Ish Smith has now played 10 games this season as a Philadelphia 76er, so it’s time to give him an evaluation.
Ish Smith was brought on to the Philadlephia 76ers on Christmas Eve this season, and most fans were very excited to see how he could re-kindle a fire in Nerlens Noel, and in the 76ers offense in general. Smith has blown away expectations, but now that he’s played 10 games, it’s time to give Smith an overall grade through his first 10 games this season as a Sixer.
Smith, in his time with the Sixers, has seen a much better version of this team than existed at the beginning of this season, and that’s no coincidence. Smith has pushed the team to be better in all areas.
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Prior to getting Ish this season, the Sixers were really doing horrendous. Per game, they were putting up 91.4 points, 18.8 assists, and turning the ball over 17.8 times. In the 10 games since trading for Ish, the Sixers have scored 99.3 points, dished out 23.7 assists, and improved a bit on turnovers, only committing 17 per game. We can certainly thank Ish for a lot of these improvements, as the addition of him to this team has pushed them to improve in all of these categories.
It really is incredible what the addition of a full-functioning point guard can do for the Sixers. That was one of their biggest missing pieces, as all of their guards could either score, or pass, but not both. Smith can do both. He’s the full package.
10 games in, it’s clear Ish is happy to be back. He said, “I like it here. Love the fans. I’m just playing.”
I’m going to look at Smith in four categories to grade his first 10 games. First, has he effectively replaced Tony Wroten? Second, his individual playing, third, how he has helped Nerlens Noel, and lastly, how he has helped the rest of his teammates.
Next: Has he replaced Wroten?
When Smith was brought onto the team, someone had to be let go to make some space for the point guard. It made the most sense to let a backcourt member go, as they were already fully-staffed there before Ish. While some thought the likes of Kendall Marshall or even T.J. McConnell would be let go, an arguable fan-favorite Tony Wroten was released instead. The Sixers tried to negotiate Wroten as a part of the trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, but the Pelicans weren’t interested in him.
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Some thought Wroten hadn’t played enough to deserve to be cut, and that certainly may be true about the guard who had played just eight games prior to being released, which is a very quick evaluation, even shorter than this first evaluation of Ish Smith. At the same time, we had good impressions of Ish being a positive impact to this team 4 or 5 games in. Sometimes, a few games is all you need to see.
Wroten, in those 8 games, scored 8.4 points, 2.5 assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game. He turned the ball over an unimpressive 3.6 times per game. Certainly, Wroten could have shown the team some better things in his 8 games as a Sixer. Coming off of an injury, though, we expected turnovers, and head coach Brett Brown said on several occasions that turnovers would be expected from Wroten.
I would have liked to have seen Wroten get more minutes, but that’s just not how things pan out sometimes.
Brown didn’t ever seem to have a dislike for Wroten, and often only spoke highly of him. At one point, he said, “[With Wroten] we have seniority — our version of a veteran. I’m just really excited for him and for us that we can welcome him back.”
Although more of a chance for Wroten would have been nice, it probably wouldn’t have happened, even if he was on the team. Looking at what’s happening to Kendall Marshall, who has played a total of just 30 minutes total in the last 7 games, Wroten might be better looking for work elsewhere.
But of course, onto Ish.
When comparing Ish to Wroten, it’s no competition. Ish certainly replaced Wroten and then did more. He’s scoring a ton more points, assisting at a higher rate, and turning the ball over a bit less. There’s no argument for keeping Tony Wroten (especially as a point guard) over Ish Smith, despite how much fans like Tony.
Next: Individual playing
Now, for Ish’s individual playing. Ish is playing outstandingly well, and there have been plenty of possessions where Ish has taken the ball coast-to-coast, cutting through the defense and getting an easy two points for the Sixers, while also giving them a bit of a momentum boost. Even when Ish takes some incredible off-balance shots, there’s still an expectancy that the ball will fall in. He’s been that good the past several games.
Ish’s best quality, like many of the Sixers guards, is passing, but he seems to have a great handle on when he should pass, and when he should shoot. There’s not many times that I watch Ish and think, “that was the wrong choice, should’ve passed and not shot” like I think with T.J. McConnell. He’s an incredibly snappy thinker, and it pays off.
As for his best quality, he’s doing decently with it, averaging 7.8 assists per game in the last 10. We have to remember, especially with this team, assist numbers are skewed because it requires the teammates you’re passing to to make the shot, something the Sixers haven’t done a whole lot of this year. Despite that, Smith has given his teammates good looks. Off of passes from Ish, Nerlens Noel is making 80% of his field goals, and even Nik Stauskas is Up to 40% from beyond the 3-point line, which seemed like a giant task. It’s clear Ish is a masterful passer.
Smith is shooting well with defense on him, and shoots well when he has defense within 2 feet of him at 56.7 percent.
As for his scoring, he’s done a good job there as well, averaging 17.0 points per game, knocking down shots that no one on the Sixers has been able to all season.
Next: Nerlens Noel
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.
Next: Even Stauskas has improved!
As for everyone else, they’ve done some improving as well. While many have thought Nerlens Noel is benefiting the most (and that certainly might be true) Nik Stauskas is also a candidate for the greatest beneficiary of Ish Smith.
In the early pre-Ish part of this season, Stauskas, once a sharpshooter, was shooting just 28.3 percent from beyond the arc. Since Ish has come on the team, though, he’s shooting 41 percent, and that same percent shooting off of passes specifically from Ish.
Obviously, the whole team is benefiting. They have won three games since getting Ish, and have scored 8 more points per game since getting him.
While Ish was expected to push Noel to succeed, just about everyone has succeeded.
Next: Final grade
Overall, Ish Smith has done incredible for the Sixers in his first 10 games with them, just like he had been doing for the New Orleans Pelicans earlier this season. The Sixers got a huge steal, since the Pelicans had some players returning from injury, they were unable to use Smith as much and the Sixers got a good deal.
Smith picked his season up right where he left it, and led the Sixers to a win in his first game on the roster. Smith is a full package point guard that has improved the Sixers’ stock immensely.
It’s only been 10 games, but it’s clear that Ish Smith is a name that changes the Sixers’ look completely.