With the Philadelphia 76ers finding it extremely difficult to get over the hump and get into the play-in tournament picture, it seems inevitable that they will miss the postseason outright for the first time in seven years. Heck, them shutting down Joel Embiid further drives home the point that the playoffs are too lofty of a goalpost for them as of the moment.
Simply put, the 76ers should not be playing for another purpose but to get into better position in the lottery. Their first-round pick this year is not fully within their control, and they would greatly benefit from racking up more losses in hopes of landing a top-six pick. Otherwise, they would lose their selection to Oklahoma City.
Still, the remaining 22 games are not there to just completely gloss over. The 76ers still have some work to be done, especially with their personnel. The front office also has to gauge which players would be worth keeping for the following campaign during the offseason.
Plan for Quentin Grimes shows the 76ers don’t care much about winning
Someone the 76ers are evaluating is Quentin Grimes. Since coming over to Philly before the trade deadline, the 24-year-old has been nothing short of impressive, posting 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per contest while shooting 50.4 percent of his field goall atempts and 37.7 percent of his three-point tries.
In fact, head coach Nick Nurse laid down the plan for Grimes as the season starts winding down. In a recent correspondence, Grimes said he felt like he has a bigger role in store for him with the 76ers than with the Mavericks.
”Coach Nurse has talked to me a lot. Any shot I have, shoot it. Be in attack mode and be aggressive. Make plays and do the same things I was doing in Dallas. I may even have a bigger role here”.
After that 44-point outburst to lead the 76ers past the Warriors recently, Grimes seems to have made a very strong impression on the coaching staff, enough for them to give him the kind of leeway to just explore his game more and keep tallying big numbers before he enters restricted free agency.
However, at the same time, this only proves that the 76ers are not too concerned about racking up wins anymore. Grimes, after all, is a role player who thrives more as a complementary piece. But now, Philly looks comfortable giving him more wiggle room to score the rock.
The Philadelphia 76ers are having a season worth completely forgetting about, but at the very least, they have found a gem with Quentin Grimes as can be gleaned from their current disposition with the young wing — even at the cost of getting more wins by putting him in a more structured role.