It seems like, in a time long past, I had heard the name Alex Poythress. That’s impressive by itself. He must have been something special as a high-schooler for me to have even heard of him (was he better or worse than Aquille Carr??????). But then what? He went to a good team and won a lot of games, I guess. That’s all I know. Yes, I am displaying my ignorance of the college game. No, I don’t care.
He went undrafted this year, but he has now finally made his way onto an actual NBA team, a great accomplishment no matter how hyped you were in high school. You don’t see Aquille Carr riding the bench anywhere around, do you? For as much as I make fun of end-of-bench players, they are supremely skilled, and joining their ranks even in a limited way must be pretty satisfying.
And now, highlights! This is my favorite time of year, the time of year when the tanking teams rev up their tanks to the max and play the gnarliest lineups with the scrubbiest scrubs. The 76ers are facing a serious bigman shortage, and while Poythress isn’t the biggest dude out there, he’s pretty darn big. Big enough to play power forward? Sure! 11 points is pretty sweet for this being his first action in the NBA, sweet enough that I am beginning to get some Shawn Longs vibes from the whole sitch.