NBA Free Agency: Shooting Guard Gerald Henderson
Gerald Henderson was the third signing by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2016. In fact, he was one of the free agents we sorely hoped would come to the team.
Why the fuss?
He’s a native of the area, and he’s coming home. His recent run in the NBA is on a downturn, but there are solid reasons to expect a huge uptick in Henderson’s production.
Henderson had hip surgery in July 2015, which seemed to have affected Henderson early in the 2015-2016 season. Through Jan 2016, he was barely averaging over 7.0 points per game. But he found his groove as the season wore on, scoring season high 19 points twice in the latter months of the season. Throughout the season, despite playing reduced minutes, e continued to shoot accurately, draining 43.9 percent of his shots from the floor, and 35.3 percent of his treys.
His career averages of 11.5 points per game on 44.2 percent shooting from the floor, combined with 3.3 rebound per game and 1.9 assists per game on an average of 26.3 minutes per game will be a nice offset to the loss of Isaiah Canaan. Canaan delivered 11.0 points per game on 36 percent shooting from the floor and 36.3 percent of his treys, to go with 2.3 rebounds per game and 1.8 assists on an average of 25.5 minutes per game.
What Henderson truly delivers in bunches is defense, particularly on the perimeter. He will be the Philadelphia 76ers version of a shutdown corner. His ability to guard the opponent’s most productive scorer consistently is a skill the Philadelphia 76ers have truly longed for.
Perhaps the least valued, and most important attribute to Henderson is his fiery passion. He’s “Philly passionate” about the game, taking an almost “Dawkins like” emotional leader to his team when the chips are down. It’s that fire that was so very lacking from the team last year. Far too many games were too close to always seem to end up with the Philadelphia 76ers coming up short.
With Henderson on the court, the team wins those games this year.
Areas Addressed by Transaction: Shooting Guard, Perimeter Shooting, Defense, Cohesion, Veteran Leaderhip
Tranasaction Grade: A+ – Passion. It is the last missing ingredient, and in the signing of Henderson, the Philadelphia 76ers now have all the raw materials to build a champion. It will take time, but no ingredients are missing.
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