Young core has Sixers rebuild off to great start
By Dylan Hughes
Nobody expected anything out of the 76ers this year, but the rebuild is off to a great start
The Philadelphia 76ers‘ players didn’t have to do anything this season. In fact, they were encouraged to be bad. All the bad plays, bad games were good for the organization as it hoped for a top draft pick in next summer’s draft. In order to build a contending team through the draft instead of free agency, Sam Hinkie and the Sixers are intentionally putting their worst talent on the floor to lose as many games as possible, putting them in a better position to draft the best player possible. While those players have put the organization in good position already to draft high, the players aren’t necessarily playing bad. Not all of them, at least.
With the rebuilding project officially underway in Philly, the team has to be evaluating its current players while also looking towards who their high pick may be in June. Coming into the year, the Sixers had to already be looking forward to seeing what second-year guard Michael Carter-Williams would do after a solid rookie season. He’s been good, but could be better.
While Carter-Williams has only played 28 games, his numbers are down a tad from last season. Aside assists where MCW is up from 6.3 last season to 7.5 this year, his scoring average is down from 16.7 to 14.6, turnovers from 3.5 to 4.4, and field goal percentage from .405 to .369. And his rebounding average has gone from 6.2 to 6.3, also.
It is nice that Carter-Williams is averaging high assist and rebounding numbers, but it is rather alarming that he is averaging two points less than last year and is shooting less than 40 percent. MCW’s offensive and defensive ratings aren’t the best either at 86 and 107.
MCW still needs some time to grow, and that’s got to be tough with the talent around him that he has.
Rookie K.J. McDaniels has been rather fun to watch, with his emphatic dunks and all. McDaniels is averaging 9.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting .412 percent in 25.7 minutes per game. McDaniels has been a good sixth man for the Sixers and Philly should definitely do their best to keep him around for at least a few more years.
Tony Wroten joins MCW in Philly’s backcourt, and has been especially good for the Sixers this year. Wroten has improved upon his previous year in all three of his NBA seasons, and is up to a career-high 17.1 points per game average. To add to that, Wroten is averaging 5.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He joins his fellow teammates with terrible offensive and defensive ratings at 94 and 107, but he is still young. Wroten has personally been a very fun player for me to watch and with his playmaking and consistent scoring, he could be a big piece in Philly’s core moving forward.
If you have never heard of Robert Covington before, start learning his name. After playing in just seven games with the Rockets last season, the Sixers, of course, have given him a chance to play in 27 this season. Covington has been a nice surprise, averaging 12.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while shooting .415 percent from the field and .428 from three. Covington has been good on offense with an offensive rating of 108, but rather poor on defense with a 106 rating. Covington is exciting and like the other guys mentioned earlier could–and should–be apart of the Sixers’ future plans.
After sitting out his rookie season with the torn ACL he suffered in college at Kentucky, Nerlens Noel’s official rookie season is now underway. After missing last season, Noel’s debut was rather overlooked, and playing with a tanking team didn’t help him get attention. Good play would help him in that matter, yet he hasn’t played the best thus far.
Noel’s first game was in Indiana where he squared up with Roy Hibbert, and being only 228 pounds showed to be a major issue there and has been against most other big men. Noel’s not short at 6-foot-11, but he is small in weight and has been bullied around a lot this season. He’s had trouble, averaging 7.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Noel is also shooting just .424 percent. Noel’s rookie season hasn’t gone too well thus far, but he can surely fix a lot of things with some work in the weight room next summer.
From what the Sixers have shown thus far, those are the true standouts to this point. Anyone else could be shipped for draft picks at this point. With the five players mentioned, along with third overall draft pick Joel Embiid who will return to the court to make his NBA debut next season, the Sixers have a good young core to build with heading into the future. If they’re going to tank, they need to be good drafters, which they have shown to be thus far.
These guys have some work to do with each other over the next couple seasons, but within the next few years the Sixers could be playoff contenders. There is clearly lots of work to be done, but as long as Hinkie and Co. take advantage of their high draft pick(s), they should have some good talent to work with in the future.