A 10-Game Evaluation of Ish Smith as a Philadelphia 76er

It could be argued that Ish Smith was brought in largely to bring Nerlens Noel out of his slump and provide him with a player that can set him up to function well in the frontcourt. Early on in Ish’s tenure so far with the Sixers, Jahlil Okafor was coming off of the bench, which put Nerlens at the center position for a large portion of the game. This, combined with Ish, allowed him to have some really big games.

Since then, Okafor has moved back to the starting lineup, and Noel has transitioned back to the 4-spot. Although he’s still no stretch-4, he’s fitting in nicely to the frontcourt. With the addition of Smith, Noel has much more purpose on offense, and offers more to the team than just rim protection.

The worry with this was that where one player came back, another would fall. Some thought Noel playing better would diminish Okafor’s impact, but that has not been the case. Okafor has still gotten his fair share of points alongside Noel’s lobs and passes from Ish Smith.

Noel was really struggling before Smith came, averaging just 9.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Since Smith has arrived, though, that has turned into 12.3 points and 10.0 rebounds, an immense improvement that fans all wanted to see.

This certainly makes the question of, “should the Sixers trade Nerlens Noel or Jahlil Okafor?” even more difficult to comprehend, because Nerlens obviously fits in a little better with this offense that doesn’t have consistent wings for Smith to work with.

But looking forward, the Sixers are going to have a fluid team that eventually gets some better wings. Okafor will probably fit in better for the future, but there’s really no telling.

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