Philadelphia 76ers: Doc Rivers' Fouling Advice to Paul Reed

Paul Reed feels targeted when it comes to fouls, but Doc Rivers has advice for the young center.

Lately, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers has been giving the third-year center Paul Reed some playing time behind Joel Embiid. While Montrezl Harrell is very much still in the mix as he gets minutes here and there as well, Reed appeared in his seventh-straight game on Sunday night against the Utah Jazz.

While Reed earned some playing time on Sunday, he played in fewer than five minutes of action. As the young veteran struggled early on in the game, Rivers opted to roll with Harrell at a point to try and gain an offensive spark without Embiid on the floor.

Typically, when Rivers rolls with Reed, it’s for defensive purposes. As Reed makes plenty of hustle plays, fights for rebounds, and gets aggressive on defense, the Sixers enjoy what the former second-rounder brings to the table in those situations.

However, Reed tends to pick up quite a lot of fouls in his limited playing time. While he started off with just four fouls in the first nine games of the 2022-2023 season, Reed’s seen his fouls per game average jump from 0.7 to 3.2 over the last five outings, causing the former G League MVP to question whether he’s a target or not.

“I’m being aggressive on defense, that’s always. If there’s anything that I’m gonna do, I’m gonna play hard on D,” said Reed after Sunday’s game against Utah. “You know the refs, you know how they be, calling every call on me especially. I don’t know why. It’s just figuring out when’s the right time to be aggressive and when’s the right time to not be aggressive.” 

Recently, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers mentioned that he told Reed to stop worrying about committing fouls. As the backup center won’t see a significant amount of playing time with Embiid healthy, the 76ers head coach encourages Reed to just focus on playing hard in limited minutes, controlling what he can.

"Stop Fouling"

“I do think all young guys, not just Paul Reed, but I just think it is what it is. It’s always been that way. It’s not going to change, and I tell him that every day. Just keep playing. Keep playing hard,” Rivers explained. “One thing I tell him and all the young guys that don’t play a lot of minutes, why are you worried about fouls?”

In 11 games with the Sixers this season, Reed’s averaged just seven minutes on the floor. He only exceeded more than ten minutes of playing time on two occasions, once with Embiid out of the mix and Harrell in the starting lineup.

In the past, Reed’s fouling in limited minutes might’ve gotten him taken off the court. These days, he’s encouraged to stay aggressive and live with the calls as long as they aren’t in bad situations.

“You can’t commit to dumb fouls like in penalty and things like that,” Rivers finished. “That’s what kills us.”

Reed is still developing and hasn’t been the best version of himself as of late, but Rivers remains committed to allowing him to get playing time. Although the head coach was blunt about Reed’s last few performances after Sunday’s win against the Jazz, he made it clear that the backup center position doesn’t belong to one guy. Therefore, Reed and Harrell will continue to switch based on the situation. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.