Sielski: Holmes an X-factor in Sixers' big (man) decision
Around the three-point arc, the big man moved from spot to spot, launching long jump shots. It was a basic drill to end the 76ers' practice Thursday, and three players carried out the drill in sequence: First, point guard T.J. McConnell, then forward Dario Saric, then the big man, a player who, unlike even the 6-foot-10 Saric, spends most of his time in the post.
Around the three-point arc, the big man moved from spot to spot, launching long jump shots. It was a basic drill to end the 76ers' practice Thursday, and three players carried out the drill in sequence: First, point guard T.J. McConnell, then forward Dario Saric, then the big man, a player who, unlike even the 6-foot-10 Saric, spends most of his time in the post.
The big man was not Joel Embiid. He can - and often does - shoot threes, but he didn't practice Thursday, so ill from gastroenteritis that it's possible he won't suit up Friday night when the Sixers play in Boston against the Celtics. The big man wasn't Jahlil Okafor. The land he plows is much closer to the basket. And the big man wasn't Nerlens Noel. Nerlens Noel? Shooting three-pointers? To anyone who appreciates the beauty of basketball, few thoughts could be more aesthetically unpleasing.
Richaun Holmes' jump shot isn't much to look at, either, at least until the ball leaves his hands. For a player who is 6-10 and 245 pounds, he has a low release, cocking his elbows outward as if he were trying to push the ball through the air toward the basket with his forehead. But during that drill Thursday, he made one three after another until he tired and lost his touch. It was enough to get you thinking about the Sixers' backlog of big men and the questions it has inspired (Who fits best with Embiid? Should the Sixers trade Okafor or Noel or both?), about how those questions might be answered, and about what Holmes can do at both ends of the floor.
"There are different techniques we do to try to get my shot more efficient," said Holmes, who because of a concussion hasn't played for the Sixers since Dec. 14. "But as far as my jump shot in general, we kind of keep it the same - because I make it."
Holmes, whom the Sixers recalled from the Delaware 87ers of the D-League on Thursday, has made 51 percent of his shots from the field during his two seasons with the Sixers, including 7 of 20 three-pointers this season - 35 percent, right at the NBA average. He is a better offensive player than Noel and a better defensive player than Okafor, and once he returns to the Sixers lineup full-time, he will be the X-factor in determining how they negotiate the Embiid-Noel-Okafor situation.
By now, everyone knows the obstacles to fitting either Okafor or Noel with Embiid. Okafor-Embiid seems a mismatch in every regard, weakening the Sixers defense by forcing Embiid to guard more on the perimeter and leaving Okafor as an inadequate rim protector and lane presence. Noel-Embiid could, from a pure basketball standpoint, work - not necessarily by playing them together, but by having Noel function as a sixth man, providing shot blocking, defense, rebounding, and energy off the bench. But Noel will be a free agent this offseason. Are the Sixers really going to overpay to keep him here if he's in such a role, and why would Noel settle for such a role when he might start and play more elsewhere?
Holmes doesn't present those problems. A second-round pick from Bowling Green in 2015 (yes, sometimes those Sam Hinkie second-rounders do make it to the NBA), he doesn't have the same expectations and pressures attached to him that Noel and Okafor - both lottery picks - do. A lottery pick is assumed to be a star at best, a starter at minimum. A second-rounder can come off the bench without incident.
"He is different, in some ways unfairly, because your attention immediately goes to, 'What are you doing with the third picks and the sixth pick of the draft, and how are you going to manage that?' " Sixers coach Brett Brown said. "Richaun is a good soldier. I feel at the start of the year, we all saw what Richaun Holmes can do. And the fact that he goes willingly down to the D-League and understands it's an opportunity for him to play better and doesn't treat it like it's a [demotion] or an insult or that's beneath him, I respect that. Even though that is very obvious to coaches and mature athletes, it doesn't resonate with lots of pro players. . . .
"He understands what we think of him. He understands the situation that we're in affects him."
There is a reason for the Sixers to think highly of him. Per 36 minutes, Holmes' career production (15.0 points, 7.8 rebounds) is comparable to Okafor's (19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds). If Embiid remains healthy and continues his ascension into a transcendent player, the Sixers could trade both Okafor and Noel for pennies on the dollar and not suffer for it, because Embiid will simply play more - 30 35, 40 minutes a night - and Holmes could back him up. If Embiid is destined to be the alpha and omega of the franchise, why remove him for long stretches of games to accommodate either Okafor or Noel, especially when Holmes can spell him for 5 to 15 minutes a night and, perhaps, serve as a better complement?
"I think we mesh well," Holmes said. "I can give him a lot of space to work the block and everything, play the low zone, play off of him, and get easy dump-downs when they double him."
In a perfect world for the Sixers, that vision may be a small scene in their future. No more worries about fitting in Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel. Just Richaun Holmes, who can be just enough of each, all by himself.
@MikeSielski