To no one's surprise, Dean Wade has been as good as advertised for the 76ers in the early juncture of the season. A highly coveted role player in free agency during the offseason, his defensive versatility and connective passing are what got the front office to go after him as soon as he officially hit the open market. Well, he has been highly impressive in those departments for his new team, but his refusal to shoot has been a tad frustrating as well.
This one is more of a peanut gallery observation, but the 76ers have not seen any kind of aggression from Wade on the scoring end. In nearly 28 minutes a night, the defensive-minded forward has tallied just 3.6 points on the average while shooting just 30 percent from three-point range on very low volume. Per 100 possessions, he is averaging just 4.5 field goal attempts –– easily the lowest mark among all qualified players.
The 76ers need Dean Wade to be a much more willing shooter
With the 76ers touting the most robust collection of talented scorers in the NBA, the team definitely does not need Wade to be a force on the scoring end. That being said, that does not mean that he should only aspire to be a passing dummy at most on offense. His ability to space the floor is one of his strengths, but his refusal to shoot waters that down by a significant degree.
The team had implored the forward during training camp to shoot more this season, but things cannot be any farther from that so far. For example, Wade got a lot of open looks when the 76ers took on the Knicks just a few days ago, but he ended the night with zero field goal attempts in 27 minutes of gameplay. While his defense on OG Anunoby was exquisite, he was a complete non-factor on offense.
Against the Pistons, Wade quietly racked up 10 assists (doubling his previous career high), but he could only muster five shots in 30 minutes.
For now, he has been more than good enough as a defender and a connective passer that his lack of offense has not soured his value on the court for the 76ers. However, that is not a sustainable dynamic.
At some point, teams are going to be leaving him wide open to dare him to punish the defense, and if he continues to be trigger-shy, that will only put a governor on their otherwise lethal scoring attack. As such, it is imperative for him to be aggressive in his own way as a shooter.
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