The Sixer Sense
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Sergio Rodriguez is the Biggest Sixers Unknown

By Josh Wilson

Nov 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Philadelphia 76ers logo on the warm up shirt of center Jahlil Okafor (not pictured) prior to action against the Chicago Bulls at Wells Fargo Center. The Bulls won 111-88. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Philadelphia 76ers logo on the warm up shirt of center Jahlil Okafor (not pictured) prior to action against the Chicago Bulls at Wells Fargo Center. The Bulls won 111-88. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Philadelphia 76ers have several new faces and unknowns debuting this season, but Sergio Rodriguez is the biggest mystery.

Going into this upcoming season, the Philadelphia 76ers have a lot of unknowns to keep an eye on. How these unknowns play out will determine how the Sixers approach next offseason, as well as how many games they will win this season.

Many unknowns are players. That’s fairly obvious, as the Sixers are a unique team who actually have four rookies on their team.

When you’ve got any rookies, you’re expecting a lot of factors to play into how well they perform. Can they transition from their last school/league to the NBA? How close to their ceiling are they?

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It becomes even harder when one of your rookies was drafted two years ago, and sat out with injury, watching for two full seasons. Another was stashed overseas, and one was brought over from his international team right away. Only one of the rookies — Ben Simmons — is “conventional.”

These things seem obvious. It’s expected that the most unknowns for the Sixers come from this realm, the rookies, the players who haven’t seen one minute of NBA action. But the biggest unknown isn’t a rookie. The biggest unknown was drafted in 2006. His name is Sergio Rodriguez.

Rodriguez was one of the three big free agency signings that team president Bryan Colangelo orchestrated this offseason.

Rodriguez, who was selected 27th overall in 2006, played for four seasons in the NBA before deciding it was best to head overseas to play. Throughout his career, Rodriguez averaged 4.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. His best season was by far the 2010 season with the New York Knicks, where he averaged 7.4 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game.

Throughout his career he was a decent shooter, going 41.8 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from beyond the arc. In his best seasons, he shot 47 percent from the field and 35 percent from beyond the arc.

But that’s the thing about Rodriguez. In the NBA samples we’ve seen, we’ve seen two types of players. A not good player, and a player who is bench-worthy at most. So when he comes to the Sixers, which one will we see? Or will we see a player who is better than either of the two types of Sergios we saw in the NBA?

Over the last several seasons, Rodriguez has been playing in Spain for Real Madrid. He’s done a solid job, in his most recent season averaging 11.6 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game. By far, he was better in Spain than he was in America, but will that translate to him coming in as a better NBA player than before, even at 30 years old?

One could assume that there’s a fair possibility that he could. It could be argued that coming to the NBA when he did hurt Rodriguez’s game. Prior to going to the NBA, Rodriguez played for Estudiantes, averaging 8.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game.

When he came back to play in the same league, (now with Real Madrid) despite playing comparable minutes, his production was down compared to years before. Still, he built up, and produced more and more each season.

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I would put money on saying that Rodriguez will be a better NBA player now than he was when we last saw him in the league, however, I’m still not certain that he is going to be what we think he is. That’s quite alright for the Sixers, though, since they have a bunch of guards to fall back on if he doesn’t do well, and only have Rodriguez on contract for this season.

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The transition from international basketball to the NBA can be an incredibly tough one, and Rodriguez’s past in the NBA, and him spending the last few seasons with Real Madrid makes him a huge question mark this season, quite possibly the biggest one on the team.