December 20, 2024
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Have the Sixers found the absolute best version of Kelly Oubre Jr. in recent weeks?
After Joel Embiid made a loud return to action and Tyrese Maxey recorded the first triple-double of his NBA career on Dec. 8, Paul George was more excited to talk about the play of a different teammate: Kelly Oubre Jr., who put the Sixers over the top in that day's win road over the Chicago Bulls with two-way brilliance despite only attempting six shots.
Kelly Oubre Jr. put on an absolute masterclass in starring in a role during the second half yesterday:
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) December 9, 2024
- Three offensive rebounds in Q3, all leading to open Sixers 3PA (two 3PM)
- Three steals
- Momentum-shifting corner three + offensive foul drawn on next play
Full highlights: https://t.co/vQvMOZppGI pic.twitter.com/1oDdtcOE99
"Kelly makes the team, man," George said. "He's definitely the unheard hero. He does so many different things for us. His energy, his defense, running the floor. He just does so much for us. I tell him and time and time again, man, he's special. He's very special. He literally can do anything and everything on the floor. When we need stops, when we need that push, he's the guy that does it for us."
Oubre, who experienced a brutal beginning to the 2024-25 season amid constantly changing roles — including a brief return to the bench — is now enjoying what is by far his best stretch of the season. For this week's Friday film, let's examine how Oubre is maximizing his athletic and physical traits to dominate all of the little things:
The most notable — and perhaps most impressive — aspect of Oubre's strong few weeks has been his offensive rebounding. Oubre has collected 22 offensive rebounds in his last 10 games, and taken it up a notch in recent contests:
Kelly Oubre Jr.'s offensive rebounds in each of the Sixers' three most recent games:
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 20, 2024
December 8 @ Chicago Bulls: 3
December 13 vs. Indiana Pacers: 4
December 16 @ Charlotte Hornets: 3 pic.twitter.com/B3n7fL6WIk
During the Sixers' five-day October training camp in The Bahamas, head coach Nick Nurse adopted a new motto, "The Ball Wins," emphasizing the importance of winning the possession battle, something Nurse has long been passionate about. That means ending defensive possessions with rebounds, forcing turnovers as a defense and limiting turnovers as an offense. But it also means reviving possessions after missed shots with offensive rebounds. In Chicago, Oubre had three offensive rebounds lead directly to open three-point shots — two of them makes — in just the third quarter.
"I want the ball, man," Oubre said when asked about his offensive rebounding after the team's Dec. 12 practice. "Any way I can get the ball — but also, I do know that extra possessions will give us a better chance of winning the game. So, yeah, I was in that corner just crashing. I wanted the ball, and the ball was coming my way because my energy was finding it. But at the end of the day, man, that's what we need to do, and that's what I'm going to continue to do."
Oubre had the best defensive season of his career in his first year with the Sixers, serving as a reliable option against guards and wings alike. This season, though, he got off to a rocky start on that end of the floor. Oubre was struggling to be a real defensive playmaker, where he had really left a mark in recent years. Additionally, he had issues with fouling emerge and then escalate.
Nurse spoke at length about Oubre's difficulties with whistles during that stretch, and shared that he was instructing Oubre to be more physical at the starts of drives to limit penetration and less physical at the ends of drives, where officials continually made calls against him as he tried to recover.
Over the last few weeks, Oubre has created an uptick in his steal numbers while also limiting his foul trouble. Oubre has played 24 games in 2024-25, and in the first 12 of them, he averaged 0.8 steals and 3.6 fouls per game. But in his next dozen games, Oubre averaged 1.7 steals per game while bringing his average in fouls per game down to 2.3.
Oubre's playmaking as a defender has been particularly outstanding in the Sixers' last handful of games, where he has been able to force turnovers against all sorts of players:
Kelly Oubre Jr. has recorded multiple steals in four of the Sixers' last five games. All of his steals during that stretch: pic.twitter.com/H1epFVpuwq
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 19, 2024
If the Sixers are ever able to keep Embiid, George and Maxey on the floor at the same time for a prolonged period, having such a tenacious defender who can consistently handle top-flight assignments will be immensely valuable for Nurse.
With Embiid potentially returning to action as soon as Friday night, the cutting ability Oubre often tapped into in 2023-24 could once again become one of the pillars of his offensive output. Even without Embiid always on the floor, Oubre's cutting has created opportunities to collect assists for Maxey and George, as well as bigger players with passing chops like KJ Martin and Guerschon Yabusele:
Guerschon Yabusele's sneaky passing chops and Kelly Oubre Jr.'s cutting ability make for a good match. Yabusele drives and finds a cutting Oubre for a slam: pic.twitter.com/wx5iKrYtYq
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 12, 2024
Oubre and Martin might be the Sixers' two best players when it comes to finding gaps in opposing defenses and capitalizing on the enormous attention the All-Star trio around them receives. For Oubre, more scoring chances at the rim provides another avenue to take advantage of his terrific athleticism and absurd 7-foot-2 wingspan.
"Obviously, with Joel back, him and Tyrese have the two-man game," Oubre said last week. "That opens up a lot of us on the perimeter and in the [dunker's spot] for me cutting and stuff. I'm just getting back to my niche, which is cutting, slashing, making shots on the outside."
Speaking of that, Oubre has not abandoned his passion for on-ball scoring. He is still one of the better players on the team when it comes to pressuring the rim and forcing a defense into rotation, and he has chances to tap into that on occasion. But he has also found a new niche as a scorer which leverages his length and the sort of shot he seems comfortable shooting.
Of late, Oubre has taken a ton of short mid-range jumpers, often as he drifts in the paint. Time will tell just how efficient of a look this is for Oubre, but over the last few weeks it has felt as if Oubre has been automatic on shots like this:
Kelly Oubre Jr. has become extremely comfortable utilizing his height and length to create chances for very short paint jumpers: pic.twitter.com/FriRwJjenM
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 20, 2024
If these looks stop falling enough to warrant Oubre seeking them out as much as he has recently, he still has the ability to power his way to the rim, oftentimes drawing a foul if he cannot convert at the rim. The fact that he looks so comfortable rising up and taking jumpers in that area of the floor, though, will eventually pop up on opposing teams' scouting reports — and that itself might make it easier for Oubre to get a bit closer to the rim as a true driver.
Of course, any role player surrounding a trio of stars like Embiid, George and Maxey needs to be a reliable spot-up three-point shooter. Oubre has always been more of a high-volume three-point shooter than a high-efficiency one, which has its pros and cons.
In his first 10 games of the season, Oubre only made 24.5 percent of his long-range tries. Nurse said after Oubre's rough beginning to the year from beyond the arc that he spoke to Oubre about being more decisive in those situations: instead of taking a dribble, surveying the defense and then shooting over a strong contest, Nurse told Oubre he just needed to pull the trigger as soon as the ball came his way. And that is what Oubre has done recently:
Kelly Oubre Jr. in six games in December: 4.2 3PA/G, 48.0 3P%. pic.twitter.com/ugNm7Dj3Mt
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 20, 2024
Even if Oubre does not attempt as many threes as he would like to, his refined approach focused on quick releases has helped him find much-improved efficiency marks. And while a player who is more selective as a three-point shooter is inherently more likely to make a higher percentage of their shots due to a decreased degree of difficulty, Nurse pointed out a unique perspective earlier this month: for a player like Oubre used to high-volume shooting from inside and outside the three-point arc, taking fewer shots over the course of a game can be challenging, as it disables him from finding the sort rhythm over the course of a game that he is used to.
Oubre is sacrificing right now, and he remains open his desire to be in a more featured offensive role. But Oubre has absolutely dominated in his role, and the Sixers will be much better off in the long run if he is able to maintain the mentality he has played with in December.
"I want to do more, obviously," Oubre said. "I want to continue to get better and showcase more. But right now, I'm just focusing on making the right reads, making the right plays and being in the right spots for whenever they need an outlet."
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