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The Philadelphia 76ers owe some of their players some more playing time. Here’s three players that deserve more floor action this season.
The Philadelphia 76ers are, believe it or not, just one win away from matching their win total from last season. They have proven that they’ve made the adjustments and additions this season to make themselves much better than they were last year, as just under halfway through the year they’ve come close to matching their win total from the season prior.
That said, the minutes distribution is a bit unconventional for the Sixers. As Brett Brown and the coaching staff has experimented with different lineups and different players playing together, no player has played an average of more than 30 minutes per game (the closest player is Robert Covington, who is averaging 29.8 minutes per game).
So, the minutes appear to be spread out pretty evenly. And compared to some better teams that have a larger gap in talent between their most talented players and least talented, the minutes are certainly spread out more. There are still some players on the roster that aren’t getting a ton of time on the court, and seem to be deserving of more playing time.
Whether or not these players could keep up their same per-minute production if they were given more minutes is an entirely different conversation, but the following four players deserve a shot at more playing time as we near the second half of the season.
Richaun Holmes
Richaun Holmes, out of the three big men on the Sixers roster that are not named Joel Embiid, has shown by far the most effort in improving himself individually and taking advantage of any and all opportunities that come his way. While other players — Noel, mostly — have griped at the lack of minutes available for them to show themselves, Holmes has hopped off of the bench with enthusiasm any time his name has been called, despite it often coming in garbage time during games.
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He’s getting the third lowest amount of minutes on the team, but his 16.0 per game this season so far is still an increase compared to last year. His available minutes are bound to go down with Noel getting more and more minutes as the season progresses.
In order to account for the differing amount of playing minutes, we’ll look at his statistics on a per 36 minute basis.
Last season, per 36 minutes, Holmes averaged 14.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and he shot 51.4 percent from the field and a lowly 18.2 percent from beyond the arc (still a decent 3-point showing for a big, but not the same 3-point shooting he demonstrated while he was at Bowling Green).
Holmes’ defensive box plus-minus, which measures a players defensive points contributed per 100 possessions (2.0 is average, -2.0 is D-League average), was a 0.0, showing he was well below average statistically on defense. His total rebound percentage was 10.5 percent, quite low for a big.
This season Holmes is averaging 15.5 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per 36 minutes, shooting 51.3 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from beyond the arc. His defensive box plus-minus is 2.0, and his rebounding percentage is 14.8 percent.
So we can see that in a lot of areas, Holmes has improved immensely. The eye test shows the same thing. We’ve seen that some of his biggest question areas — defense and rebounding — were worked on during the offseason, and that he is taking his work from the summer and applying it to real game situations. While Noel and Okafor seem complacent, Holmes keeps moving.
Of course, given that Holmes is so far down in the bench, he does have some ground to cover, but shows drive to improve and that drive should be rewarded.
Head coach Brett Brown sees his energy, and really feels for Holmes and his inability to find minutes to make him effective. When asked about Nerlens Noel struggling because of a lack of minutes, Brown deflected the attention to Holmes pointing to him being the player most hurt over the Sixers big man logjam.
Brown wishes he could award more minutes. Issues with the team make that impossible right now. Holmes is deserving, and if the Sixers can move a big (or two) soon, he could become a much more important piece of the team.
Dec 20, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Nerlens Noel (4) warms up before a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Nerlens Noel
Although I’m one for earning what you’re given, Noel certainly is deserving of more playing time, despite the disgusting amount of whining he’s done this season.
Noel, not too long ago, was a lottery pick in the NBA Draft, and certainly is deserving in his first contract year of his career to at least have an opportunity to prove himself for a chance to get more money in the offseason.
That said, Noel is not getting playing time for a few reasons. For one, he came into this season late. Noel was avoiding Philly all summer and didn’t really get with the team until way after all of the other players, and then also spent the first month and a half or so a plane ride away from the team rehabbing a knee injury.
His comments prior to the season that criticized the team for having too many big men — and then again in his first game where he didn’t get playing time that was pleasing to him — further alienated him from the team and coaching staff, leading to a further extension of his low playing time.
When Noel was placed in the game in front of the home crowd during a game agains the New Orleans Pelicans in late December, he was welcomed with a warm and loud ovation. This shows that despite the coments about the team, despite his criticism of the team, the fans are still behind him, and perhaps it proves that an overwhelming majority of fans still want to see Noel be kept for the next few years.
Noel especially needs more time with Embiid, because the two of them could really become a defensive foundation for the team. Embiid and Okafor have not worked at all, and Okafor’s skill set has really neutralized Embiid’s a lot, but Noel might help him out in some ways.
Brown went with Embiid and Okafor for a few minutes on Tuesday, and it seemed to work alright.
A defense with Embiid and Noel could be incredibly hard to counter for opposing teams.
Nov 17, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (20) against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The Timberwolves defeated the 76ers 110-86. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot has shown small spurts of really good play this season, but has not gotten quality minutes with the Sixers so far. Almost all of his minutes this season are late in games when the outcome has essentially been decided, and when games don’t really matter anymore.
The team has worked with him and looks to develop him into a long-term role player with the Sixers. This is a great plan for him, as he could be a solid compliment to Ben Simmons or a decent off-the-bench player for years to come if his development is approached in the right way.
That said, the only development he has really received has been development in practices and development during D-League games with the Delaware 87ers. Luwawu-Cabarrot has been sent down to the D-League for one or two game assignments several times.
That’s not to say those things don’t matter — and I love to see the Sixers utilizing their minor league partner — but TLC needs a bit more game time. Practice and D-League games will help TLC get his game down solid, but he does need real NBA experience to truly develop.
Why play TLC later on if it would be detrimental to a better team? Perhaps the Sixers should get him used to the NBA now while winning is not a huge priority. It wouldn’t hurt much to put him on the floor.
That said, playing him would sacrifice minutes to other players like Robert Covington and Nik Stauskas who are also developing, but are further along in their devlopment. Giving TLC minutes risks halting their development so far which could be incredibly troublesome.
Overall, however, the Sixers need to find places to slip TLC into some real game situations.
