Philadelphia 76ers: Mike Scott is essential to defeat the Toronto Raptors

If the Philadelphia 76ers are going to turn things around and defeat the Toronto Raptors in route to an Eastern Conference Finals berth, Mike Scott has to get healthy quick.

Mike Scott is the Philadelphia 76ers sixth-best player.

Does he have the highest upside of any player on the team? Nope, at 31-years-old, Scott has pretty much reached his ceiling as an NBA player, and that’s a pretty solid 3-and-D swing forward.

And after watching his team’s 108-95 loss to the second-seeded Toronto Raptors, it’s pretty safe to say the Sixers can’t win this seven-game series without Scott on the court.

More from Philadelphia 76ers

Now granted, Scott hasn’t exactly been a dominant force this postseason, as he’s only averaging 5.6 points per game while shooting his 3s at a 26.1 percent clip (6-23), but Scott’s impact on the 76ers’ Round 1 series against the Brooklyn Nets was far more than his Game 4-winning 3.

Measuring in at 6-foot-8, 237 pounds, Scott can pretty much cover any player on the field 1-5 and was essentially asked to do so against the Nets, as they’ve filled out their roster almost exclusively with players measuring in between 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-10.

Serving as the 76ers’ top swingman coming off the bench alongside fellow trade-deadline acquisition James Ennis, Scott has pretty admirably filled the shoes of Landry Shamet as the team’s sixth man shooter coming off the bench; so much so that he even took over the Wichita State product’s former number 1 jersey to make it easy for fans int he crowd (I kid).

Furthermore, in 118 total minutes of action, easily the most of any reserve on the team, Scott finished out the Nets series with a +6 Real Plus-Minus, essentially meaning that the team six more points than their opponents when he was on the court than when he was off of it. Now, this stat can be misleading, as Jonah Bolden had a +8 RPM in the Sixers Game 1 loss to the Raptors and he was hardly a difference maker in his 13 minutes of action, but over a five-game series, retaining a position rating should be commended.

And let’s be honest, the 76ers really, really need him moving forward.

After being gashed by Toronto’s one-two punch of Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam for 74 points on 28-38 shots from the field (6-11 from 3), the 76ers have to fortify their rotation to ensure the team always has at least two dominant wing defenders on the court at all times; bonus points if they can hit an open 3.

If we’re being honest, the 76ers only have three players who fit that bill; Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, and yes, Mike Scott.

With Scott out of the equation, Brett Brown has been forced to rely even further on top-heavy rotation, often resulting in Tobias Harris facing off against either Siakam or Leonard in a one-on-one situation. Now props to Harris for giving it his all, as covering Leonard is no easy task, but despite scoring 14 points on 2-4 from 3 point range, he still finished out the game with a -23 RPM, tied with Butler for the worst mark on the team.

Now I may be wrong, but if the two players most frequently tasked with defending Butler and Siakam are tied for the worst RPM marks of any player on either team, there’s clearly a problem.

Next. Philadelphia 76ers can’t break 100 in ugly loss to Toronto. dark

Would Mike Scott be able to come in and immediately shut down Kawhi Leonard one-on-one? No way, there are only a handful of players in the world who can do that with any regularity, one of them being Leonard himself, but he could give the team another dead-eyed shooter coming off the bench, and an additional combo forward capable of switching off on the Raptors two best players alongside Ben Simmons and Jimmy Butler. Though he’s out for once more for Game 2 with that pesky heel, let’s hope the 6-foot-8 Virginia product can get back into the rotation when the series comes to Philadelphia for Game 3.