Sixers Eagerly Await MCW’s Return

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Although as a Philadelphia sports fan I’m conditioned to expect the worst, all reports indicate the reigning rookie of the year will make his season debut Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks. Following a weekend that saw the Sixers fall just short again against the Bulls before the long-awaited inevitable blowout contest in Toronto, Michael Carter-Williams back at the point will be a sight for sore eyes for fans across the tri-state area. As much fun as the Tony Wroten Experience has been (and it’s been fun), Carter-Williams’ return allows Wroten and his 4+ turnovers a game to slide back off the ball, while also creating a domino effect which hopefully involves less Chris Johnson and JaKarr Sampson.

The return of their starting point guard should help stabilize a Sixers offense that currently rates last in the NBA. Surprisingly, that rating isn’t due to the team being an eye-averting disaster shooting the ball. The Sixers have actually been competent with a 33.1% mark from behind the arc, which while not great, falls above the bottom 10 in the league and is well up from last year’s league-worst 31.2%. Their not-absymal three-point shooting combined with their propensity for taking those shots or ones at the rims leaves the team with an eFG% of 47.7%, which is not in the bottom 10 either (I know, not being in the bottom 10 is a nice goal to have).

Still, MCW in the line-up should improve those numbers even more by creating additional open shots for his teammates. Wroten and Alexey Shved are primarily scorers moreso than true distributors, which has left the Sixers with the 11th-lowest number of catch-and-shoot field goals attempted per game (outside shots where the attempt went up quickly and the shooter did not dribble). When you consider the Sixers’ league-leading pace, the percentage of possessions the team actually gets these presumably open looks falls even lower. The kicker is in such situations, the Sixers have actually been a top-5 team in eFG% when given a catch-and-shoot opportunity. Any scenario where the Sixers fall top-5 in something should be expanded upon as much as possible.

So that’s just one of many ways Carter-Williams’ return should help aid the Sixers. Although his shooting remains a work-in-progress, he will command the attention of opposing defenses and is a savvy enough distributor to find open teammates for those open catch-and-shoot chances as a result. With MCW back to give the offense a boost, and Nerlens Noel returning to help protect the rim once again, the Sixers’ chances of earning their first win will go from highly improbable to just plain unlikely.