Don’t Expect Philadelphia 76ers Vanilla Offense This Year

By Bret Stuter | Jul 28, 2016

Jul 12, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Ben Simmons (25) dribbles the ball during an NBA Summer League game against the Golden State Warriors at Thomas & Mack Center. Golden State won the game 85-77. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /

The 2015-2016 Philadelphia 76ers offense was vanilla out of necessity. Expect to see far more from teams offense this year.

By the time the Philadelphia 76ers were preparing for Christmas 2015, the team’s offense was pedestrian. It averaged just 91.6 points per game, good for last place in the NBA. The offense was not due solely to bad shooters, but a very basic offensive scheme designed by head coach Brett Brown to dummy-down the plays to fit the absence of a true NBA starting point guard.

The team added assistant coach Mike D’Antoni to reinforce Brown’s offensive plays, and added point guard Ish Smith to run things at an NBA level.

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The results were dramatically impressive, as the team’s offensive output rose to over 100 points per game. However, the surge was temporary, as the team lost leading scorer Jahlil Okafor at the end of February 2016. By season’s end, the Philadelphia 76ers had improved to 97.4 points per game, still 29th in the NBA, but an improvement of 6 points per game over the late December average.

In fact, the offensive output was the most by a Philadelphia 76ers team in four of the past five seasons, only bested in that timespan by the 2013-2014 team’s 99.5 points per game.

Can the team build upon last season’s offensive improvement? Perhaps more than we realize. While the team did lose Ish Smith to free agency, it did manage to load up on three guards: Sergio Rodriguez, Gerald Henderson, and Jerryd Bayless. While they are temporary place holders for the back court, the real power of the offense lies in the ball handling and distribution of rookie Ben Simmons.

While Simmons will give the team new options for plays, he is not the only one who will do so. Dario Saric arrives from Europe with his own set of skills in the passing department. Even Sergio Rodriguez is a gifted passer.

With so much ball mobility at the disposal of the 76ers this year, there is little chance the team relies upon a point guard bringing the ball up and dumping to the post or to the corner shot this year. It’s that fact which really will open up the 76ers offense. With a roster filled with rebounders, that will open up the offense even more.

Jahlil Okafor comes back, and he’s back a year wiser and stronger. Nerlens Noel comes back too. The team also will say hello to the debut of Joel Embiid and Dario Saric. Even returning players like Hollis Thompson and Richaun Holmes will find more scoring opportunities in this new offense.

This scoring will rely upon Ben Simmons. Can Ben Simmons keep a handle on the ball? Can he get that ball to the open man? Can he score if he has no outlet?

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So far, the consensus is yes to all three questions. And so, that 100 points per game mark achieved by Ish Smith at the helm on a less talented team is doable by this roster. With that in place, the team can work on denying baskets to the opponent. With a roster with Noel, Holmes, Jerami Grant, Robert Covington and T.J. McConnell, that is doable as well. The team needs to open up the playbook and find the right combination of players.

Which is far easier than trying to get the roster healthy enough to play at this time last season.