The Philadelphia 76ers have a deep roster led by Joel Embiid and James Harden that includes solid offseason additions PJ Tucker, Danuel House Jr. and De’Anthony Melton. On paper, a number of recognizable players on this roster have made their mark on the NBA.
However, some players on every roster aren’t as easily identifiable. These players are the best-kept secret types in the NBA.
Bleacher Report identified that best-kept secret on Philadelphia’s roster: Paul Reed, who is set to enter his third season and be the backup to Embiid:
The 6’9″, 210-pounder doesn’t bring much size to the center position, but he compensates for that with skill and spring-loaded athleticism. He has playmaking ability at both ends, and he has barely broken a sweat at this level yet (479 career minutes over two seasons).
Some of that lack of exposure is on him, since it’s hard to get a ton of burn with a career average of 6.5 fouls per 36 minutes. Given his other per-36-minutes marks, though — 15.3 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.2 steals, 2.1 assists and 2.0 blocks — it’s easy to get carried away imagining what he could do if he ever gets those fouls under control.
It will be interesting to see if Reed will be given the backup center spot to Embiid right away. He showed flashes of potential in the playoffs, but he had a lot of foul trouble in the postseason and it will be on him to fix all of this heading into the 2022-23 season.
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