The Philadelphia 76ers had themselves a big night on Wednesday. They made some big moves in order to acquire some shooting around their star duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, they added some young players, and they now believe they have a backup big man.
With the team getting set to trade Al Horford to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team needs somebody to fill his role and his minutes. They selected Paul Reed at 58 overall out of DePaul in the draft and he is a guy that the team feels is a steal at this spot in the draft.
Despite being the 58th pick in this draft, the team believes he can play right away and he can find a spot as a backup big man behind Joel Embiid.
“Paul Reed is super underrated in our minds,” said team president Daryl Morey. “Especially with the Al Horford move, there’s a path there. He can also guard multiple positions with Joel, for the 13 to 15 minutes he’s off the floor, Paul Reed’s a guy who can guard multiple. We can play a dynamic, uptempo, shooting, good fit with Ben (Simmons).”
Reed is coming off a solid junior season at DePaul where he averaged 15.1 points, 10.7 rebounds, and he blocked 2.6 shots per game. He is a guy who can run like a deer and it is why Morey thinks he can fit in well with Simmons on the floor when Embiid needs a break.
“Absolutely,” exclaimed Reed. “I think that’s my game. Running the floor like a deer. Up and down, up and down, up and down, up-tempo, that’s exactly my game.”
A lot of mocks had Reed going much higher than 58. Some did not have him even making it to the second round, but alas, here he is in Philadelphia at 58, and now is his time to show the world he is much better than his draft position.
“I thought about it and I don’t remember what could’ve made me fall that late, but I’m grateful and excited that Philly took a chance on me,” he explained. “As far as a chip on my shoulder, I feel like every team that passed up on me, they’re going to regret that decision so I’m excited to go out and earn my minutes and show teams that they really missed out on a good player.”
At the end of the day, Morey does want to express caution with any high expectations. The reality is, Reed is still a rookie and a lot of these guys still need development before they become something real.
“Obviously, they’re all rookies and the reality is most rookies take more than a year to even contribute, but obviously Ben and Joel are going to be here for a long time and we feel like all the guys we took are very good fits for those guys,” Morey finished with. [lawrence-related id=39304,39301,39276]