Paul Reed Earns Praise From Doc Rivers for First-Round Showing vs. Raptors

Philadelphia 76ers' second-year forward/center Paul Reed had a difficult time cracking the rotation during the 2021-2022 regular season. Even when the Sixers

Philadelphia 76ers' second-year forward/center Paul Reed had a difficult time cracking the rotation during the 2021-2022 regular season. Even when the Sixers were unsure of the minutes behind Joel Embiid following the blockbuster trade that sent Andre Drummond packing, Reed didn't get the nod to play much.

It wasn't until the end of the regular season when Doc Rivers called on Reed to consistently take the floor. As other veterans such as DeAndre Jordan and Paul Millsap had their struggles, the Sixers looked to Paul Reed to play backup behind Embiid in the first-round series against the Toronto Raptors.

In six games, Reed averaged just under ten minutes on the court. During that time, he put up 4.2 points per game while coming down with 3.5 rebounds. While Reed has question marks surrounding his game before the playoff series, Doc Rivers was left impressed by the second-year veteran's progress against the Raptors.

Praise for Paul Reed

"I thought Paul was terrific," Rivers said. "I thought the adjustment in Game 6 for Paul helped him -- because we were trying to figure out the best way to help him. And my first thought was play him with the starters more, because those minutes when he's with the other guys, there's a lot of mistakes. In (Game 6), we took Joel out early, and that way he played with four starters. I thought that helped him. And so we intend on doing that a lot." via Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia.

As the Sixers are now set to play the Miami Heat in the second round of the playoffs, it seems Reed will continue to have a role -- especially since Joel Embiid will miss time with an orbital fracture and a mild concussion.

Since Embiid is expected to miss Game 1 and potentially more matchups, the Sixers are likely to roll with a committee of players at the center position. Since Reed proved to be valuable in the first round of the playoffs, he could see a slightly increased role in the absence of Embiid.

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