The Sixers need shooters, and few are better than Aaron Nesmith.
With the No. 21 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers are widely expected to target depth on the perimeter. Ideally, such depth involves another shooter, which the Sixers desperately need. One could argue that Aaron Nesmith is the shooter in this year’s draft.
Nesmith shot 52.2 percent on 115 attempts from 3-point range as a sophomore. He will need to assuage injury concerns for NBA front offices, but in his limited time on the court, Nesmith has looked the part of a bonafide marksman.
The Sixers, naturally, make a pretty ideal landing spot on paper. The one issue is Nesmith’s current projections. Many expect him to come off the board in the late lottery or mid-teens. The Sixers may need to get lucky, or consider a trade up if Nesmith is the desired target.
Philadelphia does, of course, have the firepower to pull off such a move. With five second-round picks in this year’s draft alone, it’s presumably not difficult to present a trade package desirable enough to move up a few spots. Just don’t telegraph the move like last summer.
Nesmith is a name to watch, and he’s someone who could find immediate success in Philadelphia regardless of who the new coach is.
Strengths
Nesmith is consistently billed as the top shooter in this year’s class, and he has earned that label. With deep range, sugar-sweet mechanics, and plenty of shot diversity, it’s not hard to fit Nesmith into the schematics of a modern-day offense.
He can fly around screens and shoot on the move. He can pull up or side-step into 3s off the dribble. Or, you can simply stash him in the corner and bank on spot-up jumpers. Put Nesmith in a position to take 3s, and he will most likely deliver.
Beyond his 3-point stroke, Nesmith is good at leveraging his gravity as a shooter. He can beat closeouts with one-dribble pull-ups or basic reads as a passer off penetration. He isn’t the best finisher at the rim, but his touch should breed confidence.
Nesmith is a winning offensive player. He can impact the game without the basketball, whether it’s with the attention he commands as a shooter, or his generally unselfish approach to team offense. He does what he can to contribute, and he’s a hand-in-glove fit next to more ball-dominant centerpieces on offense.
On the defensive end, Nesmith has developed a solid reputation. He’s 6-foot-6 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan and a muscular 213-pound frame. He’s not an elite athlete, but he’s capable of defending multiple positions and holding his own on switches. His basketball I.Q. and instincts tend to produce positive moments on that end.
Weaknesses
Nesmith is, at his core, a deadeye shooter. When asked to operate beyond that capacity, he often runs into trouble. While not a bad athlete, a lot of Nesmith’s weaknesses stem from a lack of explosion or shake. He simply isn’t built to be a primary (or even secondary) creator.
The natural comparisons for someone like Nesmith are J.J. Redick and Buddy Hield, who are frankly very different players. Nesmith probably falls more in line with Hield, but even Hield is more equipped to create off the dribble at a high level.
Nesmith can beat closeouts and leverage his gravity as a shooter. With that said, he does struggle to finish inside despite his soft touch. He lacks the explosion to elevate and finish over the top of elite athletes, which will only become more problematic in the NBA.
On defense, Nesmith will struggle with some of the league’s more challenging individual matchups. He’s smart, he competes, and he knows where to position himself, but elite wings or guards can still overpower or outmaneuver Nesmith in isolation.
One must also discuss Nesmith’s recent injury history. He missed all but 14 games last season due to a foot injury. He was highly productive when healthy — he averaged a whopping 23 points a game — but foot injuries are tricky, and it’s never ideal to enter the NBA marred by uncertainty.
Fit with the Sixers
It has been alluded to already, but Nesmith would make a great deal of sense for Philadelphia. If he’s on the board at 21 — which is doubtful — it’s not a hard choice to make. The Sixers have the tools to trade up if they feel compelled to do so.
Nesmith is a snug fit next to Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Even without Brett Brown, it’s not hard to envision Nesmith and Embiid getting ample run in the two-man game. Nesmith would also benefit tremendously from Simmons, who generates more 3s than anyone else in basketball.
Philadelphia’s greatest success in recent years has come with multiple shooters in the rotation. A second unit that includes both Nesmith and Shake Milton — two above-40 percent shooters from deep — could help to smooth over some of the Sixers’ more noticeable deficiencies on offense.
The Sixers can also help cover for Nesmith’s limitations as an on-ball defender. He’s an intelligent and aggressive defender within a team construct, and the Sixers have two elite on-ball defenders — Simmons and Josh Richardson — plus an all-world backstop in Joel Embiid to make life easier.
If you ask me to put together a list of five or so reasonable prospects for Philadelphia to zero in on, Nesmith would certainly make an appearance.