While the 2017 NBA Draft offers a chance to reinforce team roster, these Philadelphia 76ers are already Playoff Caliber Team
The Philadelphia 76ers woke up from a four year slumber in 2017. After years of creating NBA players from second round and undrafted picks, the team finally began to fit the pieces all together. The team managed a 20-30 record despite:
No Ben Simmons
Losing Joel Embiid for the season on January 27
Just Three Games from Jerryd Bayless
Robert Covington missing last eight games, all losses
So the team, in the heat of playoff runs by contenders, played well despite crippling injuries to four starters. Now, those starters join and rejoin the team. What will be the results?
Injuries Masked Team’s Quality
Well, if all players can remain healthy, this team is playoff caliber. How can I say that so confidently? Plenty of NBA teams have had the difference between playoffs and lottery picks from just one key player being injured. The Philadelphia 76ers had as many as four such injured players through the course of the season.
Not much was said about this team in the course of the season, because the narrative had already been written: Philadelphia 76ers Tanking For NBA Draft Picks. It will take a playoff appearance by this team to change that narrative.
That appearance will happen in 2017-2018
2017-2018 DEPTH CHART
CENTER POWER FORWARD SMALL FORWARD
Joel Embiid Dario Saric Robert Covington
Jahlil Okafor Shawn Long (Josh Jackson)
Richaun Holmes Richaun Holmes Justin Anderson*
Shooting Guard Point Guard
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot Ben Simmons
Nik Stauskas T.J.McConnell
Gerald Henderson Jerryd Bayless
I have taken the liberty of sliding in anticipated 2017 NBA Draft projection Josh Jackson into the depth chart. The 76ers can slide any number of small forwards there, or if they manage to deal for Markelle Fultz, simply slide Ben Simmons there as a point forward. In fact, the team has more ways to succeed in the 2017 NBA Draft than most realize. The team can improve from up to a dozen available players. But that is just one benefit to this team’s versatility.
More from The Sixer Sense
- 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
The versatility of this team also makes position designations relatively unimportant. What is important is the quality of each lineup. Now, let’s look at the starting five to see what all the fuss is about.
Starting Five
This team will be led by two NBA Titans, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. If they can pull off this pairing harmoniously, the NBA is in for a rude awakening.
Swarm and Sting
With Joel Embiid running the show from the paint, and Ben Simmons running the rest of the floor, the 76ers are well covered in the Pass and Pace department. They simply need spacing.
Now, there may be some debate over the actual five as well. Jerryd Bayless, if healthy, could push for backcourt time. Nik Stauskas, steadily improving each year, has been tossed at the point guard role as well. His cross-trained NBA career places him among the candidates for either the one or the two position.
But this team will need staunch defense, and the ability to score from the three. In those capacities, I think we need to look at others.
That will not pose a problem for the likes of Dario Saric, Robert Covington, and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. Each will provide plenty of that, plus some stalwart defense. In fact, all have a bit of passing skills on top of their offensive and defensive attributes.
Center Joel Embiid
Joel Embiid is the franchise player so many hoped for. Well, he will be if he can remain healthy enough to stay on the basketball court. This year, he will. He was a defensive blockade, and an offensive juggernaut. And as we learned in the season, he only is embarrassed once. Despite playing just 31 games, he truly exhibited enough star quality to fuel wildfire optimism.
He averaged 25 playing minutes per game in 2016-2017. I see that rising to 30 minutes per game in 2017-2018. And so, I project he delivers:
28 points (PPG), 11 Rebounds (RPG), 4 Assists(APG), 4.5 Blocks (BPG), 2.0 Steals (SPG)
50 percent shooting from the floor, 38 percent three-point, and 81 percent shooting free throws
Power Forward Dario Saric
Dario Saric was truly the tale of two players: Mad Mario and Deadly Dario. Mad Mario was the player who began the season. As a rookie who had just come out of tough play at the Olympics as a member of the surprisingly effective Croatian National team, he began the season in a lackluster manner.
But things changed rapidly for Saric after Joel Embiid fell to injury. Deadly Dario began to score, scoring rose nearly seven points a game, and he rebounded two-three more per game as well
Now that he is here in the NBA, and not competing in the Olympics, you can expect Deadly Dario to be the norm. He averaged 26 minutes per game. That should rise slightly, up to 29 minutes per game. And so, you can expect:
18 points (PPG), 9 Rebounds (RPG), 4 Assists(APG), 1.5 Blocks (BPG), 2.0 Steals (SPG)
47 percent shooting from the floor, 36 percent three-point, and 82 percent shooting free throws
Small Forward Robert Covington
Robert Covington emerged as one of the top two-way players in the NBA. But much like Dario Saric, his season did not begin in a very special manner. That early season drought truly masked the outstanding play of Covington by mid and late in the season.
But his defense never faltered. And his offense slowly returned. In fact, he surged to a 17 PPG, 8 RPG, 3 SPG player in February 2017. I say that is more of the norm for Robert Covington
And from that, you can expect 28 minutes per game, and:
17 points (PPG), 9.2 Rebounds (RPG), 3 Assists(APG), 1 Blocks (BPG), 2.0 Steals (SPG)
45 percent shooting from the floor, 35 percent three-point, and 88 percent shooting free throws
Shooting Guard Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot displayed his potential as the 2016-2017 drew to a close. This was the 24th pick from the 2016 NBA Draft who projected as high as the tenth pick. He fell as many NBA teams picked the few front court assets available in that draft, and he was a raw two-way prospect.
By season’s end, he was very good offensively and defensively. But the problem was the team did not have time to develop him on the court. Now that he has had the taste of starting 19 NBA games, I cannot see him sitting for long this season. He is tenacious, long armed defender who moves incredibly well without the ball in his hands.
He only averaged 17 minutes per game in 2016-2017. This year that goes up to 26 minutes and:
18.5 points (PPG), 5.7 Rebounds (RPG), 2 Assists(APG), 2 Blocks (BPG), 2.9 Steals (SPG)
40 percent shooting from the floor, 37 percent three-point, and 85 percent shooting free throws
Point Guard, er, Whatever Ben Simmons
Many continue to argue over the position designation of Ben Simmons, even while the Milwaukee Bucks play Giannis Antetokounmpo in a similar role. However you call it, Simmons will be on the floor, will be the primary ball handler, and will guard whoever guards him.
Now, how does that translate into this team roster, a roster he has yet to join for an NBA game.
In a word. Incredibly.
Since the 2016 NBA Draft, this team has been pruning and grafting NBA talent to the roster to create a team capable of using all of Simmons many talents. And which talents are they? He has incredible passing skills. In fact, he anticipates where the shooter will be for the open shot, and hurls the ball on a laser beam to that location. Ben Simmons can shoot too, His body has incredible stop start turn bursts which play havoc with defenders trying to remain close.
Big Bodies Bounty
As soon as he get separation, he shoots. As soon as attracts a crowd of defenders, he passes.
All we have is summer league, but that showed plenty. In summer league, Richaun Holmes and Christian Wood looked unstoppable. Ben Simmons can do that for the big bodied players. And with this roster, there are plenty of big bodies.
He never played in 2016-2017. This year he starts, and he’s had a year to prepare physically and mentally for this moment. His summer league numbers were decent enough, but he’ll improve on those in the 2017 NBA Season
14.9 points (PPG), 9.6 Rebounds (RPG), 9.8 Assists(APG), 2.8 Blocks (BPG), 1.9 Steals (SPG)
43 percent shooting from the floor, 35 percent three-point, and 80 percent shooting free throws
So there you have it, the starting five of the Philadelphia 76ers.
2017-2018 Wins Total
Now it’s easy to talk about the NBA playoffs, but the tough part is piecing how many wins this team will land, and how many wins it will take to land into the 2018 NBA Playoffs. Let’s build on some knowns.
Daily Knicks
We know that a depleted NBA roster Philadelphia 76ers team played 20 wins – 30 losses in 2017. projected, that is a 33 win -49 loss season in 2017. Now, let’s add wins to that. Robert Covington fell to injury in the last eight games. He stays healthy, which adds three wins. Joel Embiid stays healthy, and the team won seven of nine games in Januarly 2017. Let’s factor that down, and commit another 10 wins to the team. That leaves this team at 46-36, situated well enough to land as the fifth seed of the 2018 Playoffs.
Method II
But lets look at it from another angle. Let’s compare the 76ers starting five to the starting five of current playoff teams. The key of course is Joel Embiid’s scoring, but the top five on this roster will each play pivotal roles. On one hand, compare these projections to the rosters of the Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers, or the Milwaukee Bucks, and the argument can be made that the 76ers players are a better group of five. On the other hand, even the roster of the Atlanta Hawks seems to come up short against the Sixers roster.
Next: Philadelphia already has the 2017 Rookie of the Year: Ben Simmons
It’s not until you examine the duo powered rosters of the Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors that comparisons seem to slide in favor of the other teams. In fact, the team most comparable is that of the Boston Celtics, whose Isaiah Thomas scored in high 20’s while the rest of team’s starters plunked in 10 plus points. So from that standpoint, the team would likely win between 43 and 49 games.