Sixers’ Trevelin Queen is building up teammates and promoting the big picture at summer league
Whether he is starring or struggling, the guard wants to be a good teammate. Queen signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract with the Sixers last week.
SALT LAKE CITY — It’s hard to tell that Trevelin Queen is a 76ers newcomer.
The 6-foot-6 guard is the loudest and most expressive summer Sixer, cheering on and communicating with teammates. He also has given them advice on just about everything, even telling Charles Bassey how to better speak into the microphone during postgame interviews.
“For me, it’s not trying to be a cool guy, trying to be the top-notch guy on the team,” Queen said. “For me, it’s we’re all on the same mission at the end of the day. We all want to win, and we are all trying to take care of our families.
“That’s a big thing for me, trying to be a great teammate, great role model, a great leader, be vocal.”
» READ MORE: Trevelin Queen’s relentless journey has brought him to the 76ers
The 25-year-old is also comfortable in a lot of situations when several younger teammates are not. So he’s been trying to show them how to handle those scenarios.
One of those situations came in Thursday’s 80-79 Salt Lake City Summer League victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder at Vivint Arena. Known more as a high scoring wing, Queen was the starting point guard against the Thunder.
He had an off-shooting night, finishing with two points while missing all six of his shots. Queen did, however, finish with a team-high eight rebounds to go with three assists, two steals, one block and four turnovers.
“It was a situation where he was handling the ball a lot, so I thought he did a good job of getting us organized and getting good shots,” said Sixers skills development coach Tyler Lashbrook, who also served as head coach of the Salt Lake City summer league squad. “The thing I learned in the short time with Trevelin is that he impacts the game in a lot of ways, just with his energy, his bounce, his unselfishness.”
Another example was how the reigning NBA G League MVP regrouped Wednesday after a somewhat disastrous individual first half in an 86-82 victory over the Utah Jazz.
In what was his hyped-up Sixers debut, Queen went into the locker room with five points on 2-for-7 shooting to go with two costly turnovers. Two of his final three shots were air balls while the other one was blocked.
He missed completely on a 13-foot floater with 2 minutes, 33 seconds left and his driving layup at the 1:19 mark was blocked. Queen then air balled a corner three at the close of the half.
But he responded in the second half with 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting to go with zero turnovers and a game-clinching steal with 3.1 seconds left.
“It’s bigger than me at the end of the day,” said Queen, a Baltimore native who played at New Mexico State. “I can miss 10 shots in a row, 15 shots in a row, but I know my teammates need me at the end of the day, regardless of how I’m playing.
“Energy and effort and being a good teammate is big picture for me. We all miss shots. We all make shots. But at the end of the day, I want to be a good teammate.”
» READ MORE: NBA Summer League: Trevelin Queen had mixed results in Sixers’ 86-82 victory Utah Jazz
That’s been obvious since his arrival. He has been having fun with teammates since joining them on Saturday, one day after signing a two-year, $3.5 million contract with the Sixers that is partially guaranteed for $330,000 next season.
The former Houston Rockets two-way player has been laughing and joking with teammates during breaks in shooting drills. Queen sat out Tuesday’s 103-99 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, but still made an impact as the team’s biggest cheerleader from the bench. And on Wednesday, he got more enjoyment out of teammates’ exciting plays than his own.
One example came after he assisted on a nice first-quarter alley-oop dunk by Bassey, forcing the Jazz to call a timeout. Queen repeatedly raised his arms, encouraging the 7,153 in attendance to cheer for Bassey. Later on, he jubilantly displayed a three-pointer sign from the bench after a teammate’s clutch trey.
“It’s always like that,” he said. “For me, I want to make sure you are good, I’m good, he’s good, they’re good. Then I’m good. At the end of the day, like I said before, we are all trying to feed our families and win the game.
“So for me, if I’ve got to be pumped for the other guy more than I am myself. I’m a very unselfish person. So I try to show love to everybody.”