How Will Ersan Ilyasova Impact the Philadelphia 76ers’ Offense?

Though mysteriously absent from the Philadelphia 76ers roster over the past three years, a stretch Power Forward is actually a pivotal cog in Brett Brown’s offense.

On the surface, the Philadelphia 76ers acquisition of Ersan Ilyasova is about as vanilla of a trade as you will find. However, the Sixers clearly had a vision for Ilyasova within their offense. Ilyasova does little to alter the long-term direction of the team, but he will have a very tangible impact on the team’s offense moving forward. Though mysteriously absent from the roster over the past three years, a stretch Power Forward is actually a pivotal cog in Brett Brown’s offense. Ilyasova, a career 37% three point shooter, will surely open things up for the Sixers’ offense.

While the team already has a good power forward prospect in Dario Saric, the team clearly needed depth at the four.  Given that he’s here to stay, let’s look into some film and see exactly how he impacts the Sixers’ offense.

The action that Ilyasova will help out with the most is in the Sixers’ Horns Pick and Rolls. One of the plays that the Sixers frequently use is called Horns Lift. In this play, one big will roll to the basket and the other big will pop out to the three point line.

Notice how the juxtaposition of the two bigs along with the high pick and roll can easily confuse the defense. They often leave one big wide open, though Dario Saric is unable to make the Hornets pay here.

This play can also be used to get solid post position for the rolling big man. Notice here how although Saric is covered, it creates plenty of space for a Joel Embiid post-up. That space is created, in large part, by Saric’s defender sticking to him out of respect for his jump shot.

In this case, Jerami Grant’s defender will try to hedge, which leaves him off balance in his recovery and allows Jerami to drive. Though Ilyasova is not much of a threat to drive, you can easily imagine him punishing big men who hedge the screens with his ability to shoot.

Imagine no longer. On Ilyasova’s first three offensive possessions against the Hornets on Wednesday, Brown ran Horns Lift 2 times.

Ilyasova will also allow Brett Brown to get much more creative with his sets. On Wednesday, I noticed Brown called a few sets where Ilyasova and another big will set a double drag screen with Ilyasova popping to the three point line.

In this case, Ilyasova gets great separation from his defender, but Sergio Rodriguez is unable to get him the ball on time.

Same play here with just as much success, but Rodriguez throws an errant pass and the play goes to waste.

The last play we should look at is a set called “Flare Fist”. In this play, the center will set a flare screen for the power forward and then go into a pick and roll with the point guard.

Notice here how Saric’s man has to bump down on the roll man, creating space for a potential open three. The defense scrambles and gives up an open look for Rodriguez.

While they are unable to execute here, the importance of having big men who can shoot the basketball.

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These few plays are just a small sample of the way the Philadelphia 76ers will utilize Ilyasova. Do not expect Ilyasova to have a significant impact statistically. He will, however, make  Sixers basketball easier to watch as well as allowing Brett Brown to run some really creative sets.

Thanks for reading, that’s all I’ve got for today. Stay tuned for a complete Sixers offensive breakdown coming soon!