October 03, 2024
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Sixers two-way guard Jeff Dowtin Jr. has one goal in mind: winning a championship.
NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS -- Sixers head coach Nick Nurse's face lights up as he is asked about one of his players. He spends 90 seconds raving about the player -- all they do well on the floor, the way they think about the game and the trust they have earned.
"It's good to have a guy you can trust," Nurse says. "I just have zero fear in playing him."
Nurse was not talking about Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey or Paul George. He was not talking about an established veteran or any of his prized rookies or second-year players.
The player Nurse lauded on Thursday afternoon was two-way guard Jeff Dowtin Jr.
Dowtin, a player Nurse has helped convince to sign two-way deals with the team twice in seven months. Dowtin, who spent time with Nurse in 2022-23 when they were both with the Toronto Raptors organization, is in a unique situation. He is entering his fourth NBA season, with a total of 46 games under his belt. But the undrafted guard out of Rhode Island has developed an enormous amount of mutual trust with a championship-winning head coach in Nurse.
"It just instills a lot of confidence in me," Dowtin said after being informed of Nurse's recent praise in a conversation with PhillyVoice. "Having a coach that can lean on you throughout the season and different moments in he game, it just instills confidence in yourself knowing that he trusts you when he puts you out there on the floor... All it takes is a coach to take a gamble on you and you just make the most out of those opportunities."
Asked if his inherent trust in Dowtin is particularly valuable on a new-look roster, Nurse said being able to rely on a player to make sound decisions and not be a liability on either end of the floor is immensely valuable no matter how much familiarity he has with other players on the roster.
Perhaps the greatest compliment a head coach can give a guard: Nurse called Dowtin a "run-the-team type of guy," a testament to the faith Nurse has in Dowtin as a decision-maker and floor general.
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Dowtin is not a household name. Even within a Sixers organization that is high on him, he is not yet on a standard contract. But Nurse has a laundry list of aspects of Dowtin's game that he appreciates.
"He just does a lot of things really solid," Nurse said. "First of all, he's a much better defender than people understand. He's really able to guard the pick-and-roll in a variety of ways against some really good players... Another thing he's always done is he's always been this late shot clock bail-out guy on offense. When the offense is in trouble, he can find a way to herky-jerk his way in there and get something off, and he usually makes it."
While Dowtin does not have the explosiveness of someone like Maxey, for example, he uses a crafty ability to change speeds -- what Nurse called "herky-jerk" -- to get to the spots he likes and create shots for himself and others.
How does Dowtin make it all work?
"Being able to have a change of speeds, change of pace, being able to keep guys off-balance and just keep them honest," Dowtin said. "My dribble moves, the way I move, the way my body moves, taking different angles... [Making] it be deceptive. I think it works out for me."
When Dowtin was asked about his main objective for the season, he did not hesitate.
"The main thing without a doubt is to win a championship," Dowtin said. "That's the biggest goal for us."
For any player on a two-way contract, though, earning a standard NBA deal is what Dowtin calls "the ultimate goal."
"Working your way up and get to a standard contract," Dowtin said. "That has kind of been my main focus."
The Sixers' signing of veteran point guard Reggie Jackson will make it more difficult for Dowtin to carve out a consistent role with the team. But not only does Nurse love using lineups that include multiple ball-handling guards, he also loves using Dowtin. With both of those factors on his side, Dowtin has a genuine opportunity to contribute for a team with championship aspirations in 2024-25.
"I'm going to be the best version of myself. I'm going to help these guys win ball games and be a vocal leader," Dowtin said. "What my teammates need me to do, I'm going to do."
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