Cooney: Sixers have outside shot to ramp up offense

When you let yourself envision what may be when it comes to the 76ers' offense this upcoming season, visions of Joel Embiid doing his best Hakeem Olajuwon impersonation come to mind. Thoughts of a 6-10 point guard in Ben Simmons, leading a fastbreak and throwing jaw-dropping passes, aren't far behind. Perhaps there will be a bit of Jahlil Okafor and his polished low-post game working with Embiid, allowing the 7-2, 276-pounder to step away from the basket a bit and show off his guard-like shooting form.

Newcomer Dario Saric may challenge Simmons as the best passer on the team and if the two are on the court at the same time, necks could get sore trying to follow the movement of the basketball.

An offense that has finished next-to-last in the league in each of the past two seasons in points per game seems to be on the verge of breaking through, with multiple offensive threats. Finally, coach Brett Brown has pieces in place that will allow him to effectively play the up-tempo style that he so desires.

But there still is a glaring weakness that could hinder all of the joyous thoughts of a high-speed, productive offense.

In order for Embiid and Okafor to have room to work in the lane and for passing lanes to be exploited by Simmons and Saric, defenses need to be spread out. That happens when there is a threat of an outside shooting presence, something the Sixers haven't really had since Brown has been in charge. And though the organization has added decent shooters in Jerryd Bayless, Gerald Henderson and Saric, the burden of the long-range bombing mainly falls to the right hands of Robert Covington and Nik Stauskas.

The 6-9 Covington is a legitimate three-point threat, having made 36.3 percent of his threes since joining the team early last season. Because the team really didn't have much inside offensive presence the past two seasons - save the 53 games Okafor played last season - teams would come out of their packed-in defenses and challenge Covington when needed. The hope is that with Embiid and Okafor working the middle, along with Simmons and Saric penetrating to the basket, Covington will see more open looks and not have to attempt as many of the hurried shots that has kept his percentage down since he's been here. When Covington isn't rushed into a three, he's up there among the top bombers in the league.

That was the hope for Stauskas when the team acquired him in a trade last offseason with Sacramento. But like his first season in the league with the Kings, the Michigan product struggled mightily with his shot and maybe even more so with his confidence. After a nice start in which he scored in double figures in his first five games, Stauskas' production really fell off as his shot went cold. While that was painfully obvious to see, his playing time after a month into the season dwindled not only because of his frigid shooting, but also due to his lack of defense. When Stauskas' shot isn't falling, it seems to affect all aspects of his game. That is something that he can't allow to happen this season. At the end of last season, the 6-6 guard did a nice job of getting to the basket consistently and averaged 12.2 points over the final nine games, though his outside shooting remained off.

"I don't want to play static and I don't want to play slow," Brown said. "So a big guy backing somebody down and everybody standing, that's not what we're going to do. You get somebody that's just isolating up at the top and you got four of the defenders sitting in a stance and looking at him, that's not what we're going to do. We're going to move. [After a] missed shot, [go] fast [after a] made shot. We're going to have pace. At times the game could run by Joel, and we're going to have to figure that out where he needs a touch. But the speed of the game is not going away. You know what our game is going to look like in 2025. You can predict it out. I think that's what the fans want to see. I think that's what players want to do and I don't feel comfortable talking about career-best fitness base and, by the way, we're going to play slow. I'm more than comfortable, for all those reasons, that it will play to our strengths. At times, you are going to have to feel when the big guy is going to need a touch.

"We know that shooting, like Robert Covington, is going to reap the benefit of a legitimate post target in Joel Embiid and Jahlil, and also reap the benefit of Ben Simmons finding shooters. I learned that with Danny Green [in San Antonio]. The wing rotation could be big or small. I think shooters are going to make this team go around and we need to make sure as best I can that we do have shooters on the floor compliment the guys that are going to have the ball in their hands the most."

In other words, shooters need to be makers. While Brown's confidence level in Covington is just fine and the coach will probably plant him in the starting lineup to begin the year, he can only hope that Stauskas can bring some of what was expected of him when he was taken eighth overall by the Kings in 2014.

"Having that belief and that swagger that we saw at Michigan," Brown responded when asked what he wants to see from Stauskas when training camp opens on Tuesday. "I hope that I can help him to be as confident as I know that he needs to be and can be, because he is a talent. He can be a two-way type of player."

Over the past two seasons, the Sixers have been 29th and 25th in shooting percentage inside the three-point line. Some of that is due to the lack of talent, much of it because opponents had no respect for the team's outside shooting, so they clogged the lane and watched the Sixers let it fly from deep.

If shots don't fall from deep, the offense will look like it's playing in a phone booth (remember them?). If there is some consistency from long-range, Brown will be able to conduct an offense that may be one of the most exciting in the league.

@BobCooney76

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