Philadelphia 76ers: James Ennis needs to stop shooting 3s

James Ennis has been a godsend to the Philadelphia 76ers so far this postseason, but every time he takes a 3, the team is leaving a better shot on the table.

Alright, let’s get this out-of-the-way right at the top; after initially being skeptical about his addition to the Philadelphia 76ers roster, I’ve become a huge fan of James Ennis‘ game.

After initially being pitted against Jonathon Simmons and Furkan Korkmaz in a now-laughable wingman tournament, Ennis’ cream rose to the top and (justifiably) became a consistent part of Brett Brown‘s rotation ever since.

Okay, cool; now that we’ve gotten that out-of-the-way, there’s something that needs to be said: James Ennis has to stop taking 3s.

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Now I know what you are thinking; ‘But Ennis is the 76ers best bench scorer and the closest thing they’ve had to a sixth man since Landry Shamet donned a (Philly) red, white, and blue jersey’ to which I can’t deny: you are right.

Over the last nine games, the 28-year-old forward has clearly been the Sixers sixth-best player, putting up an average of eight points, 3.5 rebounds, and an assist a game, but when he takes a shot from beyond the arc, his value drops considerably.

After shooting an average-ish 35 percent from the 3 point line in the regular season, split between your friendly neighborhood Sixers and the 3-happy Houston Rockets, Ennis’ outside marksmanship has dropped to new lows in the postseason; shooting 8-26 from the 3 point line for a brutal 30.8 percentage.

That’s just bad.

Again, one could argue that the team has needed all 21 of those points over the last nine games, but that’s kind of wrong; in games where Ennis takes three or less 3 pointers, the Sixers have a 5-2 record, vs. a 1-1 record in games where he attempts more.

But how could this be? Why would the 76ers be better when Ennis shoots less from outside?

Easy; every time Ennis takes a shot from outside, the team is passing up a better shot somewhere else.

I know, right? That’s weird but oddly makes sense.

So far this postseason, the Sixers as a team are averaging 46.5 percent from the field, and 33.6 percent from the 3. While neither of those marks are particularly good, they are higher percentages than Ennis’ clip from 3.

Granted, that one vague stat is a pretty inexact science, even Ennis’ own shooting percentage is better from inside the arc than outside.

On shots from within five feet of the basket, Ennis is making 1.8 of his 2.2 attempts so far this postseason, good for the third highest mark (80 percent) of any player on the team not names Mike Scott and Amir Johnson (who combine for .7 attempts a game). Conversely, when Ennis takes a shot from 20-29 feet away, he’s only making .9 of his 3.2 attempts; good for an ugly shooting percentage of 28.

So if Ennis were to simply drive into the paint every time he wants to attempt a 3, he’d at worst be taking a higher percentage shot, and at best get to earn his points from the line: both statistical wins for the boys in blue.

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Will James Ennis taking fewer (or at least higher percentage) 3s really make or break the Philadelphia 76ers chances of beating the Toronto Raptors in seven and earning a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals? Probably not, but as the team struggles along with the least opportune shooting slump imaginable, eliminating low-percentage shots has to be priority number one.