Heading into the season, the Philadelphia 76ers had a gargantuan-sized hole at the power forward position.
With limited avenues available in offseason free agency based on the team’s salary cap situation, Daryl Morey sought to spackle over the hole by signing Trendon Watford to a minimum contract and bringing in a couple of two-way contract signings, Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker. Watford has been productive at times after being slow out of the gate due to injury, while Walker has exceeded expectations
in his own right, recently signing a standard NBA contract.
However, Barlow, who also has since been awarded a standard deal with the Sixers, proved to be the true diamond in the rough.
The 6-foot-9 forward has made 36 starts across 43 appearances for Philadelphia this season. His averages of 8.5 points and 5.0 rebounds don’t jump off the page, but as a “doing the little things All-Star,” Dominick was integral to the Sixers exceeding expectations heading into the All-Star break.
Barlow fits as the perfect glue guy alongside the team’s high-usage stars. While he does have some off-the-dribble game, he does most of his damage without the ball in his hands, whether setting screens, spotting up in the corner, or lurking in the dunker spot. Barlow’s 10 offensive rebounds against the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this month were a perfect encapsulation of how he causes damage when the opposing defense takes their eyes off him to focus on his higher-profile teammates.
Defensively, Barlow is a Swiss-army knife, with great length and the ability to fluidly switch on the perimeter. While he’s not a prodigious shot blocker, Nick Nurse has still occasionally turned to small-ball lineups with Barlow at the five. There’s a lot of value in someone able to competently defend across multiple positions, particularly within Nurse’s defensive scheme.
If you had to rank reasons for the Sixers’ success thus far, it’s probably Tyrese Maxey jumping from All-Star to All-NBA, Joel Embiid and (pre-suspension) Paul George having better than expected health, VJ Edgecombe being an absolute stud the minute he stepped on an NBA court, and then Barlow. Barlow went from a two-way player to someone who they needed to sign to a standard NBA contract so badly that they just had to trade away a second-year former lottery pick in Jared McCain (that’s not true at all, but it’s crazy from the Barlow perspective that the team used that spin for it).
Is Barlow a perfect player? No, you’d like to have him shoot better than 28.6 percent from three, for starters. But after having genuine stars, having legitimate starters on minimum-salary contracts is probably the most beneficial contribution to a roster build. He may not get mentioned much by media outside the Delaware Valley when discussing the Sixers as a fun story this season, but Barlow should be right alongside the better names when singing this team’s praises.
