The Sixers have been one of the fastest teams in terms of pace since Brett Brown took over as head coach before the 2013-2014 season. They ranked 1st during Brown’s first year at the helm with 99.2 possessions per game. Last season they slowed down a little bit when they ranked 6th in the NBA at 95.7 possessions per game. Pace has been closely linked with the Sixers identity over these past few years and with stats like that it is easy to see why. Still, the Sixers don’t play at this pace due its effectiveness. The team has been last in offensive rating in each of Brown’s two years at the helm, although I would probably blame that on the poor offensive talent and not the pace. Still, if the system did not produce any special results, why play at that frantic of a pace for two straight years?
Well, there a few reasons. First of all, and maybe most importantly, the team’s personnel really fit the style. Even in Brown’s first year when the team still had some veterans, the team was comprised mostly of young players. Young teams generally try to get out and run as a way to use their athleticism to their advantage and the Sixers were no different. Secondly, more possessions leads to both a greater number of reps for players in live game action and opportunities to evaluate players on both offense and defense. The Sixers have had a ton of young guys and new faces the last 2 years. The ability to get these guys more opportunities in real games is valuable for their development not only as players, but also within your specific system. It is also very nice to be able to get a few extra looks at how your players are performing on both sides of the court. These few possessions in a game obviously don’t make for an overwhelming advantage, but the Sixers will take any small edge that they can. Lastly, the more possessions there are in a game, the more likely it is that the more talented team will win. The Sixers were never the more talented team in these scenarios, so it often hurt them in the win column to play this way. Obviously, at most this was nothing more than an added bonus to all the other larger benefits listed above, but it may have been a small factor in the Sixers decision to play at such a breakneck speed.
With all the in mind, you would probably expect the Sixers to play a hectic pace once again in the upcoming season. I’m not really so sure that they will. I still obviously expect them to be in the top half of the league in terms of pace, but I am not sure that with this roster it makes much sense to be a league leader in pace like they have been. In the past year alone, the Sixers have replaced hyper-athletic lead guards like Ish Smith and Michael Carter-Williams with plodding point guards like Isaiah Canaan and Kendall Marshall. Neither Marshall nor Canaan have the athleticism to get out in the open floor and effectively run the break. It just is not their style. The team still has Tony Wroten but that is only 1 out of 3 guys and I’m not sure Wroten makes it through the trade deadline as a Sixer.
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Outside of the point guard position, the Sixers have an even larger reason to slow down a tad: Jahlil Okafor. Okafor is a traditional back to the basket scorer who does not run exceptionally well at this point in his career. Jahlil also is not in particularly great shape in regards to playing 30 minutes a game in the NBA with a whole offense running through him. Playing in the quicker paced NBA will certainly be a huge adjustment for him even without taking the Sixers pace into account. To Jahlil’s credit, he has been running the floor incredibly hard throughout the preseason. Also, Coach Brett Brown told reporters that he plans on playing him in 8 minute stints where he expects Okafor to play with an extremely high energy level as he works himself into better shape. Regardless of that, it will still be a tough transition for Okafor and the team can really help Jahlil out by just slowing down the pace a little.
Still, with all that being said, it is imperative that the team does not slow down too much. I don’t at all expect them to do this, but if the Sixers slowed down the point where they were in the bottom 50% of the league in terms of pace I would be disappointed. They still have athletic players on the wing like Jakarr Sampson and Jerami Grant who flourish in the open court. Noel, despite being primarily a power forward this year, will play some center and he is another player who really can be effective at a fast pace. Even with Jahlil on the floor, the Sixers do not want to completely hit the brakes on offense. We have seen in preseason that Okafor has struggled to get post position on professional centers who have NBA strength. Jahlil is a very strong guy, but as a rookie, you just cannot expect him to outmuscle veterans in this league and get optimal post position. There are a few ways to fight this, one of which actually includes playing with pace. Essentially the idea here is not to play fast as a way to score, but rather to play with pace as a way to initiate the offense earlier in the shot clock. If Okafor can get down the floor relatively quickly before the opposing big man has a chance to get fully set, then that will allow him to get some good position early in the possession. This tactic does not require the team to play extremely quickly either. It just requires them to be smart about when they play fast and to be effective in their execution when they do so.
And that’s the real key here. The team needs to be smart in when they choose to run and they need to execute when they do play with pace. This is mostly what determines when they ought to run. I can talk all I want about where they need to place in terms of the league’s pace ranking, but it comes down to what’s working. I still personally think that running a pace that puts you somewhere in the top half of the league but slower than last year is the way to go based on personnel, but that could change once we see the team actually play a real game. Regardless, the question of pace is going a be a huge one for the Sixers to figure out this upcoming season.
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