Philadelphia 76ers early season trends: Real or fake?

Sixers trend #4: Top-five defense — REAL

The Sixers defense started off very strong but has dropped off over the last 10 games due to a host of players missing time. Still, the team is currently the fifth-ranked defense in the NBA and will be much better if Embiid can play a majority of games.

The Sixers have done a good job of forcing opponents into mid-range jumpers and have no clear weakness in the defense, although defensive rebounding has become a surprising issue. With all-defensive team candidates in Embiid and Ben Simmons and Matisse Thybulle carving out more time in the rotation, the defense should stay in the top five in the NBA.

Sixers trend #5: Poor bench shooting — FAKE

While the starters have shot extremely well from three, the bench has been pretty terrible from deep. Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, and Thybulle have combined to shoot 30.0% (39 of 130) from three entering last night’s game. The trio shot 39.6 percent (257 of 648) last season on over five times the number of attempts.

That group shot better than expected last season but they are not as bad as their 2021 numbers suggest. The good news for the offense is that if Harris and Seth Curry regress after their hot starts to the season, the bench mob should bounce back in the positive direction.