How will the Philadelphia 76ers replace Jerryd Bayless?
With a wrist injury potentially sidelining him for the entire west coast road trip, how will the Philadelphia 76ers replace their Jerryd Bayless?
As the Philadelphia 76ers head west for a five road trip, news broke that combo guard Jerryd Bayless would not be available for at least the remainder of the week due to left wrist soreness.
While Bayless has fallen out of the team’s starting lineup in favor of Dario Saric and the team’s new, big starting five, the 10-year veteran has been one of the team’s best shooters coming off of the bench and has scored an impressive 77-points while completing a solid 42-percent of his three-point shots so far this season.
Additionally, the 10-year vet has also served as a calming presence for the team’s plethora of young players off the court. While this may not appear on the stats sheet, keeping the players focused on their first extended road trip of the season. Even though Bayless can continue to thrive in this role without playing in the games, the team is going to seriously miss his production on it.
If the 76ers are going to continue to win on the west coast, they’ll need to replace Bayless’ 31-minutes and 11-points-per-night. Here are some players who should receive an extended look on pacific standard time.
T.J. McConnell
After averaging only 15-minutes-per-game over the Sixers first three games of the season, T.J. McConnell has reestablished himself as a serious player for the 76ers.
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After starting 51 games for Brett Brown‘s squad last season, McConnell has been relegated to the bench after the acquisition of Ben Simmons, but so far, he’s reestablished himself as a sparkplug coming off of the bench. After struggling mightily from three-point range last season, the Pennsylvania native has made five of his nine shots from deep this season, while remaining a pest on the defensive side of the ball.
Even though Bayless has predominantly played shooting guard for the team this season, his absence could give McConnell more chances to play alongside Simmons and Joel Embiid in the team’s starting unit, and could go along way to establishing the 6-foot-2 guard as a sixth man of the year candidate for the team down the road.
Even though McConnell will probably never be a starter for this team again after they traded up to select Markelle Fultz first overall in the 2017 NBA draft, McConnell has proven that he can play in the NBA and deserves the 24-minutes-per-game he’s averaged over the 76ers’ recent four-game win streak.
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
Much like McConnell, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot turned in an incredibly promising campaign for the 76ers in 2016-2017 when he was given a chance to play extended minutes down the stretch.
After starting 19 games for the team last season, the six-foot-six forward has been relegated to the bench due to the additions of Fultz, Bayless, and shooting guard J.J. Redick, but things have been looking up for TCL as of late. After averaging only 13-minutes of playing time over the month of the season, Cabarrot has taken on a more substantial role as of late, with good results.
So far in November, TLC’s minutes, points and shooting percentage have all increased, and his confidence appears to be growing with each passing game.
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Even though he’s far from a complete player at this point in his career, Cabarrot has arguably the highest ceiling of any wing player on the team, and could eventually develop into an athletic, 3-and D wing for the team in the vein of his fellow countryman Evan Fournier of Orlando Magic for years to come.
Justin Anderson
One of the biggest surprises of last season was the emergence of Justin Anderson as a potential player for the 76ers, especially when you consider that he wasn’t even on the team’s roster when the season began.
After being acquired by the Sixers in the Nerlens Noel trade, Anderson was given a chance to showcase his skill set in extended playing time for the team, and played fairly well. But unfortunately for the former Virginia Cavalier, he’s largely been the odd man out of the Sixers wing rotation so far this season.
After playing in 24 games for the team last season, Anderson has been inactive for four of the team’s ten games and has only averaged 12 minutes-per-game when active. However, when given a chance to play, Anderson has actually been fairly productive, having shot 5-15 from downtown, and with Bayless out for the foreseeable future, the young wing could receive the biggest bump in playing time in his absence.
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If Anderson can continue to be a defensive force from the wing, while also contributing quality points from the bench, he could make it incredibly hard for Coach Brown to remove him from the team’s rotation, and could eventually carve out a nice niche for himself in the team’s rotation going forward.