How Good Can This Philadelphia 76er Roster Be Now?

How Good Can This Philadelphia 76er Roster Be Right Now?

The Philadelphia 76ers have begun the 2015-2016 season in a bad state. New to the NBA plus young of age plus 33% injured plus facing the NBA after familiarizing themselves with each other’s faces does not sound like a formula for success in today’s NBA. To nobody’s surprise, it proved not to be.

So many of the hopes turned to the 2016 NBA draft and the promises of drafting five of sixty young talent, the best of the NCAA and international basketball players available. But that doesn’t do much for this team now. And now we are last in the NBA in offense with 91.4 points per game, last in rebound differential – allowing opposing team to collect 4.9 more total rebounds per game, last in turnovers per games at 17.3, last in assists per turnover with 1.08, 26th in the league in assists per game at 18.7. In fact, the lone standout on this Sixers team is their ability to block shots, currently tied at second in the league with the Oklahoma City Thunder at 6.6 blocks per game.

The Sixers are even 28th in the league at field goal attempts, but have managed to use nearly a third of those shots beyond the arc.

Sounds pretty dismal, right? But if you look at the games these Sixers have played, you can find a player, a quarter, something in each game to catch a briefest glimpse of who these players might be if they can mature and become consistent.

First of all, the team needs steady play at the point guard position. The team has thrown Isaiah Canaan, T.J. McConnell, and now Kendall Marshall into the role. In early November, McConnell appeared to be a diamond in the rough, as he averaged 9.8 assists per game (APG) over a six game stretch. But his December numbers are now averaging 3.7 assists per game. That left a door open for Kendall Marshall, who is recovered from an ACL injury. In December, he is averaging 4.5 assists per game on fewer minutes. But Marshall averages 2.5 turnovers per game, and McConnell averages 1.5 turnovers per game in December.

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McConnell filled the point guard position well in early November. If the Sixers could somehow get a steady flow of that 9.8 APG, coupled with his 1.5 tunovers per game and somewhere between eight to twelve points a game, I’d be very comfortable.

At shooting guard, there has been a rotation of Isaiah Canaan, Nik Stauskas, Hollis Thompson and JaKarr Sampson. Statistically, everyone from that group has shown a steady decline of offense this season, with only Stauskas and Sampson shooting better than 40% from the floor in the month of December. Of the group, only JaKarr Sampson is better than the team average shooting field goals, as he is maintaining a 50% chance of scoring on the shot. If Sampson’s production would increase as his minutes increase, the Sixers would be set for now.

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The small forward is Robert Covington and Jerami Grant‘s domain. Grant is the more defensive player, and Covington is more offensive – albeit he is becoming a two-way threat. In late November, Covington was flirting with a 20 point scoring average. His production quickly returned back to earth, and his last four game average is in the eight points per game range. If Covington could return to his 18-20 point per game range, the Sixers would be good to go.

The power forward tandem of Nerlens Noel and Richan Holmes is the most accurate role on the team, with both averaging better than 50% on shots from the floor in December. Despite his accuracy, Holmes averages approximately 14 minutes per game. Noel, with spot duty at center, is over twice that amount at 29.6 minutes per game. Neither Holmes nor Noel have been carrying the team offensively, as the role they fill is that mid range shot. The Sixers offense with Jahlil Okafor is to post or to shoot from beyond the arc. When they do take shots, they have been accurate.
If Noel can find more high accuracy shots and take them, that would take some of the pressure off the post game. If he could match his early November output of 15-20 points per game, that could help out the team quite a bit.

Finally, the center position is Jahlil Okafor, and he’s been the focus of the Sixers offense. He’s actually been improving ever so slowly, now averaging 82% from the free throw line to add to his 46.2% average from the floor. He could and should be scoring better than 20 points per game in this offense.

If these Sixers could simultaneously maintain their better performances of the year for a prolonged period of time, they could drastically improve their league low offense from 91.4 points per game to somewhere closer to 100 points per game. That, in turn, would help their defense as they would be setting the pace. The shortcut is to look outside of the team to get there faster, but don’t look for that to happen. They are all the team will have this season. The key is simply to achieve their best more than once a month, in consecutive games if possible.

The Sixers have the people in place whom they feel could develop into a good foundation for a championship run in the NBA. While it’s too early to tell, the team has brief moments where some excellent basketball flashes for a moment. The team doesn’t need to start over, but merely to keep this current roster from the huge oscillations in performance. Is this the championship team? No. Some players will likely develop into something special, but not in this season which is nearly 33% complete.

But this team is much better than the current flounderings of losing by twenty or more points. This Sixers team has the potential to score, and to play good basketball defense. In contrast to all of the good things hiring Jerry Colangelo may bring this Sixers team, one thing is obvious. He has made this very young and uncertain NBA team even more self-conscious. Since his arrival, the Sixers have never been close to winning an NBA game.

These Sixers have experienced quite a bit in their initial struggles on and off the basketball court. At some point, this team will need to carry one another and appear to be in synch. Turnovers need to decline, and scoring needs to elevate. But this group CAN do it. The question simply is, do they believe they can?