Three pointers not a Sixer specialty
Funny that you should see Andre Miller hit a three pointer at the end of the half like that. It's only his third three pointer of the season. He is now 3 of 20 from three-point range on the season. On the season, the Sixers are the worst three-point shooting team in the league. They have made 182 (30th), attempted 583 (30th), which comes out to 31.2 percent (you guessed it, 30th). When they traded away Kyle Korver at the turn of the new year, they basically gave up on three-point shooting altogether.
In fact, since Korver departed, they are hovering around 26 percent shooting from long range and only average about 2.5 made per game. So, don't go thinking that Andre Miller three-pointer was a trend, because it's the exception.
-Scooter Hendon, Hoops Nerd
Rookie Thaddeus Young is starting to flourish from added minutes after Kyle Korver was traded away around the New Year. In his last five games, he's averaging 12.6 points, 6 rebounds and is shooting 58.7 percent from the floor. He was the 12th overall pick in last year's draft, and is only 19 years old. The Sixers like to have what they've seen so far, and might have grabbed a real bargain.
First off, they are defined by A.I., just like they have been since 1996. It just isn't the same A.I. Andre Iguodala is one of the best young players in the league and is the 76ers' best player. He'll likely be headed for an All-Star game in his first year as the team leader and is having a fine season thus far despite being on one of the worst teams in the league. He's averaging career highs in points (20.5), rebounds (6.3), steals (2.17), blocks (.83), three pointers (1 per game) and shooting percentage (50%) in the first six games of his fourth season in the league. If can continue his current production, he'll start turning some heads and getting noticed despite playing on such a bad team.
After Iguodala, the drop off is rather drastic. Samuel Dalembert is likely their second best player and is a talented young big man but has a limited offensive game. He can impact the game on the glass and the defensive end, but gets many points with help from other players and has trouble creating his own shot. He's one of the better shot blockers in the league and has a good physical game. Paired with rebounding specialist Reggie Evans, the Sixers have one of the better young defensive post tandems in the league. Their defense ranks fifth in the league thus far, and that likely has something to do with their defense-only front line.
Veteran Andre Miller, who was the main player component in the Allen Iverson trade, runs the point for the hapless Sixers who have the sixth worst offense in the league. Miller is playing the worst basketball of his career this year, in large part due to his assist numbers plummeting. Without guys like Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby (or Lamond Murray and Chuck Person if you want to go back even further) to dump the ball off to, Miller's pass-first game isn't translating into success with a team that has trouble consistently sinking jumpers and scoring down low.
