Philadelphia 76ers: The importance of three pointers

The Philadelphia 76ers have had a crazy and exciting start to the offseason. As they look to add quality free agents starting July 6th, they need to focus on guys who play from behind the arc. Here’s why:

3-pointers matter, a lot.

The NBA has seen a drastic shift in style of play over the last decade. Teams are no longer building from the inside-out. The large lumbering centers with post moves no longer dominate the game.

Instead, basketball has moved outwards to the perimeter, and winning teams have constructed their rosters accordingly. Teams like the Warriors, Cavs, or Rockets, for example, have a plethora of guys who can hit from deep at a high percentage. And they all ended up with a plethora of wins.

In fact, nine of the 10 teams with the highest 3-point percentage in the league made the playoffs this past season. Because, well… math. 3-pointers are worth 1.5 times more than 2-pointers. It only makes sense to shoot more of them, and that’s exactly what teams have been doing.

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When Michael Jordan won his last championship in 1996, NBA teams averaged just under 17 3-point attempts per game. Fast-forward two decades later to 2016 where teams averaged a whopping 27 attempts per game, the most since the 3-point shots were introduced in 1979. And don’t expect it to slow down anytime soon, as that average has increased every year since 2011.

Since teams are taking more threes, they are obviously taking fewer two’s. The Rockets led the league this year with 37.5% of their total points coming from 3-pointers. That number is up nearly 10% from the league leader in 2013. While this doesn’t correlate with success quite as cleanly as a team’s actual 3-point percentage, six of the top ten teams in the category did make the playoffs, the Cavs, Celtics, and Warriors to name a few.

Now, back to the math, shooting 33% from three equates to 50% from two, which was the league average 2P% in 2016. When the Warriors shoot 38% like they did this season, it’s the same as shooting 57% from two. So Charles Barkley or whoever can rip the analytics all they want, but the math actually works.

The Philadelphia 76ers were absolutely dreadful last season offensively, as they posted the worst efficiency in the league. Their gameplan was solid, as they finished 7th in the NBA in percentage of points from three at 29.7. Their execution, however, was not, as they only made 34% of those shots, good for 25th in the league.

So they scored a lot of their points off of a shot they weren’t good at making. That wasn’t quite the recipe for success, as the 76ers’ top three players in field goal attempts, Covington, Stauskas, and Saric, went 375/1112, or 33.7%.

That being said, with Embiid off the floor last season, spacing was hard to come by. The 76ers didn’t have anyone that scared opposing defenses, therefore no one needed to be doubled, making everyone’s shooting window that much smaller.

Rookies Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz will obviously make an instant impact next year. While Simmons isn’t a 3-point shooter(only three attempts in college), he is one heck of a facilitator. The 76ers would be wise to use him similar to how the Cavs used Lebron James.

Lebron drives into the lane

Defense collapses

Shooter left open on the perimeter

Kick out pass

Shooter drains 3-pointer

Now insert Simmons into the Lebron role, kicking out to Fultz, who shot over 41% this past season. Even Joel Embiid proved to be a reliable option from downtown, as he shot over 36% in limited action. And all of a sudden guys like Saric and Stauskas become the 4th or 5th option, allowing them breathing room to get quality looks at the basket.

The 76ers should also look to add efficient shooters in free agency.

A few options could include:

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To sum things up, adding a spot-up shooter seems like a must this offseason. While teams scramble to figure out how to guard the “FEDS”, a shooter such as JJ Redick could really thrive getting consistent open looks.