Philadelphia 76ers: It’s time to take Isaiah Joe seriously
Isaiah Joe is becoming an undeniable part of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Going into the 2020-21 NBA season, Isaiah Joe was (probably) the 15th man on the Philadelphia 76ers‘ 15 man roster.
Actually, that might be a bit of an understatement. Initially selected by the Sixers midway through the second round of the 2020 NBA Draft (49th overall), it was minorly surprising to see Joe actually earn a three-year, $4.2 million NBA contract right out of the gate.
Who knows, maybe that was part of the promise Joe was rumored to have received from Daryl Morey in the lead-up to the draft?
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Through the first nine games of the regular season, Joe was nothing more than a bench clearer in garbage time – scoring zero points in 14 minutes of action while missing all four of his shots from the field. Assuming all things stayed copacetic, that likely would have been Joe’s role moving forward, as the Sixers can barely get all of their rotation-worthy players on the court as it is.
Unfortunately – or fortunately, in Joe’s case – things have been anything but copacetic.
With the Sixers down over half of their roster due to a potent mixture of contact tracing and a positive COVID test by Seth Curry, Joe was forced to play 45 minutes against the Denver Nuggets – in a game that will forever be remembered as the ‘Seven Sixers game‘ because, well, the team only had seven players who could play.
In that game, Joe took a ridiculous 11 shots from beyond the arc and kept letting the 3 balls fly even after he’d failed to make a single one in the second through the fourth quarter.
But hey, that’s just the kind of player Joe is. In college, he averaged 10.6 shots from 3 a game, and clearly, he hasn’t lost his eye for any shot beyond the arc.
And needless to say, fans loved it.
In a way, Joe talking 3s was like a toddler who learned a swear word in that it was a hilarious sight that only slightly got old when it started happening in inappropriate situations. Surely the Arkansas product would eventually return to the bench and have to become a more disciplined scorer before he could become an every-night contributor, right?
Well, to quote another toddler who only knows one word, Chuckie Finster, “No“.
In the three preceding games, including night two of a series against the Miami Heat featuring a near-full strength roster, Joe remained a steady contributor in Doc Rivers‘ rotation – averaging 14.3 points in 28 minutes of action while hitting 12 of his 25 attempts from 3 (48 percent). He also showed out pretty well on the defensive end of the court, especially against Miami – staying with his man more often than not while keeping an eye on the ball before running back on offense upon the play’s completion.
And the best part? Joe is far from a finished product. Call it a fortunate byproduct of being 21, but Joe is still clearly growing into his body and could probably tack on 15 pounds and remain roughly the same athlete – if not a better one if said weight comes from muscle, not late-night trips to Steak ‘n Shake.
If Joe could get up into the 180-pound range, it’d be a whole lot harder for opposing wings to body up on Joe when going in for a rebound or bulldoze through him on a drive to the basket. It would also, presumably, of course, add some extra explosiveness to his game and allow the 6-foot-5 shooting guard to take a few more shots in the paint on basket drives and pull-up Js.
But even now, at 6-foot-5, 165 pounds soaking wet, Joe has permanently inserted himself into the playing time conversation in a way we haven’t seen around these parts since Shake Milton blossomed in the first quarter of 2020. Rivers said as much in his post-game media availability, telling those in virtual attendance, “Isaiah adds another guy to the rotation.”
Welp, if that isn’t an unequivocal display of confidence, I don’t know what is.
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After watching the Philadelphia 76ers’ offense flounder with barely more shooters than there are balls, it’s frankly remarkable to watch a meticulously crafted roster eight deep with shooters take the court on any given night. Between Seth Curry, Shake Milton, Danny Green, Matisse Thybulle, Dakota Mathias, and an eventually healthy Furkan Korkmaz, the Sixers have wingers on wingers on wingers who can knock down an open shot and play varying degrees of defense sandwiched between Ben Simmons/Tyrese Maxey at the point and Tobias Harris/Mike Scott/Ben Simmons again at the four. But now, a week and change removed from his rookie debut versus the Charlotte Hornets, Isaiah Joe has etched his name onto that list with a permanent marker, as it’s clear he’s not going anywhere anytime soon – except maybe to get a few of Milton’s weight gain protein shakes.