The Sixers and trotting out washed centers to try to keep leads from evaporating, only to fail. Name a more classic duo. For as long as the Sixers have had Joel Embiid turning in dominating performances in the playoffs, they’ve always struggled the second he left the court. Third-year center Paul Reed is starting to show he might be able to reverse that trend and that he should be the only backup center that sees the court in the playoffs.
Four years ago, it was Amir Johnson and Greg Monroe. Two years ago, they tried Dwight Howard, who was at the end of his career. Last year they dusted off an old Doc Rivers favorite, DeAndre Jordan. Earlier this year, the Sixers signed DeWayne Dedmon, who the Heat had bought out. History can’t repeat itself if the Sixers want to avoid another second-round exit.
The sample size of Dedmon minutes in Philly is small, but they have been brutal. He played 10 minutes in the Sixers’ win over the Bulls last week and finished the game -10. In the Sixers’ loss to the Suns over the weekend, Dedmon played 9 minutes and was -13. The Sixers started him in Joel Embiid’s absence in Denver on Monday, and in 10 minutes, Dedmon was -10. On the other hand, Paul Reed was +5 in 17 minutes against the Nuggets as the Sixers nearly pulled off a ridiculous comeback with both Embiid and James Harden out.
Reed backed up his strong performance in Denver by showing once again that he should be the only backup center to get meaningful minutes in the playoffs on Wednesday night against Dallas. Reed played 14 minutes with Embiid in second-half foul trouble and more than held his own.
Not only did things not fall apart with Reed on the court like we’ve seen in the past with other backup centers – and even Reed earlier this season – but when Embiid checked back in, the lead was cut from four to three. And Reed was tasked with playing defense on both Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić at various times during that stretch. Imagine what would have happened if Dedmon had been asked to do that.
Reed is not without faults. He is still raw and developing. He still makes some head-scratching plays and has some mental lapses. There will be at least a few times that he does something that makes you want to yell. But he’ll also make more than a few plays that no one else on the roster other than Embiid can make.
For instance, here he is getting a steal while guarding Jokic and taking it coast to coast for an and one.
When asked about playing Dedmon in the loss to the Suns at the expense of Reed’s minutes, Doc Rivers said, “We have Dedmon here, and we need to get him some minutes to see what he can give us.” The problem there is Dedmon being here in the first place. The Sixers saved a roster spot that Isaiah Joe could have filled all season long, only to fill it with Dedmon. Joe, meanwhile, is flourishing in a regular role in Oklahoma City while shooting 45% from three on high volume (6.9 attempts a game).
The only other Six who should see any minutes at center in the playoffs, besides Embiid and Reed, is PJ Tucker in a small ball lineup. Rivers has tinkered with Tucker as a small ball center at times, and there will be instances where it could work. Outside of Tucker, though, we should see a steady dose of BBall Paul in the playoffs.
Doc Rivers loves old, aging veterans, though. He collects them on his teams like I used to collect baseball cards as a kid. So I can see Rivers giving Dedmon the nod over Reed at times in the playoffs thinking that Dedmon’s experience would give him an edge over Reed. It won’t, though, and everything we’ve seen in the limited minutes Dedmon has played tells us that in no way does he represent an upgrade over Paul Reed.
We’ve repeatedly seen the Sixers fall apart with Embiid on the bench in the playoffs. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Playing Dedmon over Reed in the playoffs would be just that.
