Tyler Johnson provides some hardship fun to the Philadelphia 76ers

On Sunday, the Philadelphia 76ers were hit with a perfect storm of bad luck.

After losing Georges Niang earlier in the week, Philly placed both Andre Drummond and Shake Milton on the COVID-list, with their status for the foreseeable future a firm out. This, when combined with three players listed as day-to-day with injuries, Jaden Springer out with a concussion, Furkan Korkmaz out with an illness, and the dynamic G-League trio of Paul Reed, Aaron Henry, and new two-way player Myles Powell all in Las Vegas for a showcase, the team found themselves hard-pressed to field a competitive roster versus the New Orleans Pelicans.

Unfortunate? Most definitely. I was personally really looking forward to seeing Brandon Ingram play against the Sixers, as he’s a premier Ben Simmons trade target, but hey, I guess that will have to wait for a later date.

Now? Now the Philadelphia 76ers will be heading to Beantown for a battle with their oldest rivals, the Boston Celtics, and they’ll have even more reinforcements thanks to the hardship exemption signing of Tyler Johnson, a player who brings a certain kind of energy to the backcourt in place of Shake Milton.

Tyler Johnson will surely keep the Philadelphia 76ers interesting.

Measuring in at 6-foot-3, 186 pounds, Tyler Johnson is a certified NBA combo guard.

While he’s not a particularly fast, strong, or agile guard, and his outside shot efficiency sits at an even 36, Johnson is a capable dribbler, a good slasher, and more importantly, a player who can get his own shot.

If that’s all Johnson brings to the table, a more or less replacement for Shake Milton on the second unit, this would be a rather unremarkable signing that feels ever so redundant with the addition of Myles Powell, but that isn’t all Johnson brings to the table. No, the 29-year-old is left-handed with a herky-jerky shot and an eccentric on-court attitude. He has the name of a hockey player, the teeth of a hockey player, and is more than willing to play the enforcer role when need be, as he put on full display in Game 2 versus the Bucks during the 2021 NBA playoffs when he got all but in Mamadi Diakite’s face after a hard foul.

After playing without a ton of energy/fire for much of the 2021-22 season so far, Johnson brings a certain sort of fire that Sixers fans should seriously appreciate, even if he’s only with the team for the remainder of the calendar year.

All things considered, this is a B+ signing.

Unless he absolutely balls out in a way we haven’t seen since Marco Belinelli in 2018 – which might be hard, depending on how Doc Rivers reconfigures his rotation – there’s very little chance Tyler Johnson becomes a legit difference-maker for the Philadelphia 76ers. Ideally, Myles Powell will eventually step up and fill the role he’ll probably be tasked with playing over the next few games and could actually become a player for the team down the line. But hey, while the player apparently nicknamed “Bumpy” is on the team, why not see if his chaotic energy can impact the win-loss record for good?