Philadelphia 76ers: If you don’t know Isaiah Joe, soon you’ll know

There is a rumor heading into the 2020 NBA Draft that Daryl Morey had promised to draft Isaiah Joe with one of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ draft picks.

While the practice of promising to draft a player isn’t necessarily new, as Elton Brand did basically the very same thing with Matisse Thybulle in 2019, Morey making such a promise to Joe was rather head-scratching because few expected the University of Arkansas product to be drafted in the first round, let alone with pick 21.

And yet, it happened. After poaching perceived lottery pick Tyrese Maxey at 21, Morey struck again at pick 49 by making good on his promise to draft the ultra-high volume sharpshooter with his first pick on the second round.

Fast forward one year into the future and suddenly, Isaiah Joe looks like a massive steal for the Philadelphia 76ers, as he could be competing for rotation minutes in the playoffs next spring.

Isaiah Joe has major breakout potential for the Philadelphia 76ers.

During his sophomore season at Arkansas, Isaiah Joe averaged 10.6 3 point shots per game.

That’s… a lot.

Just for context, Joe finished out the 2019-20 season with the ninth-most 3 point attempts of any player in the NCAA at 275 despite only appearing in 26 games with 25 starters. While Joe wasn’t particularly efficient on those 275 3 point shots, making 94 of them for a 34.2 percent clip, it’s incredibly rare to see a player at any level so willing to let it fly even when roughly two-thirds of them aren’t going in on average.

Factor in Joe’s 16.9 points per game as the Razorbacks’ second-lead scorer go to with his 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game and it’s a wonder why Joe wasn’t in higher regards heading into the 2020 NBA Draft.

Fun fact: Do you know who led that particular Arkansas team in points per game? Yeah, that’d be Mason Jones, who spent some time with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020-21 on a two-way contract.

As a rookie, Joe looked small. Sure, his fearless shooting prowess was still present, as he attempted an average of one 3 every 3.6 minutes he’s on the court, but at 6-foot-4,165 pounds, Joe was seemingly always facing off against a bigger player on the wings who could body him up on their way to the hoop.

Come the 2021 Vegas Summer League, and Joe didn’t quite look so small anymore. Mind you, it was Vegas Summer League, where roughly half of the players on any given team weren’t going to make an NBA roster, but Joe’s body filled out, he embraced contact more than the season before and even added some interesting wrinkles to his game as a cutter and driver. This makes sense, as, according to the Sixers’ preseason roster sheet, Joe has put on 10 pounds from his rookie to sophomore season and on the court, he certainly looked the part of a bigger, more explosive player.

Need proof? Well, look no further than the team’s preseason debut versus the Toronto Raptors, where Joe put up 18 points in 26 minutes to go with three rebounds, three steals(!), and an assist. Joe led the team in 3 point attempts at eight and was able to connect on four of them, which is one more than the rest of the team was able to muster combined.

On a roster where Georges Niang, Furkan Korkmaz, and Danny Green are effectively employed to be solely deployed as 3-and-D contributors on the wings, if Joe can hold up defensively, his volume as a shooter should allow him to crack Doc Rivers‘ rotation in the not too distant future, especially if one of his teammates comes out cold to start the season.

Will it ultimately happen? Will Isaiah Joe break out of his perceived role and become the Philadelphia 76ers’ highest-volume 3 point shooter coming off the bench? Only time will tell, but with a bigger, filled out frame and the same reckless abandon to spray the field with 3 point attempts like a broken sprinkler system, Joe is a hot streak away from joining Doc Rivers’ rotation and an improved defensive floor away from sticking there for the foreseeable future.