The Philadelphia 76ers are shooting 41% from three in 2010 (32/78). The new year is now five games old and while the Sixers stretch of exemplary shooting from downtown has been a pleasant surprise, what's downright shocking is that Jason Kapono hasn't hit a single bomb since New Year's Eve.
The oddity of this shooting streak actually gets stranger than simply seeing Kapono's absence. Check this out, the Sixers best three-point shooters prior to the first of the year (Kapono, Thad, Ivey and Jason Smith) have shot a combined 1/10 in the new year. The rest of the team has shot 31/68.
Who's the ringleader? How about Lou Williams, who has hit 10/21 since January 1, after draining only 23/78 (29.5%) in all games prior. Willie Green has been hot as well, raising his percentage from 34% to 37.5% with 5/9 shooting from beyond.
Here's where everyone's three-point percentage lies after 39 games:
- Iverson: 44.4%
- Ivey: 43.8%
- Kapono: 40.5%
- Jason Smith: 39.1%
- Willie Green: 37.5%
- Rodney Carney: 36.4%
- Lou Williams: 33.3%
- Thad Young: 32.9%
- Jrue Holiday: 32.7%
- Andre Iguodala: 32.7%
Believe it or not, the Sixers are pretty mediocre as a team, shooting 34.7% from three on the season. If you recall, it seemed like a monumental leap would be necessary to get to average from where the team was last season.
Of course, along with the improved accuracy from deep has come a precipitous drop in three-point defense, the Sixers are still dead last in defending the three, by a large margin.
So here's the question, is it sustainable? Willie's career high from three prior to this season was 32.5%, Iverson's top was 34.5% but everyone else is at least close to their career numbers. I have to think the overall percentage is going to drop a little bit considering Kapono can't find the floor anymore, but maybe the inside out game with Brand and the drive and kick game of Iverson and Jrue are really paying dividends. Giving the Sixers better looks at threes.
Who knows. Something to keep an eye on, though.
I think eddie's offense is working. It would be great if he was an assistant. I think the inside scoring is really allowing good spacing. I'm curious to know when we make our threes. Seems like they tend to come in the first quarter.
This is a little off the topic but it does involve kapono:
I'd trade Lou and kapono with smith as a throw in for Spencer Hawes and Kenny Thomas(contract).
I'm pretty sure they've completely abandoned the PO at this point.
True. I think the principles of ball movement and off ball movement have caught on. They all seem to be on the same page. They know where to be for the outlet to bail out a guy. I hate Jordan but he has improved our offense.
I was curious about whether Jordan had improved our offense, so I looked it up. To this point, the offense isn't as good as it was last year.
Offensive efficiency rating (points per 100 possessions)
2009: 104.7
2010: 104.0
eFG%
2009: 48.49%
2010: 49.10%
Free Throw Rate (measures made free throws vs. FGA)
2009: 33.9%
2010: 28.6%
Turnover Rate
2009: 13.35%
2010: 13.69%
Offensive Rebounding Rate
2009: 31.26%
2010: 28.68%
Now I think the Sixers are trending upward in a big way since Iverson/Jrue are on the floor most of the time, but to this point, the offense has been worse than it was last season.
Not completely true. I tracked the game for a little bit last night but then just started watching it in about the middle of the 2nd quarter.I wanted to see if they ran any Princeton stuff whatsoever. I was specifically looking at their offensive sets. I feel that a Princeton set is pretty easy to diagnose with basic things being a two guard set, Sammy or Elton at the high post, back cutting, flare screens, etc. They ran stuff with some elements of Princeton 4 of the first 9 possessions. The other stuff was freelance off a missed shot where Iverson or Iggy made a decision for a P and R or hitting Thad for an early post. They got a lot of early shots against a slow-recovering New Orleans defense.
When EB went into the game, they started running box sets to free him in his sweet spot on the left side. The Princeton stuff last night had a purpose too. Sometimes it would get Thad into good position for an iso on West. Jrue and Sammy got a pick and roll dunk after some nice early Princeton action with EB, and Willie was freed for an open three off a basic Princeton movement, where he flared off a screen by Sammy I believe.
Jordan seems to let Iverson and Jrue run their own stuff when their pushing on a delayed break, and they were getting quality shots last night. Iggy can also push it as well, but when there was a set D, Jordan found a mix of PO sets and traditional sets like a low double screen for the wings and a box set. Still, they definitely ran PO last night, even with Iverson in the game.
In your eyes, how does the stuff they're running now compare to what they were running early in the season?
Well, I can't say that I have the trend and I am going off looking really critically for a few minutes last night. When I paid attention to it last night, it seems like they are running basic Princeton motion to get each other into good spots. One play was great where they ran the Princeton stuff and the ball was swung to Thad who caught it comfortably to iso on West from 15 feet on the left side. Another time they ran it to get a Jrue pick and roll. Basically, last night showed that they can run it efficiently as the initiator of offense, but not the whole thing.
I think that it looked different because they are running it to get guys in practical and comfortable spots. There was less dribble hand-off last night and no real 911 shot for Iguodala off a flare screen for 3. To me it's all about running it aggressively to get guys in good spots. Last night, that worked well.
It's also about not running it every time. Jordan dialed up a few box sets for EB when he got in. AI, AI9, and Jrue were also free to run pick and roll if they were facing a recovering defense. Last night, the offense at least made a little more sense early on. They were getting good shots, but it also was against the Hornets. Just one game too.
I'm neither as critical or analytical but that's what I saw- decent to good movement. They look much better with ai and jrue initiating the offense.
That dribble handoff always leads to the same thing, nothing but seconds run off of the clock.
I liked that on one play where Willie came out for a dribble hand off Jrue simply dribbled past him and fed the post. he saw an opening and broke off the typical weave and heave that was called for.