Slumping 76ers Players Who Need to Step Up

Could this be the year the post-Process Philadelphia 76ers finally breakthrough and obtain their NBA elite membership cards?

Does the answer to that question hinge on whether they can land James Harden? We don't know, but there may not be a more fascinating team in basketball.

For all the good vibes around this group's hot start, though, these three players are falling short of expectations.

Danny Green

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So, what got into Danny Green during the 2018-19 season? That's when the 6'6" swingman maximized his sharpshooter label and broke out of a three-year mini-funk to bury 45.5 percent of his three-point looks.

Maybe something is in the water north of the border?

Who knows, but that season is appearing as the outlier in the second half of his career. After hitting just 36.7 percent of his threes in 2019-20, he is hitting on 36.6 percent during his short stay with the Philadelphia 76ers.

His defense and basketball IQ will always offer some type of value, but neither can support this degree of misfiring.

Shake Milton

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Philadelphia really seemed to stumble into something once Shake Milton emerged late last season and quickly scaled the offensive hierarchy.

But the magic hasn't carried over to 2020-21, and if he's not scoring efficiently, it's tough to tell what he can bring to the table.

He should be one of the Sixers' top spark plugs, a quick-strike scoring threat who can create his own shots as well as anyone on this roster not named Joel Embiid or Tobias Harris. But beyond averaging 12.9 points per night, Milton has hardly appeared to be the offensive ace up Philly's sleeve.

Compared with last season, he's lost nearly five percentage points off of his field-goal shooting rate (48.4 to 43.4) and seen his three-point percentage by almost sliced in half (43.0 to 27.8). The Sixers need him to provide a much more powerful and efficient scoring punch.

Mike Scott

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Unless the 76ers suddenly decide to start experimenting with Ben Simmons as a small-ball big, their frontcourt is noticeably thin on flexibility.

Joel Embiid, Dwight Howard and Tony Bradley are all leaves from the same tree. All three do their best work within arm's reach of the rim.

If Mike Scott is at his best, he helps this frontcourt collection breathe. Howard and Bradley don't take triples, and Embiid doesn't make a ton, but Scott can conjure up rain showers from deep range.

Scott, though, has seldom (if ever) appeared further from his top form. Before a knee injury forced him off the floor, he had compiled a grisly 33.3/26.3/66.7 shooting slash. No wonder he's been such a drag on Philly's on-court bottom line. The 76ers have been a staggering 29.5 points worse per 100 possessions with him than without.

All stats courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.