July 13, 2024
Daniel Dunn/USA TODAY Sports
Could point guard Jeff Dowtin Jr. play his way back onto the Sixers with a strong Summer League showing?
After going 1-2 in a three-game set in Salt Lake City, the Sixers kicked off their Las Vegas NBA Summer League slate on Saturday night with a matchup against No. 5 overall pick Ron Holland and a Detroit Pistons team with quite a few interesting young players.
The Sixers emerged victorious over Detroit with a strong close to the fourth quarter, winning their Las Vegas opener, 94-81.
The Sixers signed guard Jeff Dowtin Jr. on a two-way contract last March, and converted his deal to a standard NBA contract in April to make him eligible for the postseason. He appeared in 12 games, averaging 11.8 minutes per contest. Dowtin seemed to have the trust of Sixers head coach Nick Nurse, who coached him for a portion of the prior season when they were both with the Toronto Raptors.
Jeff is ballin'. https://t.co/Yrd0ih5HoT pic.twitter.com/Ys28HyAhVF
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 10, 2024
The Sixers declined Dowtin's team option for next season at the end of last month, but he was listed as part of their Summer League roster -- only for Salt Lake City, not Las Vegas. The team announced upon its arrival in Las Vegas, though, that Dowtin would be with the team for its five games there.
As the Sixers fill out the back end of their roster, they likely need at least one more ball-handler behind Tyrese Maxey and Kyle Lowry. Bringing back Cam Payne would be a strong move for the Sixers, but if Payne departs Philadelphia for an opportunity at more playing time, Dowtin should be considered a viable option.
Dowtin plays with a herky-jerky style that helps him compensate for his lack of explosiveness athletically. He has an excellent frame for a point guard at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds with a 6-foot-7 wingspan. He is not a lights-out shooter, but will make defenses pay if they leave him open in the mid-range area or beyond the arc, despite having an unconventional shooting motion. Dowtin often appears composed with the ball in his hands, simplifying his decision-making process and making quick reads.
As Dowtin enters his age-27 season and the Sixers enter an era in which they will need cost-effective contributors around their three max players, it could make sense for the team to seek a reunion with the guard out of Rhode Island. It certainly appears that Dowtin does not have much of a free agent market right now -- could that enable the Sixers to tack a second season onto a theoretical deal, perhaps a non-guaranteed year or a team option, in hopes of securing multiple cost-controlled years of a potential contributor?
Aluma, a 6-foot-9 frontcourt player who excelled during the team's three games in Salt Lake City, continued his strong Summer League showing with a standout performance against the Pistons. Aluma has excelled as an interior scorer, continually posting extremely efficient shooting lines, and has also been active on the glass and as a defender.
Aluma spent his first two collegiate seasons at Wofford. During that time, he took just one three-point attempt in nearly 1,400 minutes. He also shot just 57.4 percent on free throw attempts. He transferred to Virginia Tech, and in two seasons with the Hokies he shot 2.3 three-point attempts per game -- making a respectable 34.1 percent of them -- and shot a combined 75.6 percent from the line.
Aluma will turn 26 at the end of 2024, so perhaps his upside is limited and it may make the Sixers hesitant to offer him their final remaining two-way contract spot. However, they should at least consider signing him to an Exhibit 10 contract -- a training camp deal that gives a player a signing bonus if they land with that team's G League affiliate.
Bona, the extremely athletic center with a motor that never stops who the Sixers selected at No. 41 overall last month, is a safe bet to make at least a play or two in each game that stands out -- sometimes for good reasons, other times for bad reasons.
The appeal of Bona is quite clear when you watch him play: he hustles on every single possession and has top-tier athleticism and length for a center, allowing him to revive possessions on the offensive glass and alter shots at the rim as a back-line defender. When he is making sound decisions as a defender, he can wreck entire possessions on his own.
This was such a perfect defensive possession from Adem Bona.
— Dan Olinger (@dan_olinger) July 14, 2024
Sixers bench called out to him to switch their coverage to hedge + recover last minute, and he executes it absolutely perfectly pic.twitter.com/9gvjtnHoQ3
The downsides of his game, however, are equally clear: his foul rate is comically high, perhaps resembling that of former Sixer Jonah Bolden. A relentless motor is a great asset, but any player -- especially at the center position -- must be able to reel in their aggressiveness at times. Bona has poor hands and is a total non-shooter who will need to continue improving his touch around the rim.
All things considered, Summer League has yielded mostly positive results for Bona, but it has also shed some light on why he was not a first-round pick.
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