Philadelphia 76ers: Let’s hope Jaden Springer likes the color red

The Philadelphia 76ers‘ 2020 draft class has the making of being, like, really good.

With three picks to play with after trading a second to the OKC Thunder in the Al Horford-Danny Green trade and another alongside Josh Richardson in a deal with the Dallas Mavericks for Seth Curry, Daryl Morey used Elton Brand‘s evaluations to procure three promising young players who could remain with the team for years to come.

At guard, Morey landed Tyrese Maxey, a player near-universally expected to go in the lottery who fell into the 20s due to his lack of a reliable outside shot. Though Maxey was never deployed as a pure point guard during his tenure at Kentucky, Maxey is currently competing with Shake Milton to start at the one for the Sixers this fall.

And then there’s Isaiah Joe, the slim volume shooter out of Arkansas who is expected to challenge Furkan Korkmaz for a spot in Rivers’ rotation by the end of the season.

Factor in Paul Reed, the reigning G-League MVP, and the Sixers may eventually find themselves with three rotational players from the same draft, a near-impossibility in this era of the NBA.

Could lightning strike twice in 2021? Could the Sixers’ two draftees that actually made the 15 man roster actually carve out a substantive role with the team this fall?

Well, if the minutes Jaden Springer has committed to tape thus far are of any indication, I wouldn’t hold my breath for too long on the one-and-doner from Tennessee seeing any minutes outside garbage time any time soon.

The Philadelphia 76ers may be wise to redshirt Jalen Springers’ rookie season.

Jalen Springer’s freshman season at Tennessee was fine.

He averaged 12.5 points in 25.9 minutes of action, hit on 44.4 percent of his 3 point shots – on only 45 total attempts- and logged 2.9 assists per game to go with 1.3 steals and 3.5 rebounds.

Sure, Springer’s 2.4 turnovers per game average wasn’t particularly good, and his lack of a reliable jumper surely dropped him down more than a few draft boards, but in general, many a talent evaluator declared the pride of IMG Academy a certified first-round talent.

At 28th overall, landing Springer was a good value for the Philadelphia 76ers, but, historically speaking, players selected at that pick or later don’t have a particularly good track record of being immediate contributors right out the gate.

For Springer specifically, his lack of explosion, indecisive shot, and status as a tweener combo guard has led to a relatively small sample size of inconsistent play with a few notable highlights but just as many lowlights.

Through his first 19 minutes of preseason action, Springer has scored four points on six shots and has filled out his stat sheet with three assists, three rebounds, and three turnovers. While Springer has remained a creative driver with more than a few ways to take it to the hoop, he hasn’t shown much development as either an outside shooter or a facilitator and looks firmly behind both Shake Milton and Tyrese Maxey on Doc Rivers’ depth chart.

This lack of a sophisticated offensive game wouldn’t be too much of an issue if Springer was a hyper athlete who could fly up and down the court and throw down tomahawk dunks like Hamidou Diallo that wouldn’t be that big of an issue, but with players like Furkan Korkmaz and Isaiah Joe duking it out for backup minutes at the two behind Seth Curry, there isn’t an obvious spot for Philly’s 6-foot-3, 204 pound first-round pick there either.

So where does that leave Springer heading into his rookie season? Without much of a role, that’s for sure.

Would it be the worst thing imaginable for Jaden Springer to spend his rookie season learning the ins and outs of being an NBA professional? No. While the Philadelphia 76ers should unquestionably be on the lookout for a veteran point guard to come in and help that process along, Doc Rivers was a darn good point guard back in the day, so it’s not like he won’t have resources to lean on as he fills out his skill set at the NBA-level. If anything, that might be his best path to a long NBA career.