Counter Inexperience = Upper Classmen
And so the Philadelphia 76ers may have limits to how many more “rookies” they can absorb in any one given year. If they hit on all four draft picks, and if you consider both Embiid and Saric as rookies to the NBA, the team is trying to mentor, train, develop, and “fit” six new players. That is, of course, assuming that the team adjusts the roster in the off-season without the use of trading for other players or signing any free agents, both avenues appear to be subject to much more Sixer traffic this year than at any time in the past three years.
But the team is not forced to burden their coaching staff with the rawest talents available in the NBA draft. Part of the appeal of the youngest prospects is the “teachability” factor, the belief that by falling onto an NBA roster, surrounded by NBA players, facing NBA competition, and being coached by NBA coaches, the player will develop that much quicker and therefore have a longer NBA career to offer to his team.
But that is a normal team, with a normal composition of age and youth. With the Sixer roster so very skewed towards the young, the inexperienced young players are remaining somewhat inexperienced. While they are getting the best opportunity available in the NBA along the lines of support from health, nutrition, and basketball analytics, there remains a strong gap in the translation of what a young player sees and what the young player needs to see.
That difference is made up by the coaching staff and veteran players. But when the team is filled with young players, there is not enough coach to go around. Players have been getting on-the-job training to augment their practices and gymnasium work. No challenge is more exemplary of this practice than the effort to mix and match Okafor and Noel’s play on the court simultaneously. Even optimistic coach Brown admitted that it has been a slow process of simply placing the pair on the court and letting it sort itself out – in spite of the unattractive moments of basketball that has come with it.
The alternative to that is to target prospects who have been coached well, and already understand the role they will fill in the NBA. Older players have been given more years of college coaching, and therefore come with a larger database of knowledge upon their arrival to the NBA. It is by no means a lock guarantee, but it is a step in the right direction, particularly to help out the coach who had so many young and undrafted players to manage this season.
Next: Hield, Dunn, Prince, Jackson, or Trimble