Every contender has an identity. They have a calling card. The Golden State Warriors have the whole “Strength in Numbers” thing. They play together and always have a “next man up” mentality. In 2015, it wasn’t one of their 3 All Stars that won Finals MVP. It was Andre Iguodala, who had come off the bench for most of the season but stepped up when called upon.
The Houston Rockets live and die by the 3 pointer. The Oklahoma City Thunder are known for their physicality and defense. All of these teams, along with a few other championship hopefuls, all have something that they can hang their hats on at the end of the day. They have an identity. The Sixers, after trading in a lot of their chips for star power, have to rediscover who they are before it’s too late.
Grittiness and defense is what defined the Sixers last season. Even during The Process era, opponents knew not to underestimate them because they always put up a fight. Last year, the Sixers were the 3rd best defensive team in the league with a 103.8 defensive rating according to NBA.com. This year they’ve fallen to 12th with a defensive rating of 108.3.
A couple of factors could have made the Sixers defense slip a bit. They lost Lloyd Pierce in the off-season when he accepted an offer to be the new head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. Pierce was responsible for a large part of their defensive coordination and schemes. In an attempt to replace him, the Sixers hired Monty Williams. Williams has never really had a good defensive team in the past.
Another factor could be chemistry. Early in the season, the team traded key rotation guys in Robert Covington and Dario Saric for Jimmy Butler. While Butler is a multiple time All Star and All-Defensive Second Team member, he still had to be integrated into an entirely new system and play with new teammates. The same thing happened when the Sixers traded more rotation players in Wilson Chandler and Landry Shamet for Tobias Harris.
Before the Butler trade, the Sixers were 12th in defensive rating with a rating of 107.1. After adding Butler but before the Tobias Harris acquisition, the Sixers dropped to 13th, with a 108.8 defensive rating. In a small sample size since having both Butler and Harris on the team, the Sixers moved up to 9th, with a rating of 109.2. However, their rating of 109.2 is worse than their rating pre-Butler and Harris. A rating of 109.2 would tie the Sixers for 15th in the league with Golden State for best defense.
Despite the upgrade in talent, the Sixers are still having issues defensively. A big part of it is definitely chemistry. Yet a team that has Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and Jimmy Butler shouldn’t be simply the 12th best defensive team in the league.
Many are concerned with the team’s power struggle. Who takes the final shot at the end of games? Whose team is it? Will Jimmy Butler assert himself more and if so, at whose expense? These are all great questions but the biggest one of all should be “Who are the Sixers?”. It’s something that they will have to dig deep and find before the playoffs start. It won’t be an easy task but a team this talented should be able to do it. They’ll need to do it quickly too because the clock is ticking.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
