{"id":205302,"date":"2025-10-11T11:24:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T11:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/205302\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T11:24:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T11:24:13","slug":"adem-bonas-foul-trouble-dominick-barlows-strong-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/205302\/","title":{"rendered":"Adem Bona\u2019s foul trouble, Dominick Barlow’s strong play"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adem Bona will be worth good money if the 76er<\/a> can stay out of foul trouble.<\/p>\n

Dominick Barlow keeps showing why his contract should be converted to a standard deal. And at the moment, there\u2019s a lot of uncertainty surrounding Justin Edwards\u2019 play.<\/p>\n

Those three things stood out in the Sixers\u2019 128-98 exhibition loss to the Orlando Magic on Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.<\/p>\n

Bona must stop fouling<\/p>\n

Bona brings energy, rim protection, and makes opposing teams think when he\u2019s underneath that basket. The 6-foot-8, 235-pound center also runs the floor hard and is a lob threat.<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: VJ Edgecombe ruled out of Sixers\u2019 first preseason game at Xfinity Mobile Arena because of hip soreness<\/a><\/p>\n

However, the 22-year-old must do a better job of staying out of foul trouble if he wants to develop into a consistent starter. <\/p>\n

Always looking to block a shot, the second-year player goes after every pump fake. <\/p>\n

That has led to him picking up two early fouls in each of the Sixers\u2019 first three exhibition games. <\/p>\n

On Friday, Bona was called for his second foul 1 minute, 42 seconds into the game. This marked his third consecutive start while Joel Embiid<\/a> is sidelined with left knee management. Bona will slide back into his reserve role once the 2023 league MVP and seven-time All-Star returns.<\/p>\n

Regardless of his role, the former UCLA standout needs to do a better job of staying on the floor. His athleticism makes him a solid running mate with guards Tyrese Maxey<\/a> and VJ Edgecombe<\/a>, who missed Friday\u2019s game with hip soreness. <\/p>\n

But on this night, Bona picked up his third foul with 7:39 left in the half and was replaced by Johni Broome. Those three fouls limited Bona\u2019s play to 8:48 before intermission.<\/p>\n

He had four points on 2-for-2 shooting to go with three rebounds and three blocks at the half. Bona finished with six points and six rebounds to go with his three blocks in 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s been playing really good,\u201d Maxey said. \u201cThe only problem I have with Bona is stop fouling. \u2018Stop fouling, dude.\u2019 Like I understand, the ball is right there. He\u2019s like, \u2018The ball was right there in front of me. So I reached.\u2019 No, don\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s been doing good, really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worthy of a standard deal<\/p>\n

Barlow signed a two-way contract with the Sixers on July 9.<\/a> The power forward, who has three years of NBA experience, did so with the hope that the two-way deal would eventually be converted into a standard deal.<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow get extended look at power forward during Sixers\u2019 preseason<\/a><\/p>\n

One has to assume the Sixers are strongly considering giving him one.<\/p>\n

Barlow is showing that he\u2019s a better all-around player than his stints with the San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks.<\/p>\n

His six offensive rebounds and switch ability on defense make him a solid prospect. He\u2019s been outperforming two-way power forward Jabari Walker, another candidate for the Sixers\u2019 available standard contract.<\/p>\n

Barlow finished with 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds in his third start. Sixers coach Nick Nurse <\/a>believes Barlow has a chance to be a solid contributor at the beginning of the season, which is rare for a two-way player.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, he does,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cAt least rotation-wise, for sure. I mean, I think we are starting that way with him right now. He\u2019s the best kind of at the position right now. He\u2019s kind of played that way most days.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yeah, I think for sure if he\u2019s going to keep playing like this, which I expect him to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards needs to find a rhythm <\/p>\n

Edwards initially signed a two-way contract with the Sixers last summer as an undrafted rookie. But after excelling as a role player, the forward received a standard deal in February. This offseason, the former Imhotep Charter standout received a multiyear contract.<\/a><\/p>\n

However, he has struggled to find a groove since receiving the deal. Edwards shot poorly and lacked aggressiveness on the summer league team. Things haven\u2019t changed in the preseason, as his shooting woes persist.<\/p>\n

The Sixers want him to grab rebounds and play solid defense, the things he did last season while playing alongside the Sixers\u2019 Big Three of Maxey, Embiid, and Paul George<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nurse said before Friday\u2019s exhibition game that he was pleased with Edwards\u2019 play despite his shooting just 1-for-15 in his first two preseason games.<\/p>\n

On Friday, he had five points on 2-for-8 shooting to go with five assists, two steals, and a block in 26 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Joel Embiid and Paul George still have \u2018boxes to check\u2019 before Sixers can clear them to play<\/a><\/p>\n

While he showed some glimpses, Edwards must make more shots and play with more consistency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he got off to a really solid start, then it got a little rough for him, again,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cAgain, a few turnovers and that. But it was good to see him hit a three-ball, a fairly deep one, and another one go in and out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made the right plays early, right? I think he\u2019s, like we talked about before the game, he\u2019s a guy that kind of needs to play a role of letting things come to him. I think he\u2019s still growing into when he needs to make plays and create for others. It\u2019s so much more of playing around a lot better players, a lot better scorers. I think that is the role we want him to fit into.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adem Bona will be worth good money if the 76er can stay out of foul trouble. Dominick Barlow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,127467,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-205302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sixers-orlando-magic-takeaways-adem-bona-dominick-barlowe-justin-edwards-tyrese-maxey","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}