SALT LAKE CITY — As a unit, the Summers 76ers definitely have some work to do. But Paul Reed looked like someone ready for a bigger role with the regular Sixers.
Reed finished with game highs of 20 points and 15 rebounds to go with four steals in Tuesday's 103-99 Salt Lake City Summer League loss to the Memphis Grizzles. The post player scored on a variety of baskets, including a reverse layup, a 3-pointer and an alley-oop dunk. Eleven of his points came in the first quarter.
Summer league standouts for the Sixers include Isaiah Joe, Michael Foster Jr.
Isaiah Joe (19 points) and Jaden Springer (15 points), Charlie Brown Jr. (15) and Grant Riller (12) were the other double-digits scorers. Meanwhile, Cassius Winston added eight assists to go with four points.
As a team, however, the Sixers (0-1) struggled mightily on defense — especially on the perimeter. The Grizzlies (1-0) made 15 of 30 mostly wide-open 3-pointers while shooting 51.4 % overall from the field.
But the Sixers still had chance to win this game.
Joe's 3-pointer with 1 minute, 24 second remaining pulled the Sixers within 101-99. However, Brown missed a wide-open corner 3-pointer and Springer missed the put-back on the Sixers' next possession.
But Springer made up for his miscue by stealing the ball in mid-air from a Grizzlies player on his way toward the basket. The Sixers called timeout with 15 seconds remaining. However, Springer was stripped after the timeout and the Grizzlies went on win by four points.
At the start, Reed looked like a summer-league ringer while dominating the Grizzlies defenders. The third-year player had eight points on 3-for-3 shooting to go with three rebounds and one steal in the first six minutes.
He didn't miss a shot until his fifth attempt on a 3-pointer. He followed that up with an alley oop-dunk on an assist from Winston later in the first quarter
Michael Foster Jr. checked in with 1 minute, 23 seconds left in the quarter.
It didn't take long for the 6-foot-9, 250-pounder, an undrafted rookie, to show why the Sixers staff has been impressed with him. The possession began with Foster defending a player driving the lane. Then he contested two shot attempts and grabbed the defensive rebound to end the possession.
While he played with a lot of energy, Foster appeared to rush things on the offensive end.
The former NBA G League Ignite standout finished with five points and three rebounds.
Trevelin Queen did not play Tuesday night due to reconditioning. Queen, who signed a two-year deal with the Sixers on Friday, hasn't played in a basketball game since April. Meanwhile, Filip Petrušev joined the team on Tuesday and is not scheduled to play until team heads to Las Vegas for the NBA 2K23 Summer League.
The Sixers selected Petrušev with the 50th pick in the 2021. The Serbian power forward/center spent last season in Turkey playing for the Anadolu Efes Sports Club of the Basketball Super League and the EuroLeague.
