Could the Philadelphia 76ers find gold from the Wizards’ garage sale?
Kelly Oubre Jr.
It seems like every year is going to be the year Kelly Oubre Jr. breaks out and transforms into a legitimate NBA star, but for whatever reason, it just never seems to happen.
Why? Maybe it’s because he’s a below average 3-point shooter and a horrible defender.
Yeah, that’s probably it.
Over his first 244 NBA games, Oubre has attempted 735 3-pointers, but only made 233 for a Markelle Fultz-esque 31.7 completion percentage. While he inched that number up a little bit last season, making it to 35-percent for the year, he’s falling right back to the mean in 2018, where he’s only made 28-99 shots.
But somehow, Oubre may actually be worst on the defensive end of the court.
According to ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus, Oubre is the third worst defensive small forward in the league, and the 32nd worst defender in the entire NBA through the first 20 games of the season.
While this isn’t great by any stretch of the imagination, it’s almost impossible to justify playing a one-way player with that sort of defensive liability for long stretches of the game when he’s only averaging 12 points a night, regardless of how athletic he is.
Now Oubre’s game isn’t all bad, as he can effectively play either forward position and score buckets with some regularity, but for a team like the Philadelphia 76ers, who need 3-and-D forwards to complement Simmons and Embiid, renting Oubre for half a year just isn’t worth their time or draft picks.