PHILADELPHIA–Philadelphia 76ers second-year guard Jaden Springer has played a grand total of nine games across his first two seasons in the NBA. The 28th overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft has career averages of 2.1 points and a rebound a night as he continues to find his way.
In his second season in the league, Springer has been bouncing back and forth between the Sixers and the Delaware Blue Coats in the G League. His time in Delaware is important as the G League offers him the necessary court time he needs to develop and grow that the Sixers just don’t offer at the moment.
While scoring 14 points with four steals in a loss to the Motor City Cruise on Wednesday, Springer put up seven triples, making two of them. On the season, he’s averaging 18.6 points in the G League as he continues to grow his game.
Growing confidence
“I feel like I definitely feel more confident in my game,” said Springer. “I know I put the work in. I got the whole team, the whole staff working with me so I feel like that’s a big part of why I feel like I’m more comfortable out there.”
Blue Coats coach Coby Karl has been helping in Springer’s development all season long and he has been impressed with the leap he has made.
“Jaden’s had an incredible—I think after summer league, even during summer league and up until now, it’s just spurts of growth,” said Karl. “He’s attacking the rim, jumping off one foot, he’s shooting the 3-ball with confidence now. All the work he’s put in, and he works, so it’s starting to come to fruition.”
Talks with Doc Rivers
At this stage of the season, coach Doc Rivers is focused more on getting the Sixers ready for the playoffs rather than checking in on Springer and the Blue Coats, but there is a reason why they have him bounce back and forth between the two teams.
“I honestly don’t look a lot right now,” Rivers admitted. “I’m focusing more on us, but Jaden has been around us a lot and that was on purpose. He plays in a game and then he practices with us, he’s in our shootarounds, so we have our eyes on him a lot and we communicate with Coby, but it’s been different this year because he’s been around more. We have our skill development guys working on things we think he needs to just keep working on.”
Having to work on certain aspects
In terms of those conversations with Rivers, Springer details that it is a lot of stuff from his rookie season. It is just more about continuing to grow.
“It’s pretty straightforward,” Springer stated. “I’m a young guy so he just wants to talk to me and make sure I’m doing everything straight. He told me what he likes from me, what I need to improve on, and stuff like that. That’s the biggest things I can take away. Same things he’s been saying from last year, I feel like I’ve definitely been working on that and getting better.”
Shooting more 3-pointers
The 3-ball is not necessarily something that Springer already had in his game. He has had to incorporate that into what he already does and the Blue Coats have seen a gradual improvement.
“I think his decision-making has sped up,” Karl added. “He’s getting used to spacing at the NBA game, he’s getting used to taking those 3-pointers that come to him. Especially, right before All-Star break for about a week, he was really stepping into with confidence. He’s not reluctant at all. He’s starting to build up his confidence and trust his work.”
In terms of where all of that came from, Springer was just straightforward with it. He simply had to begin adding it.
“Really just watching the team and watching the guys play and see how I can try and make a role for myself on this team when the opportunity is given,” he stated. “I feel like that’s the biggest thing.”
Fighting complacency
Considering the back-and-forth nature of his season, Springer could be getting complacent and just accepting that this is the way things are, but he isn’t battling any of that.
“I don’t get too complacent because I’m not where I want to be,” he finished. “I just try to keep working and, eventually, I feel like everything’s gonna pay out.”
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