Philadelphia 76ers: Seth Curry is greatly missed

Seth Curry has missed the Philadelphia 76ers’ last six games and it has been a noticeable absence.

It was evident to everyone that the Philadelphia 76ers needed to enter this past offseason with a singular focus on signing shooters to space the floor. Danny Green and Seth Curry were two perfect fits, however I did not think the impact would be this great and seen this quickly into the season.

Curry is having a career year averaging an unfathomable 59.5 percent shooting from 3-point range. If he keeps this type of shooting up, he is on pace to handedly break the previous record for season long 3-point percentage of 53.6 percent set by Kyle Korver 10 years ago. It is too early in the season to tell if this is a realistic possibility, but Curry is benefitting from the vast attention drawn to Joel Embiid when he gets the ball in the post.

On top of Embiid’s domineering presence, Curry has a teammate that draws immense defensive pressure when he shoots 3-pointers as well: Danny Green. The duo balance each other out and keep opposing defenders honest. With Curry out, there is less of a threat and the floor shrinks for everyone.

The most clear representation of this effect is in the team’s 3-point shooting percentage during Curry’s absence. The 76ers have only shot greater than 35 percent in one of the six games Curry missed. In two of those games, they have shot below 30 percent. For a team that relies so heavily on 3-point shooting, not only because they have good shooters, but also to keep the floor spacing, this poor shooting percentage is concerning.

Green’s impact, and to a greater extent Curry’s, was expected and desired by all parties involved in the Philadelphia 76ers’ roster construction. What was not expected was the quick dependence and reliability on the presence of Curry in the lineup.