The Philadelphia 76ers selected a pretty intriguing prospect with the 58th pick in the 2020 NBA draft in Paul Reed. He is a bouncy, athletic big man who has the potential to be a solid rotational player in the league.
However, in order to develop, he will need the necessary court time to be able to make mistakes and grow and learn from them.
So, the rookie out of DePaul is being sent down to the G League bubble in Orlando where the team’s G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, are set to begin their season on Thursday against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
Reed did play five games with the Sixers and averaged 3.6 points and 2.0 rebounds, but he will get more playing time in Delaware. Coach Doc Rivers does not have anything specific he wants him to work on, he just wants him to be able to play and learn from Blue Coats coach Connor Johnson.
“Not really,” said Rivers. “I just think Paul is a real athlete and I just want him to play, just go play basketball. I think we need to watch Paul a lot more before we decide on what he needs to do.”
In the brief NBA playing time he received, he showed that he can be athletic at this level, but he also needs to play basketball at the highest level and understand the execution.
“For us, what we told Connor is just do what you see, let him play, coach him, make sure he understands the discipline of execution on both ends of the floor,” Rivers expanded. “That’s what a lot of the raw athletes, they come in and they’re just running wild and we don’t want him that. We want him to understand the discipline of execution, and that’s what we expect.”
Rivers will keep in contact with Johnson and be able to relay any instructions from the big team. Normally, the G League coaching staff would be with the NBA team during training camp, but that could be the case this season due to the pandemic.
“I think it’s very important,” Rivers added. “Obviously, with COVID, this year especially for new incoming coaches had made it very difficult, because in most cases we would have had Connor and his whole staff with us at training camp and kind of watch what we’re doing. This year, we couldn’t have them in the building.”
The Sixers, meanwhile, will take on the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday to begin a road trip out west.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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