Ish Smith has transformed the Philadelphia 76ers offense. He may be a decent option at the point guard spot until someone better comes around.
The Philadelphia 76ers have been saved by Ish Smith twice now, as they were transformed from being a truly awful bottom-feeder team in the NBA to being a just really bad bottom-feeder team in the NBA in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 season. The Sixers acquired him partway through the year in each of these years, and his addition has been positive each time.
Still, there are murmurs of him not being re-signed by the team this year. Still, people want him gone. Despite his nothing but positive contributions to this team that hasn’t seen much positive on the floor over the past few years, it seems like there must be better options out there.
Smith, who was signed to an NBA team in September of 2015, is currently making the minimum salary, and is a free agent this offseason. After his skills were put on display for the New Orleans Pelicans and the Sixers in their times of need throughout this season, he may have teams calling his name, or he may find himself struggling to find a home yet again.
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Ish may not be considered a “seasoned” veteran since he only carries six years of NBA experience with him, but he has been forced to mature, adapting quickly and often throughout his 6 years so far, playing for nine different teams in the NBA.
Last offseason, the Sixers were in the same exact situation that they are now. The Sixers were debating Ish because he was likely to demand more money if they wanted him back on the team. Despite the fact that he was clearly good for the team, the Sixers opted to choose other guards, and ended up regretting the decision later in the season when none of those guards ended up being nearly as good as Ish.
Ish being traded for in December was said to be a move orchestrated by Jerry Colangelo, especially since two second-round draft picks were sent to the Pelicans in return for him. Those draft picks were assets that Sam Hinkie coveted and surely wanted to keep around. With Jerry’s son Bryan now in the position that Sam held, does that change anything with the approach to Ish? Maybe, or maybe not. It will all depend on whether or not Bryan runs the team with the same ideas as his father, or if he will take his own approach.
I think we’re bound to see the Sixers at least give Ish more of a chance than they did last offseason. Last year, the Sixers hardly even gave a look at Ish, and right away decided it was best if he explored options with other teams. He was forced to hustle for a spot on a different team during training camps and preseasons, and ended up signing a contract with the Pels.
This year, I think they’ll give him more thought, especially after he proved them wrong. Here’s why they should seriously consider re-signing him to the team.
Next: Cost
He costs less than most realize
One of the main reasons people don’t want to sign Ish Smith next season is because he will apparently cost a lot of money. I don’t think that’s totally accurate. Yes, if the Sixers want to lock him up for next seasons and potentially even longer than that, they will have to shell out more than the minimum, but I don’t think we’re going to see Ish asking for $7-10 million dollars. Ish is worth more like $2-5 million, and I think he knows that.
If he doesn’t know that, he will find that out when he talks with other teams. Ish has done very well with the Sixers and Pelicans this season, there is no denying that. But what is easy to deny is the idea that Ish would be anything more than a solid bench player on a good team. Ish was able to get so much exposure, and he was able to play so well with the Sixers and Pels because there was no one in the backcourt that was more skilled than him at the time.
He shined on those teams because they were so bad. They both fell in the league’s worst six teams at the end of the season sorted by record.
It’s all about context. The context of the Sixers allowed Ish to flourish. The context of a more competitive team — even the Washington Wizards, who didn’t make the playoffs would be benching Smith — would leave Ish as the first or second man off the bench. He’s not a point guard that will lead a team to the playoffs, and he’s not worth as much as some fans seem to believe.
You don’t pay a guy like Ish a ton of money. No team in the NBA will, and the Sixers — although they will overpay for some players — will not either.
Next: Improves the offense
He’s the only player to consistently improve the Sixers’ offense
Over the past two seasons, the Sixers have been awful, particularly on offense. This was, of course, largely by design in an effort to secure the top overall draft pick, but that’s beside the point. The point is, the Sixers offense has been awful, and they’ve lost tons of games because of that. Over the last two seasons, they’ve compiled just 28 wins.
Hardwood Houdini
In 2014-15, they averaged an offensive rating of just 95.5, and didn’t improve much this season, finishing with an average rating of just above 98. Both of those statistics were dead last when compared to the rest of the NBA.
In 2014-15, the Sixers had an offensive rating of 94.7 before trading for Ish Smith. They scored just 90.7 points per game. After the trade, they saw a decent improvement on the season, jumping up to an average of 99.7 while scoring 95.9 points per game.
This season, we saw the very same occurrence take place. The Sixers put up an average offensive rating of 94.8 while scoring 91.4 points per game before trading for Ish on Christmas Eve. After Ish, their offensive rating shot up to 102.7 as they scored 101.1 points per game. This past season was an even more drastic improvement because of Ish than last year.
I find it crazy that fans are so quick to push a guy out the door who clearly can do big things for this team. His impact won’t be as much when the Sixers start building the roster up more, but he will still have an impact.
Next: Ish can diminish mediocrity
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
He benefits Nerlens Noel
One of the reasons I really don’t like having Nerlens Noel on the team and keeping him as a longterm player is because of how dependent he is on Ish Smith. At certain points this season, Noel even expressed that the Sixers needed to bring him back to the team because of how much he needed a player like Ish to succeed.
Although that’s a reason for us to think about moving Noel — a player who needs to be catered to to truly succeed offensively should be looked at as a negative — we shouldn’t knock Ish because of that. And if Nerlens is here for the long haul, maybe it’s worth keeping Ish around until the Sixers can find another point guard who can push Noel the same way Ish does.
Ish is a good player with a heads-up mentality. He’s always looking for the best option. Does he take the ball in and score himself, or does he give it to a teammate? Ish always seems to know what’s best, and does a good job of keeping turnovers relatively low.
As far as setting Noel up nicely, he works really well in the pick-and-roll with Ish. Noel rolls off of Ish and Ish looks for him for a lob. Sometimes Noel can cut backdoor as well and Ish finds him with a lob there as well.
Before Ish, this most recent season, Noel was really struggling. He was asked to be a power forward and didn’t have a guard with him that could push him to success. He was scoring just 9.8 points per game while shooting 45 percent from the field. He had an offensive rating of 84.
After Ish, however, he improved, averaging 11.9 points on 56.4 percent shooting with an improved offensive rating of 106.
Just as Ish improved this team, he improved some of the Sixers as well by being an incredible teammate.
It’s clear that the Ish effect is real with Nerlens, and if Nerlens is one of the big men that will be a part of the foundation of this team, it’s worth considering keeping Ish on to get as much as we possibly can out of Noel.
Next: Solid bench player
He’s a really solid bench player, even on a good team
I detracted the myth earlier that Ish was a starter-caliber player on most other NBA teams, but that doesn’t mean he’s a worthless player. When building a championship team, you have to have a solid bench so that your team can play a solid 48 minutes, especially when it comes to the playoffs. Teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors have benches that would be able to outdo a lot of starting lineups, and that’s what really makes them great.
The art of building a solid bench is tough to master, but Ish might be a good start. Ish averaged 14.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 7.0 assists per game as a Sixers last year. These numbers were quite impressive, and if he can be anything near that level of efficiency as a bench player too, he could be a good foundation to a solid bench.
As I’ve said before, the Sixers have some great pieces, but a lot of the ones who started often this past season will find themselves as the bench players of the Sixers in a few years, just because of the impending talent that should start to come in.
The numbers that Ish put up per game, as a Sixer this season, put him in a pool with players like George Hill, Tony Parker, David West and Shaun Livingston. All of those players averaged less than or equal to Ish in all three of the main statistical categories (points, rebounds, and assists). Yes, minutes come into play, but those are still some impressive names to be put alongside given three different statistical constraints.
Moving forward, there’s no doubt in my mind that Ish couldn’t be a great bench player for the Sixers, especially if he’s open to a more diminished role with the team as they chase success.