Sixers could be the best defensive team in the East
Despite having one of the younger rotations in the league, the Philadelphia 76ers could feasibly emerge as the best defensive team in the Eastern Conference.
Defense has been the Philadelphia 76ers‘ calling card ever since The Process began. Even when the talent was lacking and the metrics were poor, the team’s willingness to come out and grind on a nightly basis was admirable — and a lot of that can be attributed to Brett Brown’s tutelage.
Last year, however, marked a major step forward for the SIxers’ defense. Rather than getting by on energy alone, they showed flashes of potentially-elite coverage during Joel Embiid‘s time on the court, while a few individuals were noted at a national level for their defensive proficiency.
Philadelphia 76ers
Embiid was legitimately among the league’s best defenders for 31 games, while Robert Covington quietly deflected his way to fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting — despite being snubbed from the All-Defensive squads.
Philadelphia’s best defense came during the months of January and February, during which Embiid and company went on a run that had some Sixers fans thinking playoffs prior to the Cameroonian’s injury. When analyzing their success, however, one thing in particular stands out: the lack of defensive depth.
Aside from their foremost pieces, Philadelphia lacked defensive talent. Dario Saric and Ersan Ilyasova struggled in different capacities, while their remaining guard core — outside of McConnell — was lackluster with regards to defensive performance.
Even the scope of McConnell’s impact is limited by his athletic profile, with further emphasizes just how vast Embiid and Covington’s impact is. Both are among the league’s best defensive players, and they alone are enough to place the Sixers towards the top of the East on the side of the ball when they’re both healthy.
A handful of other factors, though, are what could quickly establish the Sixers as the best defensive team in the conference — a title that in and of itself elevates their competitiveness drastically in a conference that lacks second-tier teams.
The Cavaliers will (and have already had) deficiencies on the defensive end, something the Kyrie Irving–Isaiah Thomas swap only amplifies. They’ll have questionable perimeter defense and average rim protection, while LeBron James isn’t capable of playing extensive minutes and still putting in a full workload on both ends.
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Boston already lacks size in the frontcourt, while their offseason moves sent away the team’s two best defenders in Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley. Gordon Hayward in a plus — and the Marcus Smart/Jaylen Brown combo is more than capable of picking up the slack — but their defense won’t reach Philly’s level.
With the conference’s elite struggling on defense, the remainder of the conference is relatively weak as well. The Bucks, Hornets and Heat all have some intriguing upside on that end, but none of those teams have a piece of Embiid’s caliber at this moment in time. Giannis Antetokounmpo is perhaps the next closest player in the East when considering a player’s overarching affect on opposing offenses.
The East’s weakness is matched by the improvements elsewhere on the Sixers roster. While Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz weren’t defensive savants during their brief collegiate stints, length and mobility should allow both to thrive when the effort in present.
At 6-foot-10, Simmons can guard one through five with success, while Fultz’s 6-foot-10 wingspan allows him to drift between perimeter pieces and seek out plays without posing any liabilities.
That gives Brett Brown a lot of flexibility in setting rotations, while their defensive schemes can become more dynamic as a result. The depth is also on the upswing, with Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot showing improvement that should translate next season and McConnell now holding down the second unit at point guard.
Depth and versatility is the hallmark of any successful defense, and Philadelphia now has both. When you once again factor in the sheer expansiveness of Embiid’s impact — opposing teams saw their offensive rating spike up nine points when the rookie big was off the floor — it’s not difficult to picture the Sixers’ defense running amok in a weakened Eastern Conference.
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The best defensive team in the conference is difficult to overlook, and a lot of the Sixers’ prospective success in the 2017-18 season is reliant on just that: defense. While worries over Fultz and Simmons’ readiness offensively press on, the success Brett Brown’s squad will have defensively could very well be enough to yield a decent playoff spot.