5 Reasons for the Philadelphia 76ers to Keep Ish Smith Around

Familiarity may diminish mediocrity

Moving forward, the Sixers have a large task in front of them. They seek to turn this whole losing effort into a winning one, and they are trying to do that without the seemingly unavoidable stage of mediocrity that often comes along with rebuilding an NBA team. What may aid that is having good familiar faces on the team.

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I’m not suggesting that the Sixers keep guys around like Hollis Thompson, who have been in this thing for quite a while with the Sixers, because that would be against the whole turning negative into positive motion. Thompson isn’t a guy who will contribute to a winning team. But if they keep Ish Smith — a player who can contribute to games — on their team even as they move from being a bad team to a fringe playoff team, he may help push them along.

As new free agents and high-level draft picks come in, the Sixers will assemble more talent. More talent won’t singlehandedly make them avoid the 7th and 8th seed in the playoffs, though. What will, is a player like Ish who is very familiar with the system, but also a fairly decent basketball player, helping new and old players along in the learning process.

Ish is one of those guys that can work well with anyone. After playing for nine different teams, he has learned to adapt and play well with several different types of NBA players. It would be hard for the Sixers to bring in any new players that Ish won’t get along with as both a friend and a teammate.

Keeping Smith around will ensure that as the roster changes to become more competitive, there will be little to no chemistry issues on the floor and in the locker room. Smith knows the system, can help guys through it who may have trouble learning the high-paced offense, and will make them feel welcomed in Philadelphia. Having a swift changeover from tanking to being a top-level playoff team is tough, and because of that mediocrity seems to be unavoidable in the NBA. But with Ish, the Sixers could diminish the amount of time that they experience that mediocrity for.

Next: Noel is a beneficiary of Ish