The Good, Bad and Ugly from the Philadelphia 76ers' Early Season
The 2014-15 NBA season is underway, and we can confidently say the Philadelphia 76ers are as bad as most expected them to be.
Their struggles are just coming in a unique way.
Nearly every one of Philadelphia's games has been strangely competitive and a blast to watch. Their youth and athleticism are shining as bright as it ever has, and we should be incredibly encouraged by what's taking place on the court.
It's...dare we say it...close to looking like basketball.
Let's take a look at the good, bad and ugly from the Sixers' early season.
The Good
Tony Wroten's Aggressiveness
Wroten has and will continue to play the occasional brand of reckless basketball. Still though, he's currently combined his wild style with his true level of skill, resulting in an aggressive and effective game.
Averaging 20.8 points and 7 assists in 33.8 minutes per game is a good start. The fact he's doing it on 46.7 percent shooting while getting 3.4 steals per contest is just icing on the cake.
He's been able to put up career-highs in each of these categories because of his newfound aggressiveness. Wroten is averaging 8.6 free throws because of his ability and willingness to get to the hoop. He's failing to capitalize on most of his chances, but going 60 percent from the free-throw line isn't much of a concern since he's building a solid foundation first.
There's a solid chance some of his productivity will drop once Michael Carter-Williams returns to the floor as he'll be taking over the starting point guard spot. The good news is Wroten looks to have played himself into a potential starting spot next to Carter-Williams.
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey spoke with Sixers head coach Brett Brown as he talked about Wroten's place once Carter-Williams returns. Here's what Pompey had to say:
"Wroten has started at point guard while Carter-Williams rehabilitates his right shoulder. The 2013-14 rookie of the year will participate in his first full scrimmage on Thursday. He is expected to play in his first game Nov. 13 against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center.
"He's played well enough," coach Brett Brown said of Wroten. "Yeah, he has."
The problem with pairing Carter-Williams and Wroten is that neither is a recognized shooter. But Brown said that Wroten is good enough to make the move and deserves to be on the floor.
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Regardless of what ends up happening, it's great to see Wroten living up to his potential. We'll see how long he's able to keep it up for.
Brandon Davies...Yes, Brandon Davies
Typing about Davies and success nearly feels like a typo. There's no doubt I've been one of his harshest critics, but I have a simple sentence about his recent accomplishments.
Good for you, Brandon, good for you.
Davies has quietly turned into one of the only reliable players on Philly's roster. It's getting to the point where opposing teams might even call him a threat. He's the Sixers' second-leading scorer, averaging 12.3 points, and is posting the team's highest PER at 23.5.
Pompey from The Philadelphia Inquirer put it best:
Who knows if he'll be able to maintain this level of play, but it would be stupid to not celebrate it now.
Those who have given Davies such a hard time owe him that much.
Nerlens Noel's Defensive Impact
Noel might only be averaging 7.2 points and 5.6 rebounds, but he's every bit the defensive stud most expected him to be when he did finally hit the court.
His 1.8 blocks per game are right on par with what you'd want out of a young and athletic center. He manages to surprise when it comes to steals, though, as he secures 1.6 per game. That's good enough for second on the team for those wondering.
Developing an offensive game is much easier than improving a defensive one. We all know Noel is far from where he needs to be with the ball in his hands, but he's in exactly the right place when he's trying to take it away.
Pair his defense with how healthy he's looked, and Philadelphia fans can't help but be encouraged.
And in case anybody didn't see it, Noel also managed to do this to James Harden at the rim.
Yeah, that'll work.
The Bad
Turnovers
It's impossible to win many games when you turn the ball over at a high rate, and it's exactly what the Sixers are doing by giving the rock away 18 times per contest.
The worst part about turning the ball over isn't that you're giving the other team an extra possession, it's that you're taking a possession away from yourself.
Philadelphia isn't offensively talented enough to limit its own scoring chances. To be honest, the team isn't even good enough at the defensive end of the floor after they've given the ball up.
Fixing this problem will have to come from the individual level. It's probably best if it starts with Tony Wroten, too, considering he's responsible for 4.5 of the turnovers by himself.
Three-Point Defense
The three-point line is one of the NBA's most double-sided weapons. If used correctly, effectively shooting from beyond the arc can help teams open the floor and provide easy driving lanes. The other option is for people to rely on the deep ball and shoot themselves out of games.
Opponents rarely need to worry about the negative side of three-pointers when they're playing against the Sixers.
Philadelphia is currently the third-worst franchise, allowing an average of 33.8 points on shots from out deep. Compare Philly to 15 other teams who allow less than 20 points per game from three-pointers, and it's easy to see how big of a problem the Sixers are facing.
The question then becomes: are they so bad at defending away from the hoop? And the answer is: because their interior defense is so good. Only allowing an average of 36.5 points per game is incredibly impressive, and a testament to where the squad's focus lies.
Unfortunately, Philadelphia simply lacks any defensive balance.
Total Team Scoring
We all knew Philadelphia lacked offensive weapons, but it might have hit an all-time low.
Being the fourth-worst scoring team in the NBA at 90.2 points per game is bad. What's worse is how the Sixers only have two players averaging over 10 points per game. Those players are Davies and Wroten who combine to score 30.8 points in each contest. The Golden State Warriors are the only other organization who only have two double-digit scorers, but their names are Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and they combine for 55 points.
There's a bit of a difference there.
Struggling to score comes down to a lack of depth. Philadelphia doesn't have enough players who have a desire to score, or the talent necessary to make it happen. Essentials like a post scorer, three-point specialist and slasher are simply missing from the roster.
There's no doubt a number of the Sixers' young talent will develop into some of the roles previously mentioned, but it'll likely take some time until we see it happen.
The Ugly
The Fourth Quarter
There hasn't been anything uglier than Philadelphia's fourth quarters throughout the first five games of the season.
One of the more encouraging things has actually been how they've been competing in every game throughout the first three quarters. In fact, they've either been leading or within five points by the time the fourth quarter rolled around.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Sixers seem to forget there's another 12 minutes to go when they've hit this point, though.
Philadelphia has averaged a measly 14.2 points per fourth quarter to start out the year. To put that in perspective, if they scored the same amount in each quarter, then they would average 56.8 points per game.
Scoring at any point in a game should never be that difficult. It begins to be a real problem when it comes at a time to close out the other team. Former Delaware County Daily Times sports writer Christopher Vito sums it up perfectly with a couple of short tweets:
Having an average age of 23.4 years old certainly contributes to an inability to finish, but it's already hit a breaking point.
And we're only five games into the season.
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