Myths begin by retelling a story until presumed to be fact – much like the logjam tale of the Philadelphia 76ers front court.
By now you’ve had the front court dilemma of the Philadelphia 76ers drilled into your heads that it’s become a unchallenged fact. But myths begin that way as well. The triad of the Philadelphia 76ers is one such myth.
To hear tell from the Philadelphia media, they have done a fairly responsible job of identifying the problem as something that must be addressed by the Philadelphia 76ers. To hear the same narrative from national NBA media, it’s an issue that is so great in its magnitude that it is literally choking the life out of the future of the Philadelphia 76ers franchise.
I’m here to correct that, and to point to the simple fact that of the past three years, the “conflict” of who is playing center for the Philadelphia 76ers – of the possible 246 games in these past three years – is just 53 games -the total number of games played by Jahlil Okafor in his rookie season.
There is no choke hold, no depraving star athletes from playing time, no crippling of NBA careers here folks. 53 games.
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53 games out of a total of 246 games is just 21.544715447% of the games folks. Stare at this monster and understand what it truly is – just a boogie man fictionalized by media to give conflict to the team.
You’ve heard it as often as I have. “Logjam” “Front Court Fiasco” “Far Too Many Centers”. Seems to me that if the problem over the past three years is just 21.5% of the time, then its not really been much of an historic problem after all.
Next: Reality vs. Myth
Reality vs. Myth
Now don’t get me wrong. There are three very talented centers who are on the Philadelphia 76ers roster, who each expect and deserving of playing minutes of significance for the team. But the point of the matter is that we’ve heard so much fuss about the problem before it has ever arrived that we have been anesthetized to the proposed current solution: Trade two of the three!
Such proactive approaches would place a cast on a leg before it breaks, or take a car to the body shop before the car gets rear ended by a collision. We had just one fraction of a season with the services of Jahlil Okafor who brings incredible offensive upside to the team, Nerlens Noel two seasons where he brings incredible defensive upside to the team, and Joel Embiid who brings the promise of both.
Daily Knicks
We think this will be a problem, so we want to discharge two of the three centers before it becomes one? It hasn’t happened yet.
The truth of the matter is that the team tried to find a pattern for both Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel on the floor simultaneously and did not succeed in the 2015-2016 season. But the overall cohesiveness of the team was flat-lined. For all Sam Hinkie’s future vision, he could not see the ground under his feet, the issue which plagued head coach Brett Brown , forcing him to manufacture a basketball team lineup from the parts store where Hinkie shopped.
The 2015-2016 Philadelphia 76ers roster was a kit form of 14 healthy players with instructions in a foreign language, which head coach Brett Brown had to assemble on the fly. I don’t need to mention how that turned out for the team
Next: A Mosaic Team
A Mosaic Team
That assembling of pieces was not all that was required. Brett Brown was so immersed in mentoring , developing, and maturing his roster of young players that he seldom had the time, energy, or tools to examine who fit and how they did so. He entered the season way behind schedule, admitting as such in an interview with CSN Philly.com’s John Finger:
"“ (I need) about two weeks. We’re two weeks behind, I feel. Two weeks behind, and that’s probably even being a little generous. Nik (Stauskas) hasn’t played. It’s more about Jahlil (Okafor) and Nerlens (Noel). It’s a jigsaw puzzle, because, on one level, you want to get our guys playing together, especially Nerlens and Jah, because they really haven’t played much together. We’re (Sam Hinkie and myself) way past not genuinely trying to do this together. When you sit down and he (Hinkie) thinks something and I think something, it’s clear. We will both fight for different things. From a business perspective and trying to grow our program tough decisions might have to be made. He and I have sat down most days over the past few weeks, just touching base and talking about it. It’s never an easy time coming up .I hope to see enough of them. I don’t even want to quantify what that number means. I do want to play them together and I don’t know how long it will be.”Brown said."
Not easy time indeed. The Philadelphia 76ers entered the 2015-2016 without even knowing who that starting point guard might be. Without that key piece, how was the team truly expected to gel at all?
How indeed. A recipe for a 10-72 team.
Next: What's so different this year?
What’s so different this year?
The difference is already night and day. For all the detractors of new President Bryan Colangelo, there are some very admirable qualities that will immediately change the team’s situation going into the 2016-2017 NBA season.
I. He Will Deliver Players For Specific Roles To Head Coach Brett Brown –
For All Sam Hinkie’s brilliance, he could not resist the pure talent aspect of a prospect. He shopped the bargain basement of the NBA, and then delivered the pieces to Brown – with full expectations for Brown to use each piece for the improvement of the roster. Some pieces didn’t gel, while some roles where not filled effectively. Point guard was never addressed effectively until the team traded for point guard Ish Smith. Power Forward was never addressed effectively until Carl Landry returned to the team about mid season. And while the reclamation projects of Nik Stauskas and Isaiah Canaan were well intentioned, it left Brown with “on the job training” projects at the shooting guard position. Even Robert Covington, who shows signs of taking it to the next level, has a mid season slump that crippled the team.
II. He Appears to be More Aligned with Brett Brown’s Vision –
Brett Brown is optimistic when it comes to his players, but he’s very honest when he discusses the dynamics of the the Philadelphia 76ers. His initial response to Bryan Colangelo’s arrival has been incredibly upbeat so far. While the events have yet to play out, the initial assessment is that Brown trusts Colangelo to do the right thing when the time comes – not to raid the cupboards of young talent and simply dump all “Hinkie guys” out to the NBA.
That being said, the stress level of Brown should be reduced from this fact alone, which should give Brown a better opportunity to be more strategic and less reactionary to the roster delivered to him for the season.
III. The 2015-2016 Talent is Off The Charts by Comparison –
The best the 2015-2016 roster could boast was 14 healthy players. The 2015 roster has the equivalent of five first round prospects added to that 14 player roster. Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, and three first round draft picks are added to this team – while the team will risk losing Ish Smith, Elton Brand and potentially Isaiah Canaan to free agency. Oh. One of the draft picks is the first draft pick from the 2016 NBA draft. In the past that has translated into Doug Collins or Allen Iverson for this franchise.
That is simply a huge surge in raw talent level for this team.
The other factor is that, until roster changes happen, this roster is one year more experienced in the NBA and as teammates. That is a very positive factor as well.
Next: Every Team Has Things To Work Out
Every Team Has “Things to work out”
The Philadelphia 76ers are not immune to the forces of the NBA. The city has a passion for basketball that is unmatched elsewhere. But to compound our passion, the city has a very high level of basketball IQ.
That makes this city ripe for the media attempts to rip us apart at our weakest point: “what will this team do?”
Sometimes, the answer is to sit back and watch what they do before reacting.
Right now, the media has been flooding the NBA headlines with innuendos, rumors, and hypothetical scenarios, and much of the news is centered on the Philadelphia 76ers. It’s predictable in that the Philadelphia 76ers have the most room to improve in the NBA this season, and each of the fans of this team have determined the best way to do that.
So the media feeds our fears by detailing scenarios that electrify our passions. We absorb, react, and respond. But in a moment of lucid thought and objective reasoning, let’s look at that Philadelphia 76ers front court.
Next: The Real Front Court Dilemma
The Real Front Court Dilemma
Youth is a disadvantage in the season, as younger players in any professional sport tend to be sporadic. One game they fill the highlights reel, the next game they become invisible. But in the off-season, that youth becomes a distinct advantage.
Young players who want to excel at the sport train longer and harder. That training shows up in the season. In fact, even most NBA elite show statistical improvements over their first four or five seasons. For the Philadelphia 76ers, most of the team’s current roster falls in the three years or less range – so all players are in that curve of improving.
Another strength to young players is their versatility. After a player hits five years of experience, they are pretty much what they are. But younger players, still learning the NBA, have the ability to switch roles and contribute in a new position.
It’s that ability to adapt which is the solution to the Philadelphia 76ers front court. With three positions to fill: Center, Power Forward, and Small Forward, the team will have plenty of elite bodies to fit into those roles.
We’ve discussed the various lineups the Sixers could consider with the addition of Simmons, Saric and Embiid. Now granted, the team may elect Brandon Ingram at the number one pick, and they have yet to address the back court.
Next: We Can Work It Out
We Can Work It Out
Its impossible to fix this roster today. “I hear a noise that we may get stuck in the front court with too many players for too little playing time” is all we have to go on. We have no statistics to work from. We have admittedly acknowledged that the 2015-2016 was a place holder of attempting to develop the players, and no true statistical representation of what this team truly is about.
Do we focus on scoring? Do we focus on defense? Do we build a better fast break/transition game, or do we go with a staunch defense?
The Philadelphia 76ers did not do much well last season.
But they can this year with a little strategy. With an opportunity to bring Ben Simmons to the roster, the team will have some very tall and talented players to send to the court. Tall should give the team a better opportunity to challenge at the rebound and blocked shots – two areas where the team needs to improve desperately.
Joel Embiid is on minutes restrictions to start the season, and will join Dario Saric and Ben Simmons as NBA rookies. To get a fast start out of this season’s gates, we’ll need players who can take substantial minutes in those respective positions.
So far, a Brett Brown coached team exemplifies team work, and comraderie. Each player on the team understands the rare honor it is to play on an NBA team. That type of team will share minutes willingly.
Next: Five Areas Where Joel Embiid Has Improved
Let the season commence with a question or two remaining in the front court. Let fate decide who starts for the Philadelphia 76ers. If we wait, we risk the trade value of one of our players who didn’t work out for us. If we hastily trade, we risk ending up with the lesser player, but now in the same boat of not having value to trade.
We have plenty to fix on this team. Let’s try making a deliberate effort to focus on what is truly broken.