The Philadelphia 76ers (still) need a closer to finish out games

In the NBA there are 40 minute players and there are eight minute players. The Philadelphia 76ers are severely lacking in the latter.

Let me know if you’ve heard this one before: The Philadelphia 76ers held a lead for the vast majority of a game only to suffer through a scoreless period at the end of the final frame and ultimately suffer an L.

Tale as old as time, right?

Well, fans both in attendance at the heavily fortified Wells Fargo Center and watching at home were greeted with flashbacks to the series versus the Atlanta Hawks from a few months back at the team’s home opener, as Joel Embiid and company went maddeningly quiet at the end of regulation to drop a gimme to the Brooklyn Nets 114-119.

It. Was. Ugly.

From some Danny Green air balls to some maddening no-challenges by Doc Rivers and even a brutal inbounds pass by Matisse Thybulle that was intercepted by James Harden, all of the Sixers’ bad tendencies were on full display for a crowd trying their hardest to be on their best behavior at the behest of “The Process” himself.

*sigh* This team really needs a closer.

No lead is safe until the Philadelphia 76ers find a closer.

Once upon a time, the Philadelphia 76ers had a player by the name of Jimmy Butler.

He liked drinking coffee, listened to country music, drove a minivan; you know the guy. Well, for a brief but fantastic period of time, he was reliably counted on to take the ball to the hoop at the end of games, and boy oh boy was it fun to watch.

Now mind you, Butler did a lot of other things very well too. He was a very good defender, a capable scorer, and even a willing spot-up shooter when the situation demanded it, but for the final however many minutes of any given game, Butler’s game transcended his usual efficiency.

As a general rule, Butler is a below-average 3 point shooter who has only made 32.7 percent of his 2.5 attempts per game. In the final two minutes of games in clutch situations, by contrast, Butler’s efficiency jumped all the way up to 36.4 percent.

A huge difference? Eh, not really, but when you consider Butler only attempted 11 3s in such a situation, even a few percentage points could be the difference between a win and a loss in the final seconds of a close game.

To make matters better – or worse, depending on your opinion – Butler also provided the Sixers with a second reliable endgame scorer, as he finished second to only Joel Embiid in average clutch points scored per game, trailing 1.8 to 1.9 in those same final two minutes.

But since Butler left town? Yeah, the Sixers’ end of game package has effectively just been get the ball to Joel Embiid and say a prayer.

Don’t get me wrong; I love Joel Embiid. He is my favorite basketball player, I own a jersey, The Process truly was worth The Process, if you know what I mean. But in the final two minutes of the Sixers’ last eight clutch time games dating back to the 2020-21 playoffs, Embiid’s stat line is downright bad.

How bad? We’re talking 2-9 from the field, 0-3 from beyond the arc, and three turnovers to boot. Embiid also only has one assist in 13 minutes of action, which is somehow more than every other player on the team in that time frame combined.

No matter how you slice it, that is not good.

If Embiid had a partner like, say, Butler, to play off of, maybe the team could avoid suffering through long scoreless stretches when it matters most, but instead, they’ve counted on Embiid for 69 percent of their offense in clutch situations and have a record well below .500 as a result.

Can the Sixers still win plenty of games without Ben Simmons? Yes. But even if/when he returns, they still won’t have a viable clutch scorer to help close out games and elevate the team’s record as a result.

In summation: Even if Tyrese Maxey is the Philadelphia 76ers’ point guard of the future, they still need to identify and acquire a player who can close out games with the ball in his hands.

This player could be a guard, a wing, or even a forward. He could be a quality playmaker or an iso scorer, a 3 point shooter, or a dynamic driver but ultimately, what he needs to be most is a decisive ball handler who can get points on the board at the end of games.

In 2020-21, the clutchest player in the NBA was Damian Lillard. He was the only player in the entire league who scored over 100 points in the final two minutes of regulation in games within five points, and his team won 20 of their 31 games in such situations as a result.

Want to win it all this year? Well, Daryl Morey, why don’t you simply call up the Portland Trail Blazers and trade for Lillard? Should be easy enough, and it’s so obvious that I’m genuinely shocked that no one has ever suggested it before.

And if he isn’t available? Well… back to the drawing board.

Unless Tyrese Maxey adds “clutch playmaker” to his resume or Georges Niang flips his player profile on its head, the Philadelphia 76ers’ biggest flaw in 2021-22 will not be their lack of an experienced point guard or their wing defense. No, for the third year in a row, the Sixers will struggle to finish out games, even if they have a double-digit lead, because their roster lacks a certified closer with ice in his veins who can both score and facilitate to get points on the board when they are needed most. If you want to trade Ben Simmons, that has to be the target.