NEW YORK — A couple of hours before Monday night’s preseason game against the New York Knicks, rookie Richaun Holmes spent his warm-up time working on his outside game.
Holmes peeled off imaginary picks to shoot 20-footers from the top of the key, or he’d pop out along the baseline for a corner three. There were catch-and-shoot drills from just above the three-point line break with a few mid-range jumpers mixed in.
Rarely did Holmes roll to the basket for a layup or dunk. Instead, he saved those shots for the game.
Starting for the first time in preseason action, the 6-foot-8 rookie out of Bowling Green scored the Sixers’ first two buckets on two-handed jams and dunked another in the second quarter before going to the bench with foul trouble.
With big men Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel out to rest nagging injuries, Holmes was matched up against veteran Robin Lopez and wasn’t shy about flexing some muscle in the paint. He grabbed seven rebounds, was the rare Sixer to hit all of his foul shots and gave Lopez a good workout in 21 minutes.
His two attempts at three-pointers, though, clanged off the rim.
But fear not, coach Brett Brown says Holmes isn’t going to stop shooting the three-pointers. Consider it a wrinkle the bruising big man can throw at opponents while battling in the paint.
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“I think he has a weapon we’re going to grow on pick-and-pop stuff,” Brown said. “I think he can shoot the three, but there is a toughness and a physicality and he doesn’t back down or away from anybody. He wants to go hit someone, he wants to block a shot. He has a quiet toughness and physicality that I’m seeing more.”
Holmes was a unique inside/outside threat in his final two seasons at Bowling Green, where he averaged 14 points and nearly eight rebounds per game while shooting 41.9 percent from three-point range in his final year. For a player who attempted just two three-pointers as a freshman, Holmes quickly developed an outside touch, and the Sixers snagged him with the No. 37 overall pick in last June’s draft.
A strong showing in summer league action, despite the broken elbow, got Holmes a four-year contract from the Sixers in which the first two seasons are guaranteed.
In other words, the Sixers are going to give Holmes a chance to show he belongs in the NBA.
“I’m learning something new every day,” Holmes said. “As I play more I definitely pick up more. It’s a different speed [in the NBA] and it’s definitely a learning experience.”
And Holmes is learning as he goes along. Though his perimeter game might be fairly advanced for a 6-foot-11 second-round pick, Holmes isn’t falling back to his comfort zone. If Brown needs him to shoot the three, Holmes is up for it. Otherwise, he’s going in the paint to mix it up with the big guys.
“Wherever I’m needed to play, that’s what I’ll do,” Holmes said. “I’m comfortable doing whatever they ask.”