Philadelphia 76ers: Are the Sixers doomed without J.J. Redick?

With J.J. Redick out for the next 10-14 days, do the Philadelphia 76ers have any chance at all of winning without their best shooter?

It just seems like the Philadelphia 76ers just can’t catch a break.

After playing arguably their best game of the season in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day trouncing of the Toronto Raptors at the Wells Fargo Center, the team will now likely be without their best shooter, J.J. Redick, for the next 10-14 days after he suffered a leg contusion in the waning minutes of the Monday afternoon contest.

While this is obviously a huge blow for Brett Brown‘s squad, as Redick has consistently been one of the best shooters from downtown on the team, currently second on the team in points per game with 17.3 while averaging a team-high 40.5 percent from three, the loss could also seriously affect the Sixers entire gameplan for the foreseeable future.

Without Redick on the court, the team will likely have to shift everyone’s favorite sixth man Jerryd Bayless into their vacant two-guard position, a lineup that hasn’t been particularly effective for the 76ers so far this season.

Of the 10 games Bayless’ started for the Sixers so far this season, the team has only won three, and while the vast majority of these games were either at the beginning of the season, or in contests where the team was without either Redick or starting power forward Dario Saric, replacing arguably one of the leagues best pure outside shooters with a player averaging only 8.5 points per game in almost 25 minutes a night is not a winning formula.

Moving Bayless into the starting five also seriously affects Coach Brown’s second unit’s ability to score points, something they haven’t exactly excelled at so far this season.

Over the first 40 games of the season, the 76ers bench has only averaged 27.5 points per game, the fourth-worst of any team in the league, and for better or worse, Bayless has been the team’s go-to sparkplug. Without his 8.5 points per game in relief of Redick, Robert Covington, and Ben Simmons, the team will only really have T.J. McConnell, a player who recorded a career-best 18 points against the Raptors, as a proven second team scorer.

Though players like Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Justin Anderson and seldom played Furkan Korkmaz could all see an uptick in production with Redick on the mend, increasing their minutes likely won’t translate positively in the wins column, much to the chagrin of many fans of the red white and blue.

While Coach Brown could instead opt to insert McConnell into the starting lineup, either at point guard or at shooting guard, or go with the two towers approach and start Richaun Holmes at four, neither option is particularly imposing when you consider the team will be facing off against five teams with winning records over the next eight games, many of which could be winnable if the team were to be at full strength. Sigh.

Next: Philadelphia 76ers: Has Ben Simmons hit the rookie wall?

With the 76ers set to face off against the Boston Celtics on TNT, it’ll be incredibly interesting to see how Brett Brown decides to replace J.J. Redick production, and if the team has any chance of winning a few games in his absence.