Broekhoff will have a shot to provide help
Just before the Sixers were to reconvene for a new training camp, they made free agent Ryan Broekhoff the 17th name on their 17man roster.
That’s a description. It’s not a career sentence.
Though the Sixers are flush with candidates to play on the perimeter, the 29-year-old Australian is a cut-above 3-point specialist with a connection to Brett Brown, the coach of the Aussie Olympic team. The former Dallas Maverick feels he can replenish some of what the Sixers have been missing since J.J. Redick relocated to New Orleans.
“Potentially, you look back at J.J., and also (Marco) Belinelli from a few years ago, and just their style of play,” Broekhoff said. “Every team is looking for shooting, and 3-point shooting is the way the game is transitioning, putting a high premium on that. I saw it as an opportunity for a skill set of mine to be able to come in and hopefully find some opportunities to replicate what those guys have done.”
Redick is an all-time NBA shooting legend. Belinelli had 10 years of NBA experience before joining the Sixers late in 2018. Broekhoff’s experience largely has been in the international game, though he played a total of 59 games for the Mavs over the past two seasons. In 42 games two years ago, he was a 40.9-percent 3-point shooter, and has shot 40.3 percent from the arc in his NBA career. As a sophomore at Valparaiso in 2011, he shot 44.8 percent from distance. He brings with Brown calls “an Australian toughness” to the mix.
Shake Milton leads the Sixers with 45.3 percent 3-point accuracy this season, though in only 32 games. Furkan Korkmaz is next at 39.7. Glen Robinson III was acquired at the deadline and will have a chance to win minutes as a scorer. Mike Scott is in that mix. But Broekhoff has the dual value of proven 3-point skills and the respect of Brown, even if he did cut him from the 2012 Olympic team.
“I was shocked that he agreed to come here, first of all,” Brown said. “I brought him into the Australian national team, pre the London Olympic Games. We sort of uncovered him when he was 17 years old.
“It would mislead him to tell him there’s lots of opportunity here. And I told him that. We’ve got six people. What about Matisse (Thybulle) and Glenn Robinson and Furkan and Alec
Burks? You can go on and on and on. This is not an opportunity that is clear runway or pathway at all. That was the flavor of my talk.”
Broekhoff has been in Philadelphia and was planning to work out Wednesday at the Camden training complex. He said he had a handful of opportunities for the NBA re-start but none better than the two-way contract the Sixers provided.
“I thought the opportunity was too hard to pass up,” he said. “I have a chance to work with Coach Brown and the Philadelphia 76ers and go into a very unique environment in Orlando. I still feel I am on the cusp of finding something steady in the NBA. And hopefully that will be in Philly.”
*** Milton’s recent blast of excellence has been enough to keep him near the top of Brown’s rotation as the backup ballhandler when Ben Simmons shifts to the frontcourt.
“I’m excited because I am counting on him to continue on,” Brown said. “I don’t believe that what we saw was that much of an outlier.”
Milton has played in the last 21 games, starting 16 of 19 while Simmons worked through a back issue. Five games ago, he dropped 39 points on the Clippers.
“To think that he’s going to perform at that consistent level that he showed prior to the pandemic would be ambitious,” Brown said. “I do think if he can capture the large part of that form offensively and defensively, he really has a chance to play a significant role in a rotation capacity in the playoffs.”
*** Brown has been in contact with players through regular Zoom calls. He said his last two meetings were “one percent” about basketball, with the rest being about the players’ views and concerns about current social issues.
While he is permitted to do some coaching at the training complex, Brown has kept that to a minimum, preferring to allow his developmental staff to work the players into playing shape in preparation for a formal training camp in Orlando beginning July 9.
***
NOTES » Zhaire Smith will not join the Sixers in Orlando after sustaining a bruised knee during voluntary workouts in Camden … According to Brown, no Sixers are sidelined as a result of positive coronavirus tests … Even after a lengthy layoff, Brown admitted that some Sixers will be subject to minutes restrictions during the eight-game lead-in to the playoffs.