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A Strong Backcourt Makes for Aesthetically-Pleasing Sixers Basketball
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You can go in any number of directions with the Sixers after another exciting win to begin the season, this time over the Orlando Magic at home. Tyrese Maxey is on a mission. The front office nailed the VJ Edgecombe pick. Kelly Oubre is playing high-level basketball and they’ve won both with and without Joel Embiid. It sure looks like this is a team that is super-annoyed with the way last season went and they’re motivated to prevent it from happening again.
Aside from the obvious plaudits for the effort and determination in this 3-0 start, it has to be said that they’re playing some really fun basketball. Case in point, the amount of high-tempo transitional play, smart pick and roll ball handling and iso driving, and general 1v1 skill you see throughout the game highlights:
“Give them credit,” said Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley. “They’ve got some guards that can go out and attack and get downhill and space the floor, you know what they do.”
More or less. The Sixers get out in transition and often initiate early offense, and when they need to work in the halfcourt without Embiid, they play a simple game of five-out basketball and work picks and/or find the best matchup to attack. If Andre Drummond or Adem Bona is out there, they’ll use them as screeners or spread out with the big in the dunker spot, but it’s a fairly straightforward brand of basketball highlighted by smart decision making. They’ve got four guys with legitimate 1v1 backcourt ability in Maxey, Edgecombe, Oubre, and Quentin Grimes, and Paul George and Jared McCain will be rejoining the fold at some point.
The sample size is small through three games, but the Sixers’ average shot distance is 15.1 feet, which is 9th-longest in the league. They’ve never had a number that high in the Joel Embiid era. They’re shooting 37.7 three pointers per game, which is 14th, but hitting at 42.5%, which is 1st. They also score 1.4 points per possession when they get out in transition, which is third-best. Screen assists is first in the league, with 11.5 per game, and they recover loose offensive balls at 72%, which is 2nd, and explains why team turnover rate is 10.4% and the NBA’s lowest number.
Maybe most important is the 4th quarter, where the Sixers lead the NBA with 38.7 points per game. Nobody else is remotely close. They are +10.3 points better, per game, in the fourth quarter through just three contests so far. They’ve played their best basketball late.
The Sixers are doing a lot of things well and playing a fun brand of guard-driven basketball at the same time. That’s not a knock on the Joel Embiid and James Harden team(s) of a few years ago, or the Embiid MVP season. Joel was unguardable in his prime, but sometimes those games could get clunky and slow with him ripping through and drawing fouls and living at the line. Maxey learned a lot from Harden, you can tell, but his game is less of the plodding switch manipulation and identifying of mismatches. He’s a little more linear and has more tempo in his style.
Regardless, it’s been fun to watch.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com