Article Written by Michael Doctorovitz
Originally Published on November 8, 2023
When you think of Patrick Beverly, you think of a pest. Someone who has had the same attitude, mentality and style of play since he entered the league in 2013. Prior to his debut in 2013, he attended Arkansas State University and then played overseas for three and a half seasons. He is a fighter, a perfect fit for Philly.
Pat Bev has brought an identity to this team that is similar to the identity head coach Nick Nurse has brought. His identity on the court is a hard nosed defender who gives maximum effort every time he is on the court. Beverly pushes his teammates to be better and work harder and has recently stated that “your best player wishes I was on his team,” and he probably is correct.
Beverly is similar to PJ Tucker or Marcus Smart. He is someone who you absolutely cannot stand to play against but you’d love to have on your team. Despite being in the league for a decade now, Beverly is still an elite defender with the same pesky attitude and trash talk. He wears players down physically with his play and wears them down mentally with his trash talk.
According to the NBA’s advanced stats page, Beverly currently leads the league in defensive rating at 89.9, with newly reacquired Robert Covington in second with 90.9. Combine Beverly’s presence with Joel Embiid’s continuous MVP form, Tyrese Maxey’s jump to point guard, Tobias Harris’ early bounce back and the surprising all around play of Kelly Oubre Jr. and the Sixers have an exciting, fun squad to watch.
It will be interesting to see how the season plays out. Most Sixers fans are just enjoying watching fun, good basketball with lower expectations. Their hope being that a good system and a playoff push will hopefully keep Embiid locked into Philly and possibly bring in another co-star for a championship run.
Michael Doctorovitz,
Columnist,
The Locker Room with Billy Schweim