Philadelphia 76ers space has trey shots locked into trending-up position

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Combine space and pace to get mismatches

The doubly impress fact about the Philadelphia 76ers accuracy from three-point range is not just that the team is third best in the NBA in accuracy, but also that the team attempts the ninth most three point shots per game in the NBA. Now, combine this with the previous component of Pace which we discussed on November 10, 2017, and you begin to see how the Space and Pace combine to make this a very formidable opponent.

The pace accelerates the speed of the game. The spacing gives the shooters open shots and open lanes. In the case of three-point shooting, the simple advantage to a shooter like Covington is the endless stream of open looks. He is showing just how good he can be now with those looks. But if the defense closes in on him to shut down the artillery, then Ben Simmons simply has incredible lanes to drive to the basket. And with Simmons in the paint, he draws defenders to him. So the faster the team goes, the better the chances of high percentage shots.

Defender must choose

That in turns oscillates open shots back to the perimeter. It’s then no wonder why both J.J. Redick and Robert Covington are attempting more three-point shots per game than ever before simultaneously.

Michael Bronson (I love his takes) wrote a good article posing the question as to whether a ten-game sample is enough to declare whether Robert Covington is one of the NBA’s top three-point shooters. I will leave that answer up to you. But I will say that he did not just become one out of thin air. He was hand-picked by Hinkie to fit into an as-yet-unconstructed-roster which could run Brett Brown’s scheme.