The NBA season is over a month away and NBA 2K17 might be the best insight we have of what we can expect from the Philadelphia 76ers this season.
This is the first of a 29-part series of articles, in which the topic of choice will be how the Philadelphia 76ers match up against every other NBA team. In order to keep it fair in analyzing each match up there will be some ground rules:
- I will be playing full 12 minute quarters
- I will try to keep the minutes divided up as head coach Brett Brown would:
- This includes player rotations and restricted minutes (ex. Joel Embiid)
- I also experimented with lineups, like with Jahlil Okafor and Embiid on the floor, and Ben Simmons at point guard.
- One exception is that I will try to play all players at least 2 minutes in each match up.
- I will be going with 2K’s starting five:
- Point Guard: Jerryd Bayless
- Shooting Guard: Gerald Henderson
- Small Forward: Robert Covington
- Power Forward: Ben Simmons
- Center: Jahlil Okafor
- I will be playing the game on Pro-Level:
- This is a fair level that the beginner/average player plays at.
- 3 Sixers players who could help Team USA Basketball
- 76ers 2k24 ratings: 3 most underrated players on Philadelphia roster
- 76ers head coach Nick Nurse bares lofty plans for Paul Reed this season
- Grade the Trade: 76ers swap Tobias Harris for superstar PG in mock deal
- Sixers Podcast: Danny Green returns + James Harden bombshell
- Statistical highs:
- Points: Okafor, 25
- Rebounds: Simmons and Noel, 12
- Assist: Simmons, 8
- Steals: Noel, 3
- Blocks: Noel, 3
- Turnovers: Simmons and Rodriguez, 3
- Most 3-pointers Made: Jerami Grant, Bayless, and Covington, 2
- Plus/Minus: Embiid, 25
Surprise Player Of The Game
Jerami Grant had 17 points while shooting 70 percent from the floor. He had 3 rebounds and 2 assist as well. He made 50 percent of the 3-pointers and made his only free throw attempt. Grant showed a lot of promise in the game. This trend continues in other simulations then maybe he might be inline for a big year in real life.
Nets Analysis
Two of the top three scorers for the Nets where Jeremy Lin and Greivis Vasquez with 17 and 21 points respectively. The Nets look to be point guard drive and while Brook Lopez only had 7 point and 5 rebounds it was good that he only 17 minutes, because he shot 3 of 16 from the floor. It does not look good for the 30th ranked team in NBA 2K17.
Next: Philadelphia 76ers: It Is Time For A Sleeved Jersey
The next article and match up will be against the 28th ranked Los Angeles Lakers. It will be a great match up between the first and second overall picks from the draft.
Final Box Score and Team Comparison
More from The Sixer Sense
The Philadelphia 76ers crushed the Brooklyn Nets 146 to 109. The Sixers dominated a majority of the stats, such as points in the paint, blocks, and field goal percentage. In the majority of areas that the Sixers did dominate it was by a big margin, however in 3-point percentage, second chance points, and turnovers it was by a closer margin.
There are a few areas that the Nets had an advantage. In both free throw percentage and steals the Nets were able to edge the Sixers, as well as, time of possession.
These stats show a couple of things. Based off the the time of possession this shows that I like to play a fast pace game when playing NBA 2K. It also shows that the Sixers can play a fast pace which could bode well for this upcoming season. The Sixers might not be a good 3-point shooting team with only shooting 33 percent in the game. They could dominate the borders this season based off the fact that they gathered a grand total of 54 rebounds and 19 of them were offensive. The team could be good defensively based on 9 steals and 11 blocks in the simulation.
The playing time for the players were actually fairly even, in part because of the blowout. Robert Covington led the way in minutes with 26 minutes played.
Player Of The Game
Jahlil Okafor had 25 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assist, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers, shooting 12-15 from the floor and only one turnover. He also made his one free throw attempt, as well as, having a plus/minus of 12, and did all this in 23 minutes on the floor. The Philadelphia 76ers are in good shape if this is any actually indication of what the second year big man can do on the floor. It shows his defense can improve and his offense will be on another level this upcoming season.
Notable Players
First overall pick Ben Simmons had the stat line of 18 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 turnovers. He had a +/- 11 and shot 7-16 from the the floor as well as making half of his 8 attempted free throws. This is a predicable, but good stat line for Simmons. It shows he can improve but it shows his potential. He could not hit one of his 4 attempts from the 3-point line. This is a concern, but something that can be improved on down the line.
Embiid played 21 minutes in the simulation, but during his time he stuffed the stat sheet. He had 14 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and 1 turnover and shot 60 percent from the floor, but only shooting 50 percent from the free-throw line is a small concern. This is what everyone hoped to see in Embiid and if he can start the season off like this, then the Sixers are in good shape.
Nerlens Noel played a efficent game making all but one field goal attempt, and making his one free throw attempt. He had 13 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks and only 1 turnover. Not much growth from Noel from last year in terms of states offensively or defensively, but he did have a +/- 21. Keeping an eye on this could be important down the road.
Trends & Game Play
Several things I noticed while playing NBA 2K17 is that is getting a charge is a lot easier than the previous version of the game. Sergio Rodriguez had 4 fouls in the game, two of which where charges. Dario Saric did not play well in the game, with only 4 pts while making 25 percent of his shots. He did have 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals to offset the poor shooting.