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Philadelphia 76ers guard Jerryd Bayless underwent surgery on his injured wrist, and is out for the rest of the season. Who will benefit in his absence?
On Thursday night, the Philadelphia 76ers announced in a press release that Jerryd Bayless, the marquee signing of the 76ers offseason, would be out for the entire rest of the season due to injury.
Bayless has been dealing with a wrist injury since before the season began, and the Sixers and Bayless avoided surgery for as long as they possibly could, but with the injury prolonging too far for comfort for both the team and Bayless, they ultimately had to go down the surgery route, and his recoSvery will take him through the end of the season.
Bayless was signed as a complimentary piece to Sixers’ rookie first overall pick Ben Simmons, but won’t play alongside the rookie forward (who has yet to play his first game as well because of injury) this season.
Bayless did try to play — and did appear in — three games earlier this season, but discomfort with his wrist was still bothersome throughout, leading him to miss more games leading up to the decision to undergo surgery.
The injury overall is a huge negative for the Sixers, despite them getting used to playing without Bayless at this point. But that doesn’t mean that each and every player is suffering. In fact, some players’ jobs will be magnified and in turn will be helped out greatly by the missed time from Bayless. No player ever wants to see their teammate undergo hardship, but the reality is that this injury opens doors for other players on the team.
Nov 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Sergio Rodriguez (14) reacts after his turnover against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the third quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Sergio Rodriguez
Sergio Rodriguez is clearly the greatest beneficiary of the Bayless surgery. Rodriguez has appeared in 24 games this year, and started in 23. The one game he didn’t start was a game that Bayless appeared in, and one that Bayless started instead of Rodriguez.
What’s interesting about the game that Sergio didn’t start is that it was his worst game of the season by far. Rodriguez, off of the bench, scored zero points, pulled in 3 rebounds, and dished out 3 assists in 13 minutes and 54 seconds of action.
It doesn’t seem like that game itself was bad simply because he was coming in off of the bench to Bayless, as Sergio was going through a dry spell at the time, but getting benched for a player who had, at the time, just played two games, had to feel pretty bad and be pretty hard on Rodriguez’s morale.
That ended up being Bayless’ last game with the Sixers for the year, and since then Rodriguez has started every game but one (that he did not appear in due to illness). Since that game that Rodriguez was benched, he has averaged 12.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 6.5 assists per game while getting close to 30 minutes of action.
It’s not clear if when Simmons gets back Sergio will be moved to the bench or kept in as the starting point guard, because head coach Brett Brown has deemed Simmons the primary ball handler moving forward.
Regardless of if Rodriguez gets the starting job or not for the rest of the season, he will undoubtedly see more minutes over the rest of the year with Bayless out than he would have if Bayless were to be able to play at full health this year.
Dec 6, 2016; Memphis, TN, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard T.J. McConnell (1) dribbles in the fourth quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Memphis defeated Philadelphia 96-91. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
T.J. McConnell
T.J. McConnell, just like Sergio Rodriguez, will benefit greatly from Bayless being out as well, that is, if the Sixers don’t make some sort of trade to bring a player in that can make up for the absence of Bayless through the rest of the year.
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A trade would be hard to pull off with limited roster spots, but the Sixers may be interested in finding a point guard that can work off of the ball to compliment Simmons while Bayless is out with injury this season, just to ease Ben’s transition to the NBA.
I don’t see that happening realistically, though.
Instead, McConnell will still be with the team, and will likely be the backup to Sergio for the rest of the season. Had Bayless come back, McConnell would have been shoved further down the bench and largely been forgotten over the course of the year. Instead, he will have a chance at solid minutes for the rest of the season, and if Rodriguez does happen to struggle at any point, could have a chance to start a few games.
McConnell did really well against the Detroit Pistons in a recent Sixers win as the starter, nearly getting a triple double in the game. T.J. finished the game (in which he played for 37 minutes with no Joel Embiid to rely on) with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists.
It’s easy to argue that without McConnell stepping up and being a leader in Embiid’s absence, the Sixers would have lost that game.
McConnell looked like he probably was coming up on a closed chapter with the Sixers with the impending return of Bayless, and as a result, was potentially looking at an end to his career on an NBA roster. Instead, he will be given more opportunities to prove himself to Philly as well as the league, something that could end up being career defining for McConnell.
Dec 2, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Dario Saric (9) talks with guard Gerald Henderson (12) during a game against the Orlando Magic at Wells Fargo Center. The Orlando Magic won 105-88. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Gerald Henderson
Gerald Henderson doesn’t benefit quite in the same way as Rodriguez and McConnell do, but will still benefit nonetheless. So far this year, Henderson has had to be the sole on-court veteran voice for the Sixers, and will now be that for the team for at least the rest of this season (again, not taking into account any trades that could potentially happen throughout the season).
While Bayless will still have opportunities to drop knowledge on the youth of the Sixers on the bench and in practice, there’s nothing like having a player around who is not only wise, but plays on the court with that youth.
Henderson has already had a fairly solid season with Philly, averaging 9.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game in just under 25 minutes of action. With the return of Simmons, he will not only have more opportunities to catch flashy passes for good opportunities to score, but he will also have one more player to impact with his knowledge of the game.
Simmons will be able to find Henderson rolling out on the 3-point line for some solid looks, just like Rodriguez has been able to so far this season as well.
Henderson may not realize it yet, but Bayless missing the season really puts a huge responsibility on his shoulders to be the veteran presence of this very youthful and impressionable team. He’s going to be a respected name and face, and I have no doubts about him being able to take that role over with zeal.
