Defendable Defense
The “who’s who” style of starting roster changes also hurt the team on defense, as the 76ers land 29th in that statistic as well.
Last season, the team surrendered 107.6 points per game for 29th in the NBA. This year, despite surrendering 108.2 points per game, the team checks in at 23rd in the league.
A year ago, the Philadelphia 76ers sat dead last in rebounds, managing a mere 41.2 boards per game. This year, the team is sitting at 19th in the league with 42.8 boards per game. The improvement has come despite the lack of production on the offensive boards, where the team’s current rate of 7.9 offensive rebounds per game is far behind last year’s 9.5 offensive rebound per game.
Air Alamo
Strides have come on the defensive side, where the team’s 34.9 defensive rebounds per game are good enough for sixth in the NBA. Last year’s 31.8 defensive rebounds came in at 26th in the league.
The team sits at third in the NBA with blocked shots at 5.9, while it boasted 6.0 blocks from a year ago. Keep in mind that the team dealt forward Jerami Grant and has not seen Nerlens Noel on the basketball court. The pair contributed over 3.0 blocks per game last year.
The difference maker so far is Joel Embiid. When he plays, the teams defense improves by nearly 10 points per game. (113 vs 104) The problem lies in the fact that he is not up to handling the full load of the team, yet.
Brett Brown: Sixers need Joel Embiid to be 'crown jewel' of defense https://t.co/ZoUOq5TZuf
— Jessica Camerato (@JessicaCamerato) September 16, 2016
Each day he grows a little stronger. Eventually, he will pick up more time per game, and then more games. By season’s end, he should be up to full strength.