The Philadelphia 76ers will look a little bit more like themselves on Wednesday when they get set to take on the Boston Celtics at home to begin a two-game home series with their rival. They will have Seth Curry return after being cleared from the league’s health and safety protocols and they will also have Furkan Korkmaz return from injury.
That means that rookie Isaiah Joe, who played pretty well during his newfound opportunity shooting 43.6% from deep while launching 7.8 attempts per game over five games. With Korkmaz and Curry returning, that probably means they will get the majority of the playing time due to the fact that they are established and they are proven players in this league.
As the team prepared for Boston at morning shootaround, Joe is more focused on winning games rather than his playing time.
“What we focus on most is winning games,” said Joe. “Whether that means me or him getting more playing time we don’t really bicker at that stuff. We let coach make those decisions. We just do the best we can in practice and come game time, we’re just trying to do whatever it takes to win the game. I think that’s what it comes down to.”
On the flip side, Joe did show some aspects of his game on the floor that a lot of people maybe did not know about the rookie. They knew he could shoot, but he also showed an ability to defend at a high level while also being able to put the ball on the floor and create when the time called for it.
“I think that time was just doing a good job of giving me that experience under my belt, getting the speed of the game down,” the rookie said of his extended playing time. “At the end of the day, a lot of people know that what I do best is shoot the basketball so I really feel like I displayed that pretty well. I displayed my defense pretty well which is an underrated part of my game so just to let people know that I can play both ends of the floor is something that I’m continually trying to prove. Hopefully, that leads to some minutes in the future.”
Coach Doc Rivers mentioned before that he is not afraid to tweak his rotation a bit in order to expand it more with the play of Joe, but that does not guarantee that the rookie will earn more playing time now that the regulars are back. He just needs to keep grinding towards a bright future and listen to the coaching staff.
“They do a really good job of staying in contact, good communication with players, but there hasn’t been anything negative,” Joe said with a smile. “So that’s a good sign.”
The Sixers and the Celtics tipoff at 7 p.m. EST from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
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