The Philadelphia 76ers start the 2020-21 season in roughly two weeks — who will lead the team in each statistical category?
For the upcoming season, you can expect the Philadelphia 76ers to look different on the floor, but do not expect a lot of differences in the team’s statistical leaders. First, Joel Embiid will lead the team in points per game again. Last year, he averaged 23 points and he believes it was a down year. There is no reason why Embiid will not average 25+ this season and lead the Sixers again.
Additionally, Embiid should repeat leading the Sixers in rebounds per game. It is not out of the question for him to average close to 15 if healthy. Ben Simmons could challenge Embiid here, but due to the fact that he guards more perimeter players on opposing teams, he is at a disadvantage. Simmons, though, has the ability to outrebound Embiid on the offensive end if he continues to attack the basket and crash when shots go up.
Speaking of Simmons, he will lead the team in assists per game this season and do not expect a close second. He averaged eight per game last year and should be able to eclipse 10 per game this upcoming season with the shooters added to the Sixers’ lineup.
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With the amount of time the ball is in Simmons’ hand it is no surprise he turns the ball over a lot, but he averaged 3.5 turnovers per game last year which is too high for a player of his caliber. As much as I hope this decreases, I am not confident in it and expect him to lead the team in turnovers again.
The benefit of Simmons is he forces a lot of turnovers on the defensive end that usually counter-balances his errors. Matisse Thybulle will compete with Simmons for team steals leader, but Simmons is the reigning NBA steals champion from last season with 2.1 per game. Fans can be confident he will continue his defensive dominance again this year.
The final two statistical categories to examine are field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage. Simmons was top 20 in the NBA last year in field goal percentage and led the Sixers by 10 percent over Embiid, who was second at 48 percent. Simmons’ field goal percentage of 58 percent can be explained by his reluctance to take shots outside of five feet from the rim. Hopefully Simmons expands his shooting game and will take 3s and mid-range shots this year, but I still expect his field goal percentage to be the highest on the Sixers.
3-point field goal percentage will easily be led by newly acquired shooting guard Seth Curry. He averaged 45.2 percent last year for the third-best league wide percentage. His shooting prowess will stretch the floor and give Embiid and Simmons more floor space to work with.
The Sixers have a dominant scorer and rebounder in Embiid as well as a dominant passer and defender in Simmons. These two young superstars have the ability be top five in the NBA in their respective statistical categories, which will undoubtedly help the Sixers win games. Let the countdown begin to another fresh start for the Philadelphia 76ers.