This Sixers season has been unlike any other and with a potential playoff berth on the horizon, excitement is building around the City of Brotherly Love. But for the Sixers to have any chance of making some postseason noise, there are certain aspects of the team that need tweaking.
TurnJovers:
Joel Embiid, for all of his talent and strengths is having a miserable time turning the ball over. As a center, one who can dominate games in the low post, Embiid loves to shoot from the outside or try to take his man off the dribble and he does this way too often. I don’t understand coach Brett Brown’s logic when he says that it’s great that Embiid shoots a lot of three-pointers and would like him to shoot more.
The guy is a center, arguably one of the best in the league, so why not play to his strengths? When he’s in the low post and given the ball, his power and finesse have other centers not knowing what’s going to happen. He’s either going to bull you down low or he can dribble and make a few moves for a short jumper or hook. Embiid has developed quite an arsenal for low post play. The issues come, like against the Pacers on Tuesday night, when he’s out on the perimeter and has the ball.
He loves to dribble and play like he’s a guard, only he’s not and his four turnovers per game are doing a lot of damage to the team. Against the Pacers, he finished with eight turnovers as well as going 0-5 from beyong the arc. There’s no reason for this. The team lost by three, but even eliminating a couple of his poor shot attempts or turnovers would have likely resulted in a win. At no time was this more glaring than the end of the game.
With the Sixers having the ball and down three points, Embiid took the inbounds pass from Simmons and there was still 7.6 seconds left on the clock. This is plenty of time to get the ball moved for a good, high percentage shot, from someone who’s good at making them. (See Redick, JJ) What does Embiid do? Immediately, he launches a three from about four feet behind the arc. The shot didn’t go in and with no one in position to get a rebound, the Pacers secured the ball and the win. This is just poor judgement on Embiids part, but he’s young and inexperienced, it will come along as he plays more. But, this is the time for Brett Brown to let him know that he needs to be more responsible with the ball and not talk about Embiid handling the ball like he’s a guard.
While we’re on that topic…
When you speak of turnovers, Ben Simmons is right behind Embiid with 3.4 per game. That’s a high number, it seems, but he’s also the point guard. He’s controlling the ball and making passes, which seems to be his goal prior to scoring. He takes the game as it comes to him and he’s smart enough to know what the right play is. Where Simmons can really become a problem for other teams is his aggressiveness. He moves well with and without the ball, but when bringing it down the court, if he were a bit more assertive on offense and trying to get points, it would help the team as he’s adept at scoring in the paint.
People tend to get on him for his lack of jump shots and his nonexistent three-point shooting, but they tend to overlook that as a 6’10” point guard, does he really have to take a lot of those shots? No. He can move past most people guarding him and if he’s shooting higher percentage shots, then there’s not really a reason for him to rely on an outside game. If you see him shooting pregame, it doesn’t look like he would have a problem it’s more of a habit as he’s able to beat his man to the hoop and shoot those shots.
This is another area where Brown, as coach, should be working with him to boost his confidence in his shooting, so that he’s not constantly relying on athleticism and size. Developing, or rather, utilizing a jump shot would put Simmons completely out of reach to other teams. There would be no handling him and he’d do whatever he wanted at any time during a game.
It’s time to see Fultz:
Markelle Fultz needs to play. As it’s frustrating to fans, it has to be frustrating to Fultz himself. He’s appeared healthy for quite a while now. His shoulder doesn’t look to be bothering him at all. His athleticism and leaping ability are still there as well as showing a much better form shooting the ball in practice. So, why isn’t he out there? Not wanting to disrupt the team has to be a joke and a bullshit answer like no other. The guy is the most recent #1 overall draft pick, he was the consensus first overall and it wasn’t supposed to be close.
The Sixers, while a very good defensive team this year, could use another very good defender. They could also use some quality offense on the second unit. So, what’s the problem. He’s able to handle the ball and could really help move the team forward as they get to the playoffs. He brings nothing but positives to the team and there’s no reason other than managerial incompetence that he’s not playing. It’s a disgrace to the team, the organization, it’s fans and the league to not put the best team out there, when available. As the playoffs get closer, it would only benefit the team to have Fultz on the floor sooner rather than later.
Tempo:
As the playoffs get closer, the Sixers need to make better choices on offense. Operating at a high pace is fine but making sure that they are making the right choices in shot selection and passing has to become the priority. If they’re going to make any sort of waves in the playoffs, a very good defensive team, needs to become an efficient offensive team. They’re going to have to eliminate the quick three pointers, without having the offense set. They need to make sure that the rebounders are in place and that the shots are high quality. If they can’t they’ll see that the other teams will slowly beat them down. Embiid needs to make sure that he’s staying low and letting the offense come to him instead of playing on the outside, which I discussed earlier. There aren’t many people that can handle his post game and that’s where the sixers will find playoff success. We’ll hope that they get it together, but in the end, the team isn’t winning the title this year, so any experience will be good for the whole team.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
