The Philadelphia 76ers are in the midst of resuming the 2019-20 season inside the bubble at Disney World in Orlando. The new opportunity gives the Sixers a chance to chase the championship that they believe they’re built for.
On the flip side, the Sixers have two young players with them in Orlando, rookies Norvel Pelle and Marial Shyok, who are getting some valuable time inside the bubble and seeing what it takes to succeed in this league and the amount of work it takes to get to get it done in this environment.
Take Pelle for example. His journey to this spot has been nothing short of extraordinary as he has gone all over the world and played in plenty of different leagues just to make it on the Sixers. Now, coach Brett Brown has him in Orlando and he could earn himself some minutes in the restart. He had six points, six rebounds, and four blocks in Sunday’s scrimmage game.
“I thought he was excellent,” said Brown. “Like, you go into these preseason-type games and you make a decision on how you’re going to give people minutes. It was my decision today, without Joel, to give Kyle O’Quinn, who’s been just an exceptional teammate, really just a vocal, good man to have in a locker room – give him an opportunity and because of that, I thought that Norvel, when he was in the game, played really well.”
Then one can look at Shayok’s situation. He was having a terrific season in the G League averaging 23 points and 5.8 rebounds while shooting 35.8% from deep for the Delaware Blue Coats.
“It’s so much deeper than that,” Brown said of Shayok. “It’s great. Any time you can get on an NBA court with NBA All-Stars and come from the G League and actually get on the court and get some minutes. That is a wonderful experience.”
This is an experience for both Pelle and Shayok to take from and lead it into the future for them. Philadelphia has a lot of hope for these two young players as they have shown that they can have their moments at the NBA level.
“To be in this historic moment and be a part of this life experience in general being in an NBA bubble, from that perspective, it trumps everything,” Brown finished with. “For Mar to be in this with his teammates and experiencing all of this, what an amazing life experience.”
The Sixers face at the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday for their final scrimmage game at 8:30 p.m. EST. [lawrence-related id=35625,35617,35604]