October 28, 2015
It’s nice to have the NBA back in our lives. Cleveland-Chicago and Golden State-New Orleans (Steph Curry, in particular) served up a nice appetizer, but tonight’s 14-game schedule marks the true opening night of League Pass. All of this anticipation includes your Philadelphia 76ers, who get their season underway in Boston against Brad Stevens’ Celtics at 7:30 p.m.
To help get you ready for the opening tip, here are some predictions for the Sixers’ season:
A buzzkill right off the bat! Call this one a hunch, and trust me, I hope to be wrong about Okafor. Post play has become virtually extinct in the modern NBA, and different styles make for a healthier and more interesting league. A bully ball frontcourt to combat all of the spread pick-and-roll offenses would be so much fun. Also, think about how much the city would embrace that style of play.
Unfortunately, I haven’t liked much at all from Okafor in the preseason or summer league. It’s not just that the 19-year-old, who impressively made 66 percent of his field goal attempts as a freshman in the ACC, shot 39 percent from the field in the preseason. I’m more concerned with how he shot so poorly from the field.
Basically, the process is just as alarming as the results. Okafor isn’t getting deep post position or anything close to the same quality of shots that he made at an incredible rate at Duke. Okafor entered the draft as one of the most polished post scorers to come out of college in years. My question is what good is that if he’s continually relegated to face-up drives from the elbow?
Would I be stunned if Okafor wins Rookie of the Year and looks pretty good doing it? Nah. Maybe he takes the Noel route and something really starts to click around January. To be clear, I agreed with the pick at the time and it’s still way too early to make judgments. Alas, this is a prediction, and I haven’t seen a ton to like yet from Big Jah.
Zach Lowe thinks Noel is a cinch to average two blocks and two steals per game. After averaging 1.9 and 1.8 respectively as a rookie, he was a turnover-forcing machine in the preseason. I am not entirely sure how playing at the 4 for long stretches will affect those numbers, but the final product will undoubtedly be a really good one. Maybe it ends up being good enough to garner some serious All-Defense consideration.
The next step in Noel’s development will have to come on the offensive end. Brett Brown has said Noel wants to be the next Kevin Garnett, but can the reworked jumper open up driving lanes? In 17 games last March, Noel averaged 14.3 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, shooting 50 percent from the field and 65 percent from the line. He probably won’t average those totals over a full season (outside of the free-throw shooting), but I see him making some more progress on the offensive end.
Sam Hinkie has undoubtedly acquired a lot of assets, but it still remains to be seen how he consolidates them into a team that can one day compete for championships. One of the avenues that the Sixers will always explore is trying to acquire a superstar via trade.
With many of the Sixers’ top assets (protected draft picks) and players (Dario Saric) still fairly uncertain commodities, it feels like Hinkie won’t be able to make a big splash until the offseason at the earliest. Plus, acquiring talent to improve the Sixers dramatically in-season hasn’t been part of his M.O.
If Hinkie and the front office want Brown around for the near future, they shouldn’t let him go into his last year without an extension. The guess here is that they do want to keep him around.
After two years of setting the over-under at around 16 wins, Vegas finally wised up and gave the Sixers a little bump. The NBA is sort of like signing your name on the SAT: If you show up and play as hard as the Sixers do, it’s difficult to win less than 17 games.
That said, at least one team has each of the last few years. A major reason the Sixers have avoided being the worst team in league is simply because they play in the East. There is a massive difference in quality between the two conferences. So that means I’m looking at you, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trailblazers and Los Angeles Lakers (who give their pick to the Sixers if it isn’t in the Top-3) as potential cellar dwellers. One of you is going to have the season from hell.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
