Philadelphia 76er Ish Smith Was Mr. Clutch

By Bret Stuter | Jun 5, 2016

Apr 5, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Ish Smith (1) talks with head coach Brett Brown during the second quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

In the last five minutes of NBA games, Ish Smith truly delivered for the Philadelphia 76ers in the clutch

The NBA is developing into a feeding frenzy right now. Buoyed by the imminent arrival of the 2016 NBA Draft, and the ever increasing frequency and outlandishness of potential trade scenarios, the business of analyzing what went right in a pretty poor season for the Philadelphia 76ers is not something many of us are talking about.

But we should be, shouldn’t we? It falls to reason that if we don’t know the strengths and weaknesses of the team, we may fix the wrong parts, or dispose of the pieces who were stronger than we realized.

Take for example the statistics of players who come through in the clutch. In essence, this statistic is maintained by NBA.com/Stats to measure the effectiveness of a player within five minutes of the end of the game and the score within five points. Who shines and who chokes?

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According to that statistic, the top Philadelphia 76er was none other than point guard Ish Smith, whose clutch performance delivered 61 points in that scenario, good for 57th place in the 2015-2016 NBA.

The reason for Smith appearing as the most clutch player for the Philadelphia 76ers does not surprise. Immediately upon arriving to the team, he was a decisive player who did not hesitate to act. He distributed the ball to the player with the best look at a shot, or he set himself up into position to take the shot himself.

Clearly, his 61 points at clutch moments in the game were the result of his simply pulling the ball in and driving to the basket.

This may not be enough to persuade the Philadelphia 76ers to retain Smith. Smith is a free agent this year, and following a fairly impressive time with the 76ers in his second period with the team, he’s clearly interested in improving his salary situation in the NBA. He earned just $1.1 Million in the 2015-2016 season, good for 69th in the NBA at the point guard position.

The cost of placing Smith at the lowest tier of “starting point guard” level in the NBA for the 2016-2017 season will likely come in at a $6 Million per year minimum. That may price Smith out of the Sixers market initially, particularly if they view Smith as a solid backup.

Surprisingly, due to a statistically anomaly, point guard Kendall Marshall comes in as the lone “NBA clutch” player for the Philadelphia 76ers with a positive +2 , despite shooting 0 for 1 on a missed 3PT shot in his four total minutes in the waning seconds of close games.

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While the Sixers were not very good in the clutch in 2015-2016, until they add some new pieces, they will be even worse in close games going forward. Ish Smith, “Mr. Clutch”, has left the building. Without a substantial offer from the Philadelphia 76ers, there is little chance he will return.