The Sixer Sense
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Three Games In, Sixers Trend Of Wins Is Odd

By Josh Wilson

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The Philadelphia 76ers are 2-1. It’s a preseason record, so there’s not a whole lot of great bragging rights that come along with that (especially since one of those wins came against a LeBron James-less Cleveland Cavaliers team), but hey, it’s cool to think that the team that only had 18 total regular season wins is above .500 right now. The trend of these wins, has been odd so far, to say the least.

We would expect rookie center Jahlil Okafor to take a huge role in those wins, but that would be an incorrect assumption. Looking back, he only had 14 points in 37 minutes between these two games, shooting just one for six, not promising at all.

Okafor got out to a hot start, hitting his first four shots in a Sixers uniform this preseason in game one, but since has been fairly quiet and not exactly what we expected. In game three, it really seemed like Okafor would step up. Nerlens Noel, his partner in crime in the front court was ruled out with a bruised back (suffered in game two), which you would think would give Okafor more chance for points.

It’s a curious thing when guys like Robert Covington scores 23 points and Okafor only scores two. Don’t get me wrong, I like Covington and think he’s a great player. In fact, I find him to be incredibly underrated by a lot of fans.

RoCo wasn’t the only “minor role player” to get in on the scoring action. Jerami Grant had 12 points, Isaiah Canaan had nine, Jordan McRae and Hollis Thompson had 17.

I’m not sure it’s something that we should be worried about, though. It is just the preseason, meaning that Okafor only scoring two points is not really an issue.

But, playing the hypothetical game, what if this distribution of points and production is the same in the regular season?  What if Okafor is not playing well, and the role players are? As long as the Sixers are winning, I don’t think it’s that big of a problem, but it does seem like wasted money that would be being paid to Okafor (he’s making $3.8 million this season).

I believe that this is exactly what the preseason is for, to get these issues out of the way. The hope is that by the time the regular season rolls around, not only will the role players still be contributing and immersing themselves in the games, but Okafor will be finding his way as well.

Okafor is not playing in Monday night’s preseason game, and Noel is taking the seat again. For some of the players on the team right now, this may be their only big chance at showing the league what they’ve got this season, therefore they play harder than guys who have a guaranteed spot on the roster. Why play hard, if essentially, you don’t have to?

I believe this is why Okafor had a great first game, and has since tapered off. He wanted to leave a big first impression–and he did–but he also knows that he’s got a guaranteed spot on the roster, and probably even the starting lineup, no matter how mediocre his preseason is.

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