Philadelphia 76er Ish Smith Is A Lightning Rod

Philadelphia 76er point guard Ish Smith commands the offense, handing off the ball to the hot hand and open man. But on team with few offensive weapons, he is also the lightning rod.

Point guard Ishmael Smith is many things to the Philadelphia 76ers.  He sets up the offense, passing a beautiful alley oop to Nerlens Noel stalking the basket like a cat to a mouse, and then suddenly “SWOOSH!” it’s two points for the Sixers on a pretty play.  He is the veteran mentor to undrafted rookie T.J. McConnell, who has himself earned some respect as an unheralded point guard by outplaying his drafted rookie counterparts in the league.  Smith is the unshakable general, the mind responsible for dictating the offense and defenses on an ever changing basketball court.  His is the on-court interpretation of Brett Brown.  He brings the ball down, setting up the best shot to the open man or the hot hand.  But if the shot doesn’t develop, Smith is left with a basketball and a shot clock ticking down. So he shoots.  Sometimes he scores. Sometimes he does not.

And so, the team is improving overall. Shooting is becoming more accurate at the team level, and the Sixers have begun to win games that hadn’t in the past, and compete in games they didn’t. But the man who makes it all happen is Ish Smith. It’s ironic that his own accuracy is not keeping pace with that of the team.  Or is it?  Derek Bodner is an excellent resource as he covers the Sixers.  He recently tweeted a curious statistic about the Sixers and Ish Smith.

And so, the team has improved with Smith on the court, but suffers from Smith’s own play.  That gives plenty of room to debate, and that’s the space we like to take up here at the Sixer Sense.   Josh Wilson wrote a piece recently about the performance of Ish Smith, where he analyzed the future impact of the player going forward.  Annointing him the temporary savior, Josh points out that Smith’s overall performance is sub-average for an NBA point guard.

Conversely, Michael Kaskey-Blomain chimed in with his own take on Ish Smith’s contribution to the team.  He points out that the impact of Smith on this roster starts with the win loss record.  As the team finds success, the players are elevating each other’s game.  His article includes a couple video clips of the infamous Smith to Noel Alley Oop that is just pure NBA entertainment.

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The Sixers have been learning team mechanics via OJT–on the job training. Prior to the arrival of Smith, the Sixers had a track record of sometimes playing it close enough to take a lead into the fourth quarter, only to watch that lead evaporate.  But Ish has brought out the best in this team, and of it’s players. Take a look at Jahlil Okafor‘s recent shot graph:

The key to any successful team is the distinction between featured players and supporting cast. Right now, Smith is in a supporting cast role. With a young team struggling with limited shooting from the perimeter and featuring a post game, there is a gap between what the team offensive scheme is designed to do versus what the skill set is of the players can do. That gap is made up by Ish Smith.

But when the team does answer the bell, Smith falls into his comfort zone.  In the latest game, the 114-89 thumping of the Portland Trailblazers, the team had solid performances off the bench by Richaun Homes (17 points on 5 out of 9 shooting from the floor), by starter Jahlil Okafor (25 points on 12 of 16 shooting from the floor) and by Isaiah Canaan (14 points on 2 of 5 shooting from the arc).   When the team was sinking baskets, Smith was solid with his own 16 point performance on 6 of 9 shooting from the floor.

But in the double overtime game against the Chicago Bulls, the team was not as prolific offensively.   In that game, Ish Smith had to assume the offense that was vacated when leading scorer Robert Covington fouled out in the fourth quarter.  Assumed he did, scoring 24 points for the team on 10 of 25 shooting from the floor.  While that association does not explain everything, it’s enough to suggest that Smith is merely doing everything he can to help the Sixers succeed.  As the team improves up and down the roster, the demands on the point guard will lessen somewhat.  If Ish Smith is not at the level of Stephen Curry, part of that is explained in the fact that this is not a Golden State Warrior roster either.  How good can Ish Smith be is dependent upon how good is the Sixers team he is bringing down the court with him.   As this roster improves, Smith will find less need to force the shot.

Next: Ish Smith's Addition Has Transformed The Sixers

It may come down to the decision that a championship team will need an upgrade at point guard.  But the Sixers are not there yet.   Where they are is finally having a team that can compete, and by doing so gives a much better opportunity for the coaching staff to assess the talent of this roster – both individually and as a team.  It may take the 2016 roster half-way through next year before we truly can judge whether Ish Smith is enough to carry the team forward, or simply a player who can give the team some quality minutes off the bench.

But for today, he’s given us a glimpse of what is yet to come.