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Sixers vs. Heat takeaways: Player development, Jared Butler’s shooting, and more
The 76ers are still focused on getting Justin Edwards and other young players heavy minutes. Jared Butler is finding his groove while being patient. And the Adem Bona is exciting to watch, regardless of the competition. Those three things stood out Saturday in the Sixers’ 118-95 loss to the Miami Heat.
Player development
Justin Edwards finished with 17 points and made 4 of 6 three-pointers while logging a game-high 35 minutes, 28 seconds against the Heat. One can expect him to continue to play a lot of minutes in the remaining eight games.
“You’ve got to at least develop and build some of these young guys as much as you possibly can,” coach Nick Nurse said. “Ricky Council. More looks at Lonnie [Walker IV] now that he’s back. You keep seeing what Quentin [Grimes] has got. You know that whole list needs to keep fighting and playing."
Elevated performance
Jared Butler finished with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including making all four of his three-pointers. He’s made 11 of 18 threes over his last three games. This comes after he shot 39.6% during his first 17 games with the Sixers.
“I just shoot,” the point guard said of what caused his improvement. “It’s so funny, like, playing basketball for however many years I’ve been able to shoot the ball. So like a lot of the time it’s just getting time and giving patience, but I’m glad it’s falling, knocking down, and just keep going for it.”
Mr. Excitement
Adem Bona finished with 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting to go with 10 rebounds and three blocks. His three blocks upped his season total to 48 and he became the only rookie to have at least 45 blocks in less than 1,000 minutes played.
“Bam [Adebayo] is one of the players I really liked when I was in high school. To be able to play against him and have a good game, I think that’s really, really good. I’m tired, it doesn’t sound like I’m excited, but I’m pretty excited about that. It’s really huge to also start, get my start at home, it’s huge too.”
