Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
How do the 76ers stack up at the break?
The 76ers are on an eight-day furlough, so it’s time to take a critical look at their pre-AllStar break value.
PHILADELPHIA >> The 76ers on an eight-day furlough, it’s time for a critical look at their pre-All-Star break value.
So here they are, the ever-anticipated All-Star break report cards:
ROBERT COVINGTON >> Through an earlyseason shooting slump he continued to develop as a reliable defender capable of ably managing assignments against raging NBA stars. Then he began shooting well again and proved to be one of the most reliable Sixers at both ends early and late in games. (NCOMPLETE) JERRYD BAYLESS >> He had an early wrist injury, eventually played in three games, then was shut down for the season. JOEL EMBIID >> He was a legitimate All-Star candidate for a reason. He plays both ends of the floor with passion and has needed only 31 games to give the NBA and its fans a glimpse of the future – a stretch-five rimprotector with a handle. He doesn’t often play, but the Sixers’ self-important sports scientists can be blamed for that.
GERALD HENDERSON >> While not a regular starter, he can be expected to be in the mix later in games, typically giving the Sixers their best chance to win. He’s made some big shots and, like some others imported this season by Bryan Colangelo, he has injected the locker room with an expectation of success. RICHAUN HOLMES >> Though squashed beneath Embiid, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor on the depth chart, he shows in his abbreviated opportunities that he can leap, defend and finish at the NBA level. That should win him years of job security. ERSAN ILYASOVA >> If the Sixers needed anything this season, it was a veteran pro forward with a shooting touch. After an early-season trade for Jerami Grant, who was lost in the Sixers’ developmental flow, Ilyasova quickly provided both.
His shooting has become less reliable later in the season. But he has been a valuable influence on Saric and on a program that desperately required some growing up. TIMOTHE LUWAWU-CABARROT >> A versatile wing player who continues to improve, he is never out of place on the court. For that, he became a semi-regular when Brett Brown instituted a two-shift lineup system that had some success.
Though perhaps better than anticipated, he was a first-round draft choice and at some point must be more than satisfactory. But he’s only 21 and he is heading in that direction. T.J. MCCONNELL >> The Sixers effectively dumped a season in order to draft Ben Simmons, a point guard. If Simmons ever controls a game the way McConnell has on a consistent basis this season, it will have been a wise decision.
McConnell, a second-year walkon, rarely makes a mistake with the ball. He is able to create offense both from the top of the key and the baseline, in a Steve Nash style. He finishes inside, is an entertaining 10-foot jump shooter and has a leader’s respect. His outside shot is ordinary, and that will impede his path to consistent NBA greatness. But he has been great, not just good, for the 76ers this season. NERLENS NOEL >> After soiling training camp with complaints about the crowded center situation, then requiring an early-season shift on the disabled list while he attended to an odd knee injury in Alabama, he has surfaced as a valuable backup (and sometimes starting) center.
His ability to block a shot then run the floor and be a factor at the other end impresses. And since he is no longer being made to play forward, he is showing why he can have a long career as a valuable NBA center. JAHLIL OKAFOR >> When he plays, and he doesn’t play enough, he is the same remarkable natural scorer he was last season, when he was on the All-Rookie team. But Okafor’s inability to perform at more than one position, and his questionable defense even when he is at center, has caused Brown to stash him deep in the rotation.
Still, Okafor has been shockingly at ease with his diminished role, at least in public. For that alone, he has had value. (INCOMPLETE) CHASSON RANDLE >> An in-season signing out of the D-League, he has had limited opportunities as a backup point guard. Brown, though, appreciates his length and his high basketball IQ, a value on scout teams.
SERGIO RODRIGUEZ >> The Sixers are spending $6.8 million for the international star, who, later in his career, is in his second NBA shift. He was expected to back up Bayless and to help professionalize Simmons, but instead lost his job to McConnell.
Rodriguez has nice court vision, but is a leaky defender. His outside shooting has been poor, and he will commit lategame turnovers. Acknowledge his professionalism and refusal to play like he expects to lose, which was too common around the Wells Fargo Center in recent years. But the Sixers were expecting more. DARIO SARIC >> Inconsistent at first, the international legend has become a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year. The Sixers are simply a better team whenever he is on the floor.
At 6-10, he can play three frontcourt positions and is a rare talent whose shot-blocking at one end and passing at the other are equally mesmerizing.
If his outside shooting improves, he will be an enduring NBA star. For the first half of his first season, he has done plenty. (INCOMPLETE) BEN SIMMONS >> Foot surgery and sports science has kept him out for the season. NIK STAUSKAS >> Give the versatile third-year pro credit for growing from a three-point threat to a complete guard, able to fill in at either backcourt spot. His shooting has improved from last season from both sides of the arc, and at times he has been a productive starter. He may never justify the Kings’ 2014 decision to make him the eighth overall pick in the draft. But he has a professional survival skill that continues to increase his value. BRETT BROWN >> His players give him their best. He successfully worked through a potentially team-destroying issue, keeping Noel and Okafor satisfied despite restricted playing time. He had the eye for talent and the guts to try McConnell at point guard. He stuck with Covington through a horrifying shooting slump, profiting from his cutabove defense, then won games when the forward resumed shooting well. He expertly guided Saric to first-year excellence. And he has had the Sixers playing some of the Spurs’ move-the-ball style.
His record will deny him many, if any, Coach of the Year votes. But he would be a reasonable candidate. JERRY COLANGELO >> In his first season, he has made the Sixers a better basketball team. It’s what executives are supposed to do, no matter how much that concept was ignored in recent years. Yet he has failed to live up to his other promise, which was to be consistently available for questioning, instead running an operation that too often sends mixed messages, if it sends any at all. JOSH HARRIS >> He is overseeing an improving team. He had the wisdom to turn the program over to a basketball man. He had the decency to stick with Brown despite an unsightly record. But he is still approving a system where sports scientists, not his basketball people or coaching staff, dictate who can play and when. And the W-L record still says that idea is failing.