PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers obviously know they can count on their star big man in the form of Joel Embiid, who is coming off one of the more dominant performances anyone will ever see.
However, the Sixers have to figure out the backup center situation. Embiid played 40 minutes on Saturday and then played almost 37 on Sunday so Philadelphia has to figure that situation out quickly.
Lately, coach Doc Rivers had gone to third-year big man Paul Reed, and he had been giving good minutes. However, over the last three games, it has been very tough for him.
He was a minus-14 against the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, a minus-10 in the rematch with the Hawks on Saturday and a minus-7 in 4:45 against the Utah Jazz on Sunday. He also air-balled an open baseline jumper; he appears to be in his head a bit.
“I don’t think I’m being aggressive enough,” said Reed. “I’m not getting the ball. I think I’m kind of shying away from contact. That’s what’s messing me up right now”
Reed isn’t much of a factor on the offensive end as much as he is on defense. The energetic big man out of DePaul is a guy who can score around the rim, but he does need to calm down and let the game come to him. He has been rushing a lot of his shot attempts because it looks like he feels like he has to do something with the ball.
“For me, right now, I’m just kind of getting a feel, figuring out my shots, and what I’m about to do execute the bucket, and it’s kind of for me, I got to be more patient,” he acknowledged. “I ain’t being patient enough. I’m getting it and trying to score too quick. That’s messing me up.”
Then, there is the foul issue. Reed has had a tendency of fouling a bit much, some of the calls seem based on reputation more than anything, but the issue remains. He had three fouls in nine minutes in the first Atlanta contest and then he had four fouls in eight minutes in the second matchup.
“I’m being aggressive on defense,” he finished. “That’s always. If there’s anything m I’m gonna do, I’m gonna play hard. You know these refs. You know how they be. They’re calling every call on me, especially. I don’t know why. So it’s just figuring out when the right time is to be aggressive and when the right time and, kind of, not be aggressive.”
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01f5k5xtr64thj7fw2 image=https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=70956]
[lawrence-related id=70951,70948,70945]