Philadelphia 76ers: Seth Curry is the oil that keeps the offense running

When Seth Curry was rushed off the bench in the first half of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ Thursday night loss to the pre-James Harden Brooklyn Nets, it sent the entire organization into disarray.

Suddenly, the poster boys for the NBA’s increasing issues with squelching the spread of COVID-19 – though that moniker may now be owned firmly by the Washington Wizards – the Sixers were forced to play a game with seven players, went on a three-game losing streak, and had to rely on unlikely contributors like Isaiah Joe to get points in place of more proven players.

Though the team eventually broke out of their slumping ways thanks in no small part to Joel Embiid playing at a legitimate MVP level, peeling off a 3-1 record over their next four outings, some openly wondered if the Sixers’ championship window had been prematurely slammed shut due to a certain non-trade that’s already been covered ad nauseam.

Well, as it turns out, the Sixers weren’t a broke team after all, just one missing their third-best player.

Seth Curry makes his presence known in his Philadelphia 76ers’ return.

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When Daryl Morey took over the Philadelphia 76ers in October of 2020, the team was in a state of disarray.

Coming off a very underwhelming season capped off by a four-game, first-round sweep by the Boston Celtics, Morey made it his mission in life to swap out ill-fitting pieces like Al Horford and Josh Richardson and replace them with better-fitting players like Danny Green, Tyrese Maxey (via the draft) and most importantly of all, Seth Curry.

A player Doc Rivers had an innate knowledge of despite having never coached him in a game – because, ya know, Steph’s brother is married to his daughter – the Sixers’ brain trust expertly identified a 6-foot-2 combo guard with a decent handle, solid defensive fortitude, and a lights out 3 point shot and were able to finesse his contract away from the Dallas Mavericks for nothing more than Richardson and a second-rounder.

And so far, the results have been better than anyone could have even hoped.

Through nine games of action, Curry is averaging 17.0 points and 3.6 assists a game while knocking down an astonishing 59.5 percent of his 5.3 shots per game from beyond the arc. Those numbers rank third, second, and first, respectably, and are a big reason why the Sixers are 8-1 in games where Curry is on the field.

Curry is a glue guy. While he doesn’t do anything explicitly at an elite level – except, of course, 3 point shooting; his shooting percentage leads the league by a pretty sizeable margin – he does everything pretty well and serves as the oil needed to keep Rivers’ offense running smoothly.

When the Sixers need 3 points, they can reliably count on Curry to get open in a variety of different ways – my personal favorite being his two-man game with Embiid. When the Sixers need a secondary ball-handler to take over for Simmons and fish for a shot in the open field, they can count on Curry to do that, too, as he’s hitting 60 percent of his shots from the field on 9.8 attempts. Heck, Curry might just be a better passer than either Maxey or Shake Milton despite having the 11th highest usage rate of any player on the team at 17.0.

If the Sixers’ struggles continued on once Curry returned, then yeah, maybe something genuinely is wrong, and Morey should start working the phones for a midseason trade that would make Elton Brand blush to further reshape the roster in his image – a route I’m personally not a huge fan of – but in his first game back with the team, that wasn’t the case.

Still reeling from the aftereffects of COVID, Curry dropped 15 points in 27 minutes of action while draining 60 percent of his shots from beyond the arc. Curry looked smooth, he moved well, and most importantly of all, he gave the Sixers a spark that was sorely missing during his absence.

Ben Simmons played better with Curry around. Tobias Harris had his best game in 20 days with Curry back. Heck, even Embiid, fresh off a 42 point performance, put up 38 to give him an even 80 in the Sixers’ two-game series against Boston.

And best of all, Curry is signed through the 2022-23 season at an average annual value of $8 million. So yeah, Morey deserves Executive of the Year considerations for that one alone.

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Could the Philadelphia 76ers still struggle moving forward? Most definitely. Lineups are changing with incredible frequency during this weird, weird NBA season, and it’s entirely possible the team may cycle through three more starting fives before Valentines’ Day, but between you and me, I think Daryl Morey has really built something special. For the price of a first-round pick, a second-round pick, and some players no one really wanted back, Morey has crafted a starting lineup so potent, so complementary, and so defensively sound that even a Michelin star chef would blush. While Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are the stars of the show, Seth Curry is the bun that keeps it all together.