The Philadelphia 76ers acquiring Jaylen Brown via the trade market and having to only pay a relatively marginal price to do so could very well end up defining the landscape of the competition in the league next season. All of a sudden, the team is widely deemed one of the definitive favorites to win the title, although there seems to be an outright issue which people tend to gloss over with the team's new core.
With the foray of Brown in Philly, the 76ers now have four needy mouths to feed in the starting unit with him, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe. It is rather easy to say that there being just one ball will not be much hindrance to the team, but the reality of the situation is more intricate than that. After all, Brown's percentage of self-created shot keeps going up –– something the team will have to be wary of given the way their stars are used to playing.
As noted in this podcast, Brown's self-creation from last season constituted 60.4 percent of his overall offense –– a staggering figure which is only expected and justified for a player of his caliber. The Celtics were admittedly better for it, but with the 76ers, that might not end up being as smooth of a factor to integrate.
The 76ers already have a major Jaylen Brown issue before even playing a single minute
Philadelphis was already at the apex of the league when it comes to shots generated from isolation plays this past season. Adding Brown into the mix will certainly ensure that such status quo will persist, if not intensify altogether.
Embiid will need his touches as the team's main offensive hub in the half court. Ditto for Tyrese Maxey, especially in the open floor. VJ Edgecombe's expected leap will presuppose him getting a bigger slice of the scoring pie. Now, the arrival of Brown will shaft those propositions by default simply because he is too good to not have a prominent share of the on-ball duties.
The 76ers already saw how stagnating it could become for players used to high usage to suddenly see their respective loads reduced. Paul George struggled a lot with finding his voice on the scoring end, and while a decline of that degree is unlikely to occur, that foursome will have to accept the reality that on-ball responsibilities will be strikingly reduced to accommodate their influx of talented individual creators.
That is definitely an issue which the coaching staff will have to deal with even months before the season begins. Hopefully, Nick Nurse and his crew and figure out a good way to strike a harmonious balance between letting the players get their numbers and the team's scoring attack not relying too much on self-creation.
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