unleash the forward.
The 76ers could play Trendon Watford more minutes against the Celtics
Boston almost always plays with four perimeter players and a stretch big man (save for Neemias Queta). As such, the 76ers will need as many rangy defenders as possible, especially with Jayson Tatum back with a vengeance.
Of course, Nick Nurse will be heavily reliant on Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr. to try and slow down Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but when they hit the bench, the coaches cannot just keep playing three guards and hope for the best on D.
That is where Watford could prove particularly useful. Even if only in spurts, he can give the team some more resistance on the defensive end while also being a capable quasi-playmaker with the ball in his hands. At this point, those are the only reasons to deploy Watford anyway, so it would be nice to see the coaches maximize his skill set.
The 76ers admittedly do not have a lot of advantages over the Celtics, if any. Hence, it is up to the coaching staff to try and minimize the deficits they are facing right from the get go personnel-wise. As a result, they should seriously consider unleashing Trendon Watford given his compatibility with what Philly needs on defense against Boston.
Add us as a preferred source on Google