The Sixers offensive efficiency currently sits at 103.8 (23rd in the NBA). This is approximately a 2% decrease from last year's efficiency of 106.1 (20th in the NBA). In part 1, I showed a scatterplot that showed that the high usage players of the Sixers are not necessarily the most efficient players, showing the shots and minutes may not be going to the right players.

In this part, I wanted to take a look at the shot locations of the players. The stats I will use come courtesy of Hoopdata and 82games.com.

First, let's look at the team as a whole. In 2009-2010 the team took jump shots 67% of their total field goals, with a eFG% 44%. This season, the team has attempted jump shots on 72% of their field goals, with a eFG% of 42%. This shows that the Sixers are relying more on jump shots than last year, while shooting worse from the field. But who are the main culprits of this?

I am going to look at some of the high usage perimeter players: Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday, Jodie Meeks and Lou Williams. For purposes of this exercise, any shot outside of 10 feet is considered a jump shot.

Andre Iguodala: 7.5 of his 11.5 field goal attempts have come from outside 10 feet (65.2%). He has a 39% eFG% from jumpers.  Last year, he took 9.1 of his 13.7 field goal attempts come from this distance (66.4%) with a eFG% of 42%. So while his attempts have dropped slightly, so has his eFG%.

Jrue Holiday: 6.3 of his 12 field goal attempts come from jump shots (52.5%) while shooting a 42.8% eFG% from that distance. Last season, 4.2 of his 7.1 attempts were jumpers (59.1%) while shooting a 50% eFG%. So, similar to Iguodala, his percentage of jump shots has decreased but so has his effective field goal percentage.

Jodie Meeks: 5.2 of his 7.5 shots are jumpers (69.3%). His eFG% from this distance is 51.9%. Last year, he shot 3.6 jumper per game out of 4.8 field goal attempts (75%) with a eFG% of 52%. Meeks' usage rate has actually decrease from last season but since he is playing more minutes, he is taking more shots, most of which are jump shots.

Lou Williams: 6.1 of his 9.2 field goals (66.3%) have been jump shots with a eFG% of 39%. Last season, 5.9 of his 10.6 field goal attempts were jump shots (55.6%). His eFG% from this distance was 46.5%. Again, we see a player whose eFG% on jumpers is sliding.

There is not really one or two players who you can point to behind the cause of the rise in jump shots but the fall of eFG%. We see players like Meeks and Holiday increasing the number of jump shots while others (Iguodala) are taking less but have a lower eFG%.

One thing I found positive and surprising through this was that the team free throw rate has actually increased despite the rise in jump shots/field goal attempts. It has risen from 20.4% last year to 22.5% this season. So even though it looks like they are settling for jump shots more this year, they have also increased their rate at which they get to the foul line.

I think a major part of why the offensive efficiency has decreased from last season is the increased number of jump shots the team has taken combined with the lower eFG% they are shooting from this area.