Philadelphia 76ers: Paul Reed could be Philly’s Marvin Bagley

The Philadelphia 76ers‘ defense is bad.

I know that feels like a blanket statement, and in a way, it is, but of the nine players who play regular minutes in Doc Rivers’ rotation, only three players, Joel Embiid, Matisse Thybulle, and Danny Green, have positive Defensive RAPTOR ratings according to FiveThirtyEight, which would be objectively funny if it wasn’t so tragic.

Now granted, the Sixers have largely been able to weather this lack of defensive dynamos thanks to the exceptional play of Thybulle and Embiid, as the duo both rank in the top-15 and have propelled an otherwise average starting five to the fourth-best defensive rating in the NBA among lineups with at least 250 minutes but when the duo is off – in their games or from the physical court – things fall apart in a hurry.

So, when you consider that 86 percent(!) of the Philadelphia 76ers’ offensive comes from their starting lineup, why does Doc Rivers refuse to stock his rotation with reserve defenders like Paul Reed, who could fill a Marvin Bagley-esque combo big role alongside or in place of Joel Embiid?

The Philadelphia 76ers’ defense may be more concerning than their offensive.

After three and a half rough seasons in Sacramento, Marvin Bagley III, the player selected after DeAndre Ayton but before Luka Doncic, has quietly carved out a nice role for himself in Detroit.

He hasn’t become a star, mind you, and doesn’t even start every game for Dwane Casey’s club, but after falling in and out of the rotation in California’s capital city, finding a rotational role as a combo big has helped the somehow-only-23-year-old find his NBA footing and contribute regularly to a deceptively decent basketball team.

Call it a trap game, call it poor coaching; the Sixers couldn’t even score 100 in a loss to the Pistons, who were eliminated from the playoffs about two months ago, so clearly, Cade Cunningham and company are doing something right.

Whether tasked with playing the four alongside Isaiah Stewart and Kelly Olynyk or at the center spot with forwards like Jerami Grant and Saddiq Bey, Bagley’s hybrid game has been exploited, not hidden away under the stairs Harry Potter-style. He’s played at least 18 minutes of action in every game he’s appeared in for the Pistons and has rewarded their trust with double-digit points scored in all but three of the team’s post-trade games.

That, my friends, is the sort of role Paul Reed should be filling with the Sixers, if only they were willing to experiment with more outside-the-box lineup configurations.

Though Bagley has a good two inches on Reed, both are offensive-minded four/five hybrids who are better scoring on the inside than out but bring a varied set of skills to the table. In Delaware, the reigning G-League MVP proved himself a solid shooter and deceptive playmaker, and while he’ll occasionally get too hopped up on adrenaline and over-commit in his limited NBA action, Reed has proven himself a capable defender who can excel in a switching scheme.

When you consider that Embiid is the only plus defender the Sixers regularly play at either power forward or center, something is seriously wrong with that picture.

So what gives? The top of the East is filled with teams with multiple talented frontcourt players, teams like Milwaukee and Boston. While Embiid and Thybulle can help to slow down two players when they are on the court for roughly 20 minutes a night, neither player is on the court for a full 48 minutes a night, and as fans have watched firsthand, leads can go away in a hurry when the reserve defenders play like turnstiles.

I mean, need I say more than the 15 points Giannis Antetokounmpo scored on Paul Millsap in the two minutes he served as his primary defender? That was, like, an all-time bad performance.

If the Sixers don’t want to play two non-shooters on the court alongside Harden and Embiid – which, again, doesn’t particularly matter if the bench only gives you eight points – that’s cool; why not put Reed on the court when Thybulle is off it? Reed might just be the Sixers’ second-best rebounder above even DeAndre Jordan and could provide some much-needed size with bench units that could use additional screeners for James Harden or Tyrese Maxey.

Similarly, why not give Reed some run alongside Embiid? Reed could help to do some of the dirty defensive work to keep Embiid fresh on the offensive end of the court and maybe even set a screen or two before transitioning to the sort of cut-and-D role that Thybulle routinely fills on offense.

On a team like the Detroit Pistons, Reed would be all over the court making plays and driving towards his self-professed goal of becoming an All-Star. But on this particular Sixers team? Well, Reed has to watch as his fellow non-starting teammates struggle at both ends of the court and wonder if he’d be able to do a better job.

Though it may not always seem like it, the Philadelphia 76ers have two of the best scorers in the association. While it’s nice to surround Joel Embiid and James Harden with catch and shoot specialists like Georges Niang, if they seldom get the ball despite double teams and don’t sink them when they do, what’s the point? Say what you will about Matisse Thybulle on the offensive end of the court, but his defense makes his minutes far more valuable than most, if not all, of the team’s reserves because they just don’t regularly score more points than they put up. If Paul Reed can just stay with his man for 24 seconds, it would be worth a spot in the rotation even if he provides nothing on offense. Fortunately, Reed can score too, so I don’t really get this decision at all.