Alex Len
Philadelphia 76ers
Alex Len played well last season, when he got the minutes, anways. He was stuck in the afformentioned Phoenix Suns logjam at center as well. When he did play he managed to hit a career high 56% from the floor. He upped his rebounding percentage as well. Per 36 minutes he averaged a very solid 15.1/13.4/2.1 with 1.6 blocks on top of that. Despite the improvement, he played his least amount of minutes since his rookie season.
With first overall pick DeAndre Ayton now the center of the future for the Suns, don’t expect Len to re-sign. The Suns loss could be the 76ers gain. They have no centers on the roster behind the often-injured Joel Embiid. Recently re-signed forwards Richaun Holmes and Amir Johnson can fill in admirably on any given night. Getting a second true center on the roster should be on the minds of the front office, though.
Lens rim running style of play would mesh well with Ben Simmons. He may actually be a better fit next to the Aussie wonderkid than Embiid, who needs post touches in order to be as effective as possible. Len doesn’t need to create for himself, his time in Phoenix has shown he’s not particularly good at it anyways.
Whether as an insurance policy for Embiid or anchoring the second unit, the 25-year-old Ukrainian is experienced enough to help them compete right away. While still being young enough to fit with their future plans.