Philadelphia 76ers shouldn’t play Dario Saric and T.J. McConnell together
The Philadelphia 76ers have several good combinations of players on the roster, but one duo the club should avoid playing is Dario Saric and T.J. McConnell.
For the most part, the Philadelphia 76ers roster seems to be set to begin next season. Basically, all of the team’s core has returned from last season. The Sixers saw a lot of success with several different lineups and combinations of players on the court together. However, head coach Brett Brown should look at the numbers and realize the duo of Dario Saric and T.J. McConnell generally didn’t play well when they were on the court together last regular season.
This is not to say that neither is a bad player in their own right. Saric would be a starter for most teams and McConnell is one of the better defenders at the point guard position in the NBA. However, looking closely at advanced analytics it becomes clear that the two playing together don’t produce positive production for the team.
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Reviewing the 5-Man Combinations on Basketball Reference, the worst five man lineup the Sixers produced last season was McConnell, Saric, Ben Simmons, Amir Johnson and Marco Belinelli. In the 30:25 minutes that grouped played together, they were -42.7 Points minus Opponents Points.
The trend only continues with the 4-Man Combinations. Saric and McConnell are in the two worst combinations for that category. In the second worst combination that includes the duo along with Simmons and Robert Covington, that group was at -9.2 Points minus Opponents Points. Where as the worst group that included McConnell, Saric, Johnson and Simmons were at -16.9 Points minus Opponents Points.
The Saric and McConnell combo continued to produce bad numbers in the 3-Man Combinations, showing up in the bottom two rankings again. Ranked the second worst, three man group along with Covington, their Points minus Opponents Points is at -5.8. That number nearly doubles in the worst three man group that involves the duo and Simmons at -10.7 Points minus Opponents Points.
The 2-Man Combinations stats paints the clearest picture of why McConnell and Saric shouldn’t spend a lot of time on the floor together next season. They were ranked last in duo’s on the Sixers roster last regular season. In 695 minutes they were a -6.5 Points minus Opponents Points, narrowly beating out Simmons and Jerryd Bayless for the worst combination.
Not only should coach Brown consider this when he figures out rotations and substitutions for this upcoming season, he needs to keep these stats in consideration if, for example, Markelle Fultz earns a starting role. If Fultz replaces Saric in the starting lineup, evidence from last season shows that the bench would most likely end up suffering, because of Saric and McConnell playing more together.
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Numbers don’t lie and the Philadelphia 76ers got outscored when Saric and McConnell play together. While both are legit players in their own rights, they just don’t produce well when they play together. Hopefully, Brown will notice this trend and limit the minutes of the combination the duo plays on the court together.