3 Shooters The Philadelphia 76ers Can Surround Ben Simmons With
The departures of Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum left a wide open hole in the middle of the Portland Trail Blazers roster last offseason. The Trail Blazers lost not only their star in LaMarcus Aldridge, but two quality wing players as well. It was a big reason why no one expected Portland to play the way they did this year and make it to the playoffs.
However, the emergence of C.J. McCollum and Allen Crabbe quickly shot away the notion that the Blazers were doomed at the two and three spots. McCollum put up borderline all star numbers, and Crabbe emerged from bench purgatory establishing himself as a very legitimate threat from deep off the bench. While McCollum looks to be part of a long term duo of studs featuring him and Damian Lillard, I’m not so sure Allen Crabbe is a surefire part of the plan out in Oregon.
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What I mean by that is Portland will likely to give it a go when it comes to resigning Crabbe, but he’s not untouchable. Crabbe will likely file under the same category of targets for the Sixers as the aforementioned Fournier. The Sixers could offer him a $15 million-per year (or more) contract, and force his current team to either match their overpaying offer or lose out on the 24-year-old sharp shooter.
Allen Crabbe is 6-6 and fits best at the shooting guard position which is occupied by McCollum in Portland so if he wants to be an every day starter, Philadelphia is the place to go. He’d offer an immediate improvement over what the Sixers have now in terms of scoring and spacing at their off ball guard position.
He’s not a particularly great defensive player, but he’s not a bad one either. He plays his best ball coming off screens catching a shooting. His long 6-11 wingspan give him the ability to shoot over late arriving defenders. Crabbe still needs to work on getting to the rim more often, and putting the ball on the floor.
Last year we saw a similar situation with Robert Covington who was draining threes on dishes out from Jahlil Okafor in the post, but he struggled to create his own shot at times. Luckily for guys like Crabbe and RoCo, they have two massive post presences in Big Jah and Joel Embiid as well as one very good slasher and distributor in Ben Simmons on the way. The skills sets around him should mask Crabbe’s deficiencies until he improves upon them.
Whether or not Crabbe is truly worth signing to big money is totally up in the air, but the Sixers are going to have to take a leap of faith or two if they want to sign any players that can make a big impact. The notion that 10 points per game gets you a $45-60 million contract sounds crazy, but that’s the kind of world we live in now. A huge deal no longer reflects how good the player is but rather the lucrative increase in salary cap and overall revenue being driven by the NBA.
Hopefully the Sixers can land Crabbe and he can build on his breakout year going into the 2016-2017 season. The Sixers have to reach near the $80 million mark to at least get close to the new salary floor. Why not use some of that extra dough to take a chance on Allen Crabbe?
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