The Return Of Ish Smith

Nov 28, 2015; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard Ish Smith (4) is defended by Utah Jazz guard Trey Burke (3) during the second half at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The Jazz won 101-87. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

The Return Of Ish Smith

The Philadelphia 76ers have been searching for stability at the most important position in professional basketball, the point guard slot, and they may have found a temporary solution for the 2015-16 season. The Sixers believe they are making a tremendous step forward with an upgrade towards Ish Smith over guard Tony Wroten. Wroten was released hours after the acquisition of Smith, who was obtained from the New Orleans Pelicans for two second round draft picks (2016 and 2017).  Ish Smith was on the 2014-2015 roster of the Philadelphia 76ers, but he was not resigned and was allowed to explore free agency.  The Sixers, looking to improve on a 1-30 record, believe that Smith is better in a Sixer jersey.

It has been a pain to watch the process of a young Sixers developing a team through trial and error, and Tony Wroten‘s return from injury did nothing but amplify the painful learning process.  The team has been very consistent.   Consistently bad.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/24/2015.

Change Was Needed

In all honesty, the return and addition of Wroten to the rotation made the Sixers just even more horrid on both ends of the floor. The table speaks for itself. Whenever, he is on the floor, the Sixers’ turnover percentage goes up to 22 percent. It goes down to 17 percent whenever he exits the floor. The difference in offense is 6.3. What does that mean? It means the Sixers score (6.3) more points per possession with Wroten off the court.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/24/2015.

Wroten has appeared in eight games this season. In those eight games, he has only managed one game with a positive plus/minus rating. For those who are not familiar with the plus/minus rating in basketball, it is a a metric that measures how a team performs with a certain player on the court, how they perform with a certain player off the court, and calculates the overall impact that player has on team success. When examining the table, it is clear Wroten was a liability to a young team.

Lets examine the addition of Ish Smith:

Ish Smith may not be a superstar or an all-star caliber player, but he’s a player who is more likely to contribute to a team that is desperate for experience and leadership. Wroten clearly couldn’t provide that,  but Smith is a a guy who can.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/24/2015.

Lets look at his season so far with the New Orleans Pelicans. The difference is clear with Smith. When he is on the floor, the offense picks up, it doesn’t slow down or sputter. Also, the offense improves by almost five points. The Pelicans as a team have been awful on defense this season, besides Anthony Davis. Although the defensive rating is high, the positive sign is that it doesn’t get worse. This is what the Sixers need in a starting point guard and leader. They need stability on both ends.

In the month of November, Smith played a lot of minutes due to the injuries of Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans. Smith played over 400 minutes in 14 games. In those 14 games, he started three, Smith averaged almost 13 points a game (12.5), 8.4 assists and almost five rebounds (4.5). The Pelicans’ offensive rating in that month was 106. Smith contributed all of this on a 21.4 usage percentage (usage percentage is an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor).

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As a starter in three games, Smith averaged 14 points, seven assists, five rebounds on 24.5 usage percentage. I think he will benefit with spacing the Sixers’ can provide with Covington at the stretch-four position and Jahlil Okafor/ Nerlens Noel down low. This won’t solve all the problems in Philadelphia, but fans should be happy at the fact that Jerry Colangelo is trying.  How do we know this is a Colangelo maneuver?

When was the last time the Sixers were involved in a trade where they were the team acquiring a player and losing picks?  Adding Smith and subtracting Wroten is a win in my book.