Philadelphia 76ers: If you didn’t know Isaiah Joe, now you do
The Philadelphia 76ers might have something in Isaiah Joe.
When the Philadelphia 76ers took the court rolling eight seven deep against the Denver Nuggets for a Saturday afternoon matinee, there was very little chance that they’d eke out a win.
Dubbed the ‘Seven Sixers’ game before Dwight Howard and Nikola Jokic went up for the opening tip, the Sixers were forced to play a seven-man rotation due to a potent mixture of injuries – Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, Mike Scott, Furkan Korkmaz – personal reasons (Terrance Ferguson), and contract tracing – Seth Curry, Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle, Vincent Poirier, Tobias Harris.
Boy, could you imagine a better way for the organization to debut their new black, Boathouse Row-inspired City Edition jerseys?
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While the game wasn’t completely unwatchable if you disregarded the score, as Tyrese Maxey unloaded for a career-high – college or pros – 39 points on 33 shots, the real shining star of the game was none other than rookie second-round pick Isaiah Joe, who went off to the tune of 13 points in a team-high 45 minutes including 3-11 from beyond the arc.
The 49th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, Joe has been a favorite of Daryl Morey for quite some time – with the newly minted President of Basketball Operations reportedly verbally promised that he’d select Joe in the draft.
Now granted, did said promise get clowned on? Yes, and justifiably so. Even with his impressive shooting acumen – having averaged 15.2 points in 32.7 minutes of action while draining 37.8 percent of his 9.1 attempts from beyond the arc a game – no one expected the ex-Arkansas Razorback to go in the first round, let alone at 21 overall. However, when the Sixers once again went on the clock midway through the second, the prospect of adding Joe became far more attractive.
Simply put, Joe was made for games like today and undoubtedly proved that he belongs.
It didn’t matter how long he’d been on the court. It didn’t matter how the Nuggets decided to cover him. Heck, it didn’t even matter that Joe missed all seven shots he attempted in the second half – minus a pair of free throws – the 21-year-old rookie fearlessly let them fly with reckless abandon – and for what it’s worth, Maxey kept feeding him the rock because why not, right? When you’re guaranteed a loss – why not get a little weird with it?
Joe played twice as many minutes in the Sixers’ 10th game of the season than he did in the first nine combined, and even if his shot selection needs work, his confidence needs anything but.
In a way, Isaiah Joe has rapidly become the Sixers’ answer to Jalen Mills; all he needs is a royal blue dye job and to master his finger-wagging like Sonic the darn Hedgehog, and he’ll be all set.
Omari Spellman needs a serious look from Daryl Morey. dark. Next
As the Philadelphia 76ers gradually see their roster return to normal, Isaiah Joe will undoubtedly see his playing time return to normal. He is unquestionably not ready for 30-plus minutes of action a night, and objectively speaking, may never be. However, in 45 minutes of otherwise meaningless action, Joe proved once and for all why Daryl Morey signed him to a full-on three-year, $4.2 million rookie deal with a fourth-year qualifying offer in 2023-24. Joe is a shooter a la Ben McLemore who could one day be an ideal rotational piece around a Big 3 of Tyrese Maxey, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid.