Skip to content
Sixers
Link copied to clipboard

As Sixers take shape, so does their defense

The team is creating its own style in the two summer leagues.

The Lakers' Julius Randle drives into Philadelphia 76ers' Drew Gordon during the first half of an NBA summer league basketball game Wednesday, July 16, 2014, in Las Vegas.
The Lakers' Julius Randle drives into Philadelphia 76ers' Drew Gordon during the first half of an NBA summer league basketball game Wednesday, July 16, 2014, in Las Vegas.Read more

LAS VEGAS - The vision of 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie and company has been well-documented. It isn't expected to come to fruition until the next few years, as injuries heal, overseas contracts are honored and yet- undrafted players are acquired and free agents lured.

That is the overall plan, the one many fans in the Philly area have mainly said they're on board with. There is a glimpse of what will be available to view this coming season, with rookie of the year Michael Carter-Williams returning to his spot at the point guard position and the much-anticipated regular-season debut of Nerlens Noel.

For close to 2 weeks now, the organization has been participating in summer leagues, first in Orlando and now in Las Vegas. There was success in Orlando as they unveiled Noel for the first time, won four of five games and captured the championship. In Vegas, there has been more good play. Obviously these few weeks with many players, most of whom may never play with the Sixers or in the NBA, is a tryout for a few spots that may be open on the roster. But if you look closer, there is more going on. While the players aren't in place just yet, the style that will become the future of the Sixers is starting to take shape.

The offensive style was on display last season, as coach Brett Brown implemented an up-tempo pace that relies on pushing the ball off rebounds and getting MCW or others to penetrate the lane and make decisions to either kick out to spotted-up, three-point shooters or take the ball to the basket. Long two-point shots are a thorn in Brown's side and not the way of the future of the league, he says.

The problems? The Sixers were not a very good defensive team overall, so getting out on the break became nearly impossible with opposing teams scoring with such regularity. They also got crushed on the boards most nights, which also negates the ability to get out on the break. And there was no legitimate three-point shooter.

So while bringing in a sharpshooter is probably still high on Hinkie's to-do list, improving the offense with defense has been the priority this summer.

Wednesday against the Lakers, summer league coach Chad Iske started two undersized guards in Casper Ware and Tim Frazier, both happy to be called 6-footers. Iske demanded his guards to get up on the ball and make it impossible to throw easy passes, especially into the lane. It worked perfectly as the Sixers forced 24 turnovers, continually got out on the break and were able to find their running big men all night for easy baskets. This team appears made for this model. They've drafted long wings who can get into passing lanes. They have some guards quick enough to make life disruptive for opposing points, and now they have a rim protector in Noel, with another one coming later in Joel Embiid.

"We wanted to get up into them and make nothing easy, not even a single dribble easy," said Iske, following the team's 85-63 win. "We wanted to come out and make it about our defense early and about our pressure and about our heart and hard level of play.

"Our defense led to good offense for us. We were constantly running it back at them and making their bigs run, and I think that helped getting into attack mode and getting into the paint instead of just settling for jump shots."

As with everything in this plan, there are questions. But the on-court process of it all appears to be taking shape. Now the right players are needed.

Eye-openers

When you have a roster as unsettled as the Sixers, players who show a specific skill certainly will get second and third looks. Sean Kilpatrick has shown he is a very capable scorer, averaging 12.8 points in the four Vegas games prior to last night's contest with the Chicago Bulls. The University of Cincinnati product has drained 42 percent of his three-pointers and is a very physical presence on the offensive end.

In his three games before last night, Elijah Millsap has done a little bit of everything for the team, averaging 13 points, grabbing five rebounds and showing a good ability to get to the foul line. He also leads the team with 12 steals, including seven against the Lakers on Wednesday.

The soon-to-be 27-year-old went undrafted out of Alabama-Birmingham in 2010 and has put in his time overseas as well as in the NBA Development League. Perhaps his window to the NBA is open just a crack, but he'll bust in full force if that's what it takes.

"Everybody kind of writes you off because they know your game and all these new crop of guys start coming in every year and they want to see the unknown, and they are more attractive than the known," said Chad Iske. "What he really needs to do is go out there every night and prove that he's way better than these other guys that they're looking at. He's been answering the bell and taking a lot of pride on the defensive side of it, that's for sure."

Vegas notes

Going into yesterday's action, the leading scorer in the league was Washington's Glen Rice Jr. at 22.7 a game. Lehigh's C.J. McCollum (Portland) was second at 21; Tim Hardaway Jr. (New York) and Tony Snell (Chicago) both were third at 20.7, and Chicago's Doug McDermott fifth at 20.2 . . . Russ Smith, whom the Sixers drafted last month but later traded to New Orleans, was first in assists at 7.7 a game. Former Roman Catholic and Villanova star Maalik Wayns was third at 4.7 . . . After four games the Sixers were allowing opponents to make just 18.8 percent of their three-pointers (16-for-85), but were shooting just 28 percent themselves (21-for-75).

Blog: ph.ly/Sixerville