Markelle Fultz and the 76ers have a problem of overlap

The Philadelphia 76ers, a team with designs of playing well into May, have problems typically ascribed to the very worst teams in the NBA. One can understand Brett Brown’s thinking in bringing J.J. Redick off the bench in favor of Markelle Fultz: Philadelphia’s young core needs time to jell and Fultz desperately needs to restore his confidence and shooting mechanics.

Starting him, if only symbolically, indicates belief and trust in the young guard. But the decision is not without drawback. The Sixers might have had the single best five-man unit in the NBA last season, a unit whose minutes together will now decrease. More importantly, Philly lacks critical floor spacing, which could ultimately derail its offense.

Balancing two ball-dominant players is an inherently delicate exercise, but the problem becomes even less workable when neither player poses a threat as a shooter. The Sixers drafted Fultz with the intention of using him as a secondary creator that could space the floor around Ben Simmons and facilitate offense for others. When a mysterious shoulder injury (or mental hurdle, or both) completely robbed him of his shooting ability, it complicated his fit with the team. Fultz, to his credit, has demonstrated admirable persistence and resolve through it all — he competes on defense, shares the ball on offense and reworked his shot over the summer. But that has yet to translate to actual production, and the Sixers have been downright unproductive with Fultz on the court.

Simmons’ reluctance to shoot outside of the paint was already enough to hamper the Sixers against versatile and well-prepared defenses. Adding Fultz, who still passes up even the most open of 3-pointers, constricts them to a point of near futility. The only way to fully unleash Simmons — and by extension, Philadelphia’s offense — is to place shooting and generate movement around him. Fultz’s tendency to infringe upon Simmons’ preferred regions of the court and the lack of respect opponents pay him noticeably restricts the Sixers from doing that.

Until he proves capable of hitting open catch-and-shoot 3s, defenses will ignore Fultz when he doesn’t have the ball and invite pull-up jumpers when he does. That only creates a cluttered operation prone to stagnation. Joel Embiid can’t hope to manufacture efficient offense out of the post when opponents can so liberally send help to the paint. Simmons’ driving lanes become even more clogged by sagging defenders unconcerned with what Fultz might be doing without the ball in his hands. A possession will build, only to reach a sudden halt:

Without Redick, the 76ers tend to stall out, as they often lack the shooting and movement that drives a healthy offense. Robert Covington and Dario Sarić are fine shooters in their own rights but don’t attract the defensive attention to remedy Philadelphia’s spacing concerns. Embiid doesn’t hit consistently enough to pose a legitimate threat from deep.

At the very least, Redick’s gravity and perpetual motion afford other players breathing room. When he sprints off a screen, his man fights to stay connected. Defenders follow him as far beyond the arc as he ventures and don’t dare abandon him when Simmons drives or Embiid posts up. He complements and enhances Philly’s stars, but needs those sorts of creators around him to be effective. Fultz, meanwhile, is more effective with the ball in his hands. More than perhaps any player in the NBA, Fultz must play that way in order to be effective; shifting him to the second unit and staggering his minutes with Simmons’ would reduce the overlap between the two, allowing both to play with more space and fewer impediments around them.

Still, some onus falls upon the Sixers’ stars to ease Fultz into the fold and help resolve his questions of fit. In time, Simmons must improve as a shooter regardless of whether Fultz does. Embiid, for his part, could stand to hit shots at a higher rate, involve his teammates more often and cut down on gaudy turnover numbers. Philadelphia could also partially circumvent its spacing concerns by pushing in transition, an approach for which it has suitable personnel – Simmons inspires defensive panic in the open court, while Covington, Sarić and Redick will readily launch early in the shot clock.

The 76ers likely have the firepower to earn home-court advantage in the top-heavy Eastern Conference; star talent and great defense ensure a certain baseline of success. But when the stakes rise and opponents play and prepare more diligently, teams like Boston, Toronto and Milwaukee will systematically exploit Philadelphia’s weaknesses. The Sixers will need solutions, and they’ll be better served to seek them in November than in April.