Sixers Still Searching at Backup Point Guard

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

As the eventual Saul Goodman has said, “Lawyers, we’re like health insurance. You hope you never need it, but man on man, when you do…” In today’s NBA, you could say the same thing about the backup point guard position. It’s not something fans generally spend a whole lot of time thinking about; after all, your backup is only going to play about 10-12 minutes per game on a normal basis.

However, when the starter goes down, suddenly that guy who was an afterthought is suddenly in charge of directing your entire team. Think of D.J. Augustin helping to keep the Pistons afloat after Brandon Jennings goes down for the year, or the Hornets needing to trade for Mo Williams in the wake of Kemba Walker’s injury.

For the Sixers, they’ve seen a noticeable drop-off at the position ever since Tony Wroten required season-ending ACL surgery, only to see the situation further exacerbated by Michael Carter-Williams’ sprained toe. In addition to playing forwards like JaKarr Sampson and Luc Mbah a Moute at the position for short stretches, they’ve also brought in two guys from the D-League. Larry Drew and Tim Frazier had a few nice moments, but were largely net negatives for the team while out on the court. Here is how the team has fared on both ends of the floor since Larry Drew first joined the team from January 16th on through Monday’s game against Golden State.

The Sixers have experienced a huge drop-off on the offensive end of the floor without Michael Carter-Williams; while the team has played very well defensively in the small sample size with Frazier, it’s probably not due to his play, as the individual stats on the season will show (via Basketball-Reference).

Now, it’s certainly not fair to judge those guys too harshly in what’s bound to be a very tough situation: they’re coming into a new team not really knowing the system, how to coexist on the floor with the teammates around them, etc. Still, you see how the the numbers are worse across the board; the defensive box plus/minus numbers fall off a cliff and the true shooting percentage numbers are abysmal (MCW’s 44.4% is already among the worst figures on a [charitably] not-great shooting team and the other two are well below him).

With the NBA trade deadline set for February 19th, one day before the Sixers’ next game against the Pacers, it’s possible we’ve seen the last of Tim Frazier (he may be a roster casualty if Sam Hinkie needs to take on a player or two to gain some more second-round picks). I’m not saying all the Sixers problems would be solved if they brought in a veteran like Earl Watson, as one recent hot take in the media did yesterday lighting the more rational Sixers community on fire. After all, one of the main points of this season is to be bringing in unproven guys on the cheap and see if the team can discover any hidden gems. I’m simply pointing out the importance of the position and that it’s something interesting to continue to monitor with the team.

Maybe Wroten goes back from the injury 100% and continues to develop his distributing abilities as more of a true point. Maybe a guy like Vasilije Micic, currently playing in Germany and who the Sixers hold the rights to, will be the eventual answer. It’s certainly even possible the starting point guard has yet to be found and Carter-Williams eventually slides into a backup role. However it plays out, we at least know this current executive group will leave no stone unturned in the search. As a fan, that’s really as much as you can ask for from your team.