This is the beginning of a series of individual recaps for the 2016-17 Sixers…
When the Sixers initially signed Real Madrid point guard Sergio Rodriguez out of the ACB and EuroLeague last summer, it came out of left field. Looking back at lists of free-agent guards heading into the offseason, his name was nowhere to be found. Sure, “El Chacho” was considered one of the best guards outside the NBA, but he was also 30-years old and had comfortably settled in at Real Madrid.
In fact, Rodriguez hadn’t played in the NBA since 2010. So, even for a grizzled veteran with a real Grizzly Adams beard, this was going to be a transition year. Not only that, Rodriguez was leaving a stable, veteran European club for the NBA’s youngest team.
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He transitioned from playing with grown men accustomed to winning games and titles to kids just trying to get a handle on the whole professional basketball thing.
“Coming from a situation that I had in Madrid, with knowing all of my teammates, all my coaches and everything. Coming back here, playing a different style, with different teammates and getting to know everybody and coaches, it was a big thing for me,” Rodriguez said. “I think that will help me in the future to be better.”
And despite his game having some obvious drawbacks, Rodriguez was in the rotation for the 68 games he was able to play. Chacho set his NBA career highs in points, assists, rebounds, and minutes.
“I think [my teammates] felt comfortable playing with me, and that’s the most important thing for a point guard,” he said.
Rodriguez will go back to Spain this summer, and just like Dario Saric, he’ll get ready to play in EuroBasket 2017, where La Roja will defend its 2015 title. But the $16,000 question (let’s be real, it’s not pressing enough for $64K) is whether Rodriguez will be back in Philly next season.
We’ll get to that at the end.
Stat stuff
Per-36
| Points (FG/3P/FT) | Rebounds | Ast-TO | Steals | Blocks |
| 12.6 (39/37/67) | 3.7 | 8.2-3.0 | 1.1 | 0.1 |
Advanced
| PER | TS% | USG% | WS/48 |
| 11.0 | .484 | 19.3 | .022 |
On-Off
| On | Off | |
| OFF RTG | 100.7 | 100.6 |
| DEF RTG | 106.0 | 106.5 |
| NET RTG | -5.3 | -5.9 |
At this stage of his career, Rodriguez gets most of his value from setting up teammates in the pick-and-roll. Never a particularly good defender, that end of the floor is where T.J. McConnell was able to wrestle the starting job from him. Rodriguez did provide decent long-range shooting at 36.5 percent, but he only managed 41.5 percent from inside the arc.
Video evidence
Vine may be gone, which is too bad for Rodriguez, who definitely knows how to throw a decent highlight-reel pass.
Looking ahead to next year
Rodriguez is an unrestricted free agent after agreeing to a one-year, $8 million deal last summer and he has legit interest in sticking around. Chacho said his family is happy in Philly, and it genuinely seemed like he embraced the city and organization.
Oh, yeah, the team might be a little bit of fun next year too.
"It's going to be a special thing in the coming years in Philadelphia," he said a few days before the season ended. (via the Inquirer). "You always want to be a part of that."
It remains to be seen how the roster shakes out after the draft and free agency, but Rodriguez likely will be the victim of a numbers game at the point guard spot. Think about all of this good stuff:
• McConnell is younger, outplayed Rodriguez in 2016-17, and is on the friendliest of team-friendly contracts for two more seasons.
• Jerryd Bayless, who Bryan Colangelo is pretty high on (with the three-year commitment, he better be), only played three games this season due to injury. He’ll be in the fold next season.
• The 2017 NBA Draft is coming up soon, and in case you haven’t heard, there are a bunch of guards projected to be selected in the lottery. The Sixers could potentially have two of those top picks.
• Free agency has plenty of point guards, none of which I’m going to speculate about right now. But they’re real!
• Oh, yeah, we haven’t even named the Sixers starting point guard for 2017-18 yet. His name is Ben Simmons.
"It's going to be a special thing in the coming years in Philadelphia," he said a few days before the season ended You always want to be a part of that."
That’s a lot.
Rodriguez didn’t set the world on fire, but I still think it was a defensible signing. To steal a baseball term, the Sixers needed an innings eater in 2016-17 while also maintaining long-term flexibility. With those parameters, you’re not going to sign a star.
At the time of the signing, I wrote, “The Sixers found a creative solution to their temporary point guard problem.” They did just that, but there will very likely be better answers this year. El Chacho might have to look elsewhere.
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