Sixers get thrown into dumpster by Thunder backups

The Thunder gave most of their top players the night off and destroyed the shorthanded Sixers anyway, coasting to a 133-100 victory behind a monster night from beyond the arc. Quentin Grimes led Philadelphia with 28 points.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— Last summer, as the Sixers were in the process of filling out their roster with minimum players, Chuma Okeke was a guy I had my eye on as a buy-low flier. The logic was pretty straightforward: Okeke has really struggled for most of his time in the league, but he’s still young-ish with decent tools and makes more sense for an end-of-bench flier than putting another small guard on the roster.

I’m not going to take a victory lap over a decent performance in a comfortable loss to a real contender in mid-March, but…on second thought, actually, I am going to take a victory lap. The Sixers’ end of bench should have been a collection of young wing athletes, even if they were guys with very real flaws. Okeke has been fairly anonymous during a lot of his minutes in Philly, but he showed a nice, well-rounded game on Wednesday against a Thunder team that still had plenty of playable depth left.

Forget the excellent shooting night for a moment — Okeke had 11 rebounds in the first half alone, hitting the glass hard on both ends of the floor against a Thunder team missing the bulk and athleticism they bring to the table at full strength. And as the rest of his team just kind of gave up after halftime, Okeke did well to continue battling for extra possessions, putting together a statline he can be proud of.

Ultimately, the shot is the key to his NBA future, because Okeke hasn’t shown the ability to create for himself or others at this level. He made four triples against the Thunder, which is nothing to sneeze at against the league’s top defense (even with all their absences). Keep an eye on how he shoots between now and the end of the year, and whether that can buy him a training camp spot next season.

— Justin Edwards will not be asked to do a lot of creating when they (eventually, I hope) have a full-strength roster next season. But getting him some on-ball reps and allowing him to play through mistakes now is a nice side effect of this horrid situation they find themselves in. Let the kid grow more comfortable attacking with NBA space, and maybe you’ll reap the benefits later.

Over the last few games, Edwards has shown a bit more in the shot creation department, utilizing his slash-and-kick game to sprinkle a bit of playmaking into his usual diet of spot-up threes and midrange jumpers. You’re going to have to live with an errant pass here and there, naturally, but these are the lowest-leverage minutes you can play as an NBA wing, and Edwards is at least making a positive play for every negative one.

On the other side of the ball, I think I’m a bit lower on Edwards defensively than a lot of people seem to be. although he has been the guy asked to take on a lot of top perimeter assignments, I don’t know that I’ve seen him have a whole lot of success. His screen navigation is the one thing that I think has been consistently good. Otherwise, Edwards is a little too jumpy on jab steps and pump fakes, letting guys get by him too easily in isolation. Things to work on for next year.

— The game ended.

The Bad

— Quentin Grimes was due for a subpar game at some point, and though the Thunder didn’t have their best options available to defend him, Wednesday night was the night his shooting boots finally let him down.

I don’t know that there is a whole lot to analyze here. Grimes has been living on a fairly steady diet of tough shots, from pull-up threes to turnaround jumpers inside the arc, and he was never going to keep up his current pace over a larger sample. The good news? He’s not going to be asked to do so after this season is over, as long as things go as planned in the summer.

Grimes flashed during a moment or two in this one, scoring on a couple of putbacks and earning a few trips to the free-throw line with heady closeout attacks. He had a flurry in the fourth quarter after the game was out of reach, so box score watchers will presumably get mad that I had the temerity to call this a bad outing. Too bad! No credit for made jumpers when you’re down by 38.

— The Sixers were godawful on both ends of the floor. They were under 35 percent from the field for most of the game on offense, and the Thunder basically got to have a shooting practice session when they had the ball. A basic summary of an Oklahoma City offensive possession went as follows: drive past the first defender, kick to the open shooter, splash. Not much more complicated than that. It was a ruthlessly efficient and tremendously boring game.

— The game started.

The Ugly

— Why roster a player like Chuma Okeke when you can carry Kyle Lowry all year and have him offer nothing positive while missing most of the season due to injury? Better yet, have Lowry miss most of the season due to injury while only offering occasional vague updates on his health, not even really pretending that he’s actually injured.

— We have named many players tank commanders in this space, but I think Ricky Council IV is the undisputed leader of this effort to lose games to end the year. You get all of the negative quirks he brings to the normal team — come-and-go defense, erratic decision-making, wild shots from all levels of the floor — with none of the talented vets to bail him out. My suspicion is this year will be his last in Philadelphia.