Philadelphia 76ers: Should Daryl Morey re-sign Ben McLemore?

There’s a significant swash of the Sacramento Kings’ fanbase that will forever consider Ben McLemore a bust of Nik Stauskas-level proportions, and frankly, they aren’t wrong.

Initially selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, McLemore was projected as an elite outside scorer with comps to Ray Allen during his lone season at Kansas and looked like a home run selection for a team looking for a perfect exterior foil for franchise center DeMarcus Cousins.

Instead, then-GM Pete D’Alessandro landed a player who averaged nine points per game on underwhelming shooting numbers and was allowed to test the open market – and sign a two-year, $10.66 million deal with the Memphis Grizzlies – after declining to extend a qualifying offer when his contract expired.

From there, McLemore played a single season with the pre-Ja Morant Grizzlies and was traded back to Sacramento in a package for Garrett Temple, before being waived after only appearing in 19 incredibly underwhelming games with his new/old team.

At the tender age of 25, McLemore was at a crossroads. He’d never become more than an average starter during his initial run with the Kings, struggled to find his fit with his fourth and final head coach Dave Joerger, and failed to turn things around in his lone season at Memphis; a season featuring a pre-season broken foot and some time in the G-League.

Fortunately, Daryl Morey swooped in and gave McLemore a chance to prove his worth once more on a partially guaranteed two-year, $4.3 million deal with the Houston Rockets, to serve as a plug-‘n-play shooter alongside James Harden, Eric Gordon, and Russell Westbrook.

But now, after failing to find a deal at the deadline, McLemore is set to become a midseason free agent for the first time in his NBA career – free to sign wherever he’d like and still be eligible to play in the postseason.

Could a reunion with Morey on the Philadelphia 76ers be just what the doctor ordered to get McLemore back on track yet again?

The Philadelphia 76ers are still in the market for additional outside shooting.

More from Section 215

When J.J. Redick was shipped off to the Dallas Mavericks in the waning moments before the 2021 NBA trade deadline, it bummed out quite a few fans of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Now granted, it’s entirely possible if Redick hadn’t been traded to Dallas and was instead bought out as he initially hoped, the veteran sharpshooter for hire would have opted against returning to South Philly for a one-way ticket back to his chosen home of Brooklyn, New York. Redick’s family opted to remain in their DUMBO Duplex both when he played in Philly, and as he spent a season and a half in New Orleans, and considering the current conditions of our world, it’s understandable that he’d want to be close to them now more than ever, even if his role with the Nets may not have been as expansive as ones offered in Philly, Milwaukee, or even Boston.

But after watching their favorite team avoid a massive trade to instead make an incremental upgrade with veteran combo guard George Hill, Philly fans were hoping to land another sure-fire shooter with playoff experience to fortify Doc Rivers’ rotation heading into the postseason.

Considering Redick’s experience playing for Rivers and alongside Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, he felt like the most logical option to bring this thing home for a landing… until he wasn’t.

*sigh* oh well, no biggie. While Ben McLemore doesn’t have that same experience playing alongside anyone on the Sixers right now – except the aforementioned Dave Joerger – he’s still proven himself a viable rotational shooter capable of remaining productive at high volumes.

With only one player – Danny Green – who averages more than five 3 pointers a game on their roster right now, the idea of adding a player like McLemore in place of a deep-bench reserve like Ignas Brazdeikis has to at least be considered, right?

During his lone season with the good Rockets, McLemore took an average of 6.4 shots from beyond the arc per game versus 7.7 total shots from the field in 22.8 minutes of action a night. Think about that for a second; McLemore took over 83 percent of his shots from 3 point range each game – making 40 percent of them – and didn’t even take a dribble on 5.5 of those 6.4 shots according to the NBA’s advanced stats. McLemore didn’t try to get fancy, drive into the paint, or fish for a midrange shot all that often; instead locking in on the wings, getting the ball out of his hands quickly, and driving in for 1.2 layups in the restricted area each game when the lane is open.

To make things all the more interesting, McLemore averaged 0.1 shots per game in the non-paint restricted area and mid-range combined during the 2019-20 season with the Rockets, which is borderline incredible considering he appeared in 71 games with 23 starts.

Transplanted onto this Sixers’ squad, McLemore could fill the Furkan Korkmaz role with ease, sans those frustrating moments where the “Darth Vader Dunker” attempts to do too much with the ball in his hands. He can switch on defense between either guard or even smaller small forwards, play either wing position in virtually any lineup, and even perform the sort of off-ball screens we haven’t seen around these parts since Redick wore the 17 and called some hip part of (probably) Fishtown home.

It’s no wonder Ben McLemore’s second most comparable player, according to FiveThirtyEight, is J.J. Redick; the duo can be used in virtually the same way.

Next. George Hill will do wonders for Shake Milton. dark

In theory, the Philadelphia 76ers don’t need Ben McLemore long-term. He’s 28, a career roleplayer, and has a remarkably similar set of skills to 2020 second-round pick Isaiah Joe. But now, with the playoffs right around the corner, McLemore’s unique ability to selflessly play his role while shooting a ton of 3s in not a lot of minutes could be incredibly useful to a Sixers squad that lacks high-volume offensive options on the wings. Even if he fails to make that playoff rotation over a player like Furkan Korkmaz – which is possible – his addition would certainly help more than a player like Ignas Brazdeikis, who may not play a meaningful minute for the rest of the season.