Back Court
While Brett Brown has driven his offense through the front court, part of the explanation is that is where the team placed the best talent. That cannot be said this season, as the team has the return to health from Jerryd Bayless, the signing of free agent J.J. Redick, the drafting of 2017 top-pick Markelle Fultz, and the return of rapidly improving rookie Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.
The Smoking Cuban
While that will cause Coach Brown new headaches (like, how to play them all effectively?), the point is that he now has backcourt options for his team. Let’s discuss who could
Ridick! Er… Redick!
J.J. Redick is certainly worthy of his name entering this discussion. He comes to the Philadelphia 76ers as a solid veteran of 11 years. In that time, he’s risen to the mid teen’s. But that was then, this is now. Coach Brown has a way of shaking career performances from players. Take the last season heroics of power forward Ersan Ilyasova. He rose from 5.0 points per game to the 14.8 points per game as a Sixer, but dropped to 10.4 points per game when traded to the Atlanta Hawks.
That same effect is exactly what will fuel the renaissance of Redick’s scoring. Not that he needs coached up, but rather will find himself the beneficiary of a pass happy fast tempo team where he will simply get more looks and shots per game. That could propel him into the 20’s this year. Enough to lead the team in scoring? Perhaps. But we have one more player to discuss.