Who Will Lead the Sixers in Scoring?
by Jordan Sams on Sep 29, 2010 5:31 PM PDT
in Read and React
Email
PrintAndre Iguodala has been the Sixers leading scorer since Allen Iverson left four years ago. He averaged 18.2, 19.9, 18.8 and 17.1 respectively, and been at least two full points ahead of the next leading scorer. Will he lead the Sixers in scoring for the fifth consecutive year?
A few weeks ago in my official 2010-2011 preview I boldly predicted that no Sixers player will average more than 15 points per game. I realize the likelihood of this happening is slim to none, but remember, Iguodala was the only player over 15 points per game last year at 17.1. The point I was trying to make is how deep the Sixers roster is. Not deep as in oozing with superstars like the Lakers, Celtics and Heat, but deep as in how many players they have capable of scoring between 10-15 points per game.
Here's the list of guys who are capable of scoring at least 10 points per game this season:
- Andre Iguodala
- Evan Turner
- Lou Williams
- Marreese Speights
- Jrue Holiday
- Elton Brand
- Thaddeus Young
- Spencer Hawes
- Andres Nocioni
45 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Assuming he gets the playing time, Speights will be the team’s leading scorer, followed by Iguodala and Brand. Young and Williams will also put up a lot of points Holliday should average about 15, and may end up being one of the leaders. This season I expect Holliday to be the assist leader, and Speights to be the team rebounder.
I went with AI9
I read somewhere that we shouldn’t expect Jrue to average 10 and although he didn’t play in all 82 last year he did average 8 a game, so should we not be surprised if he averages 10?
I went with Iguodala, simply because he will get a lot more minutes than the other guys. Given equal minutes I’d put Lou, Speights and Thad in front of Iguodala.
In 1-2 years I’m expecting Turner to lead the team in scoring, and maybe by a fair margin.
BTW this was the pts per 36 minutes last year:
Speights: 18.9
Meeks: 17.3
Lou: 16.9
Iguodala: 15.8
Brand: 15.6
Young: 15.5
Nocioni: 15.5
Songalia: 13.9
Hawes 13.7
Turner: 20.5
Kapono: 12.0
Jrue: 12.0
College per 36 min:
Brackens: 16.9
Turner: 20.5
My newest crush is Jodie Meeks, I think he can be a starter.
by LeQuan Glover on Sep 29, 2010 7:07 PM PDT up reply actions
My predictions for the backcourt:
Holiday – 13ppg
Turner – 12ppg
Iguodala – 17ppg
However,
if you look at peoples’ predictions the past few seasons, it’s really just a crapshoot.
"I admire his competitiveness. As much as I admire it, I thought that he was trying too hard."- Eddie Jordan
That’s an interesting little subplot, the backcourt scoring.
Iguodala – 20 ppg, 6 boards, 5 assists.
Holiday – 16 ppg, 4 boards, 8 assists.
Williams – 16 points, 3 boards, 6 assists.
Turner – 8 points, 3 boards 4 assists.
Meeks – 8 points, 2 boards 2 assists.
I think it’s going to end up this way because of who gets the minutes. Williams is clearly more valuable at the moment than Turner or Meeks, and I expect him to get most of the 3rd guard minutes. It will be close between he and Holiday in terms of PT, and Turner and Meeks will get the rest minutes for the top 3. Iguodala will probably end up playing 40 min. a game. If Turner can do a reasonable imitation, he could be of real use in resting Andre.
Next up, The Small Forwards: Young, Nocioni, Kapono almost certainly in that order both in terms of points and minutes. Jason probably won’t see a lot of time, but Collins may surprise me with a way to use him in games.
So, you are expecting the Sixers, who as a team averaged 97.7 points, 41 rebounds, and 21 assists per game last year, to average 68 points, 18 rebounds, and 25 assists per game from just these 5 backcourt players?
What kind of team totals are you expecting? Maybe, 145 points, 65 rebounds and 40 assists per game…
I guess we will be watching a pretty exciting team. Unless I missed the memo where the NBA changed to 120 minute games, I think you are a little too optimistic.
Maybe you didn’t see how poorly or below their potential the team was last season? Using their performance from the past season as a baseline makes no sense, because Eddie Jordan has no idea of how to coach a basketball team or teach.
Collins on the other hand, does understand the game and is still working through his options.
It is already clear that he wants Andre Iguodala at the 2 spot, so to create more PT for Thad and Nocioini. That tells me that Evan Turner isn’t starting, and won’t break into the starting line-up until he can play as well as Andre, or outplay Thad or Noce at the three.
The scoring is lopsided to the back-court because most of the scoring will be done in transition by the wing players. I expect Speights to be their leading scorer, since I expect him to be featured in the half-court offense. Totals should be about 100 points, 40 rebounds and 30 assists. Basically a .500 team.
30 assists? Utah lead the league last year in assists per game with 26.7. You expect just the backcourt to eclipse that by more than 3 per game?
"I'm a beast ready to be unleashed." -- Paul George
by Tanner Steidel on Sep 30, 2010 8:48 AM PDT up reply actions
I admit it IS a very big jump. The reason is the changes in the line-up. Hawes and Speights will see a lot of time at Center or PF, and they can shoot from the outside, you don’t get an assist when you pass to a guy who misses like Dalembert. So now you have targets to pass to, and you have two great passers in Iguodala and Holiday.
Even the back-up guards will have plenty of shooters to pass to, Lou demonstrated the ability to play point guard last season, and he will likely be paired on the 2nd team with Speights. I also have hopes for Turner as a passer – which the Sixers are already trying to do with him.
No one has talked about adding slow white guys to the small forwards, Songalia and Nocioni are added to Kapono. They are both able NBA back-ups that can spot-up shoot.
The team has added more shooters and are going to do a lot of running, the faster pace should generate more possessions per game, and therefore more assists. This team can’t score by pounding it inside, but by breaking defenses down with movement and passing. They didn’t do any of that last season.
wanna make a bet on it? I’ll even give you 27 assists per game – if it’s under at the end of the year, you have to make your avatar a picture of my choosing – if it’s over, I make mine one of your choosing – loser has to keep it for a month
this could be fun
"I'm a beast ready to be unleashed." -- Paul George
by Tanner Steidel on Sep 30, 2010 2:43 PM PDT up reply actions
Lets see how they do during preseason first. These are blind as a bat projections based on last season, guesses about minutes and the synergy I anticipate Collins creating.
The stakes are so low, that I’m attempted to agree to it anyway, but I take my bets seriously so I want to be reasonably sure I can win!
Williams is clearly more valuable at the moment than Turner
I’m not sure how clear that is when one of these players has never played an NBA game.
That’s why Williams is more valuable, he’s a known quantity, and according to Collins their best scorer.
Collins put Iguodala at the 2 so he could play Thad or Noce at the three. That makes Turner a backup and he might be third string behind Meeks to start the season.
That doesn’t mean it will stay that way, but Turner is going to have to beat out these guys for playing time, and it’s not going to be easy.
You're having your starting PG average 8 and your backup PG average 6... wow.
"We're not talking about me and Darko in the same sentence." - Chris Webber vs KAHN!
by caseycheesecake on Sep 30, 2010 10:17 AM PDT up reply actions
Even just looking at only J/I/T/Lou your assist numbers are not realistic.
29 of 30 NBA teams average less than 23.5 assists per game as a team. So 23 for those 4 players alone is not a realistic number. Unless you think the Sixers offense will generate more assists than the rest of the league by a wide margin.
It could only happen if players miised a lot of time due to injury, so the numbers don’t reflect the actual team totals (one player plays only the 1st 1/2 of the year and another plays the 2nd half.)
Last seasons numbers:
Name Points Rebounds Assists Min. Projected Min.
Jrue 8 2.6 3.8 24 32
Andre 17.1 6.5 5.8 38.X 32
Lou 14 2.9 4.2 30 20
Turner 12
Unless Andre or Evan takes up some SF minutes there’s not enough time for them to reach my projected totals.
But with Thad, Nocioni, Kapono and maybe Songalia at the 3 spot, Turner or Iguodala might be able to steal time from everyone except Thad. Adding another 18 min. from the SF spot would give all of them enough time to hit my numbers.
Jrue is the only one I’m really expecting a huge jump from. Doubling his output from last season with only 1/3 more minutes. But then again he’s going to have to put up good numbers to justify staying on the floor ahead of Lou. I think the modest improvement in Iguodala and Williams number is justified, since they will have better players around them.
A lot of this depends on how comfortable Collins will be with a short line-up, and it will probably depend on their opponents, but I can see the four guards splitting up 114 min. per game some nights. It depends on how well Nocioni and Songalia and Kapono do.
I’m going to make a statement that before the draft most thought was a foregone conclusion, but after 5 summer league games sounds outlandish.
I think Turner leads the team in scoring at 17-18 ppg.
Derek Bodner
LibertyBallers || @derekbodner || derek.bodner@draftexpress.com
What odds would you give Turner starting on the bench?
by Jordan Sams on Sep 30, 2010 7:43 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
30%’ish
Derek Bodner
LibertyBallers || @derekbodner || derek.bodner@draftexpress.com
by Derek Bodner on Sep 30, 2010 7:56 AM PDT up reply actions
bold. I like your introduction and I hope it comes true becuase I that would mean we are better team but gien he seems to be working with the second unit and not comfortable unless “facilitating”, it seems that may be hard to reach for him to averegae that high…..I think he may look like Lou’s 14 from last year (ie high deviation – some 20s, some 2s, more minutes, lesss minutes, etc). If I had to bet, I’d put turner at 12/5/4 seeing a good ampount of time facilitating for Lou (id put him around 15)
I think ’Dre will end at the top with many more free throws, better shooting % (ie less 3s) and a better offensive scheme (it cant really be worse – guess thats overstating the obvious), more defesnive focus. Im guessing 18/7/5 for Dre.
1) don’t expect him to be on the bench come the season
2) He’ll be doing a lot of facilitating this year, particularly as the season goes on. You didn’t draft Evan Turner to play him “off the ball”, which is being completely overblown IMO.
Derek Bodner
LibertyBallers || @derekbodner || derek.bodner@draftexpress.com
by Derek Bodner on Sep 30, 2010 7:55 AM PDT up reply actions
where would you guess Dre comes out in terms of pts/reb/asst – i know this is all wild speculation but…
15-16 ppg, 6 rebs, 4.5 assists.
Derek Bodner
LibertyBallers || @derekbodner || derek.bodner@draftexpress.com
by Derek Bodner on Sep 30, 2010 8:06 AM PDT up reply actions
Its partly about opportunity. I don’t see Turner as a guy who is going to come in and take the ball out of Iguodala’s hands right away. I expect a transition over 2 seasons to where Turner becomes the chief offensive focal point. But for the majority of this coming season I expect Iguodala and Jrue to get the vast majority of chances to create and score as compared to Turner.
No way Turner leads the team in scoring
He’s just a less athletic version of Iguodala. BUST.
by Shady is an Eagle! on Sep 30, 2010 7:27 PM PDT reply actions
who are the five best rappers of all-time?
1. Dylan
2. Dylan
3. Dylan
4. Dylan
5. Dylan
"I'm a beast ready to be unleashed." -- Paul George
by Tanner Steidel on Oct 1, 2010 6:32 AM PDT up reply actions
I don’t know you well enough to know if you’re kidding or not. I’m going to assume you’re kidding.
Derek Bodner
LibertyBallers || @derekbodner || derek.bodner@draftexpress.com
im gonna take a shot and say elton brand leads the team in scoring. im hoping reports of him being healthy and in shape are accurate. i hope to see him bounce back and really contribute to this team. in addition to him getting points off of the plays called for him,he should get a lot of points from being active around the basket(offensive rebounding).it will be close but im going to go with brand with andre being a close second…or vice versa!
After thinking for a long time..
I decided to go with my boy Lou Williams. He will be the Sixers top scorer! 35ppg. 2nd place will be Turner with 22ppg and 3rd will be Speights with 15ppg
"Shoutout to Lebron, d-Wade, Joe Johnson, and chris bosh for trying to create a NBA2k team. Lol. (they would win 80 games)" - Louis Williams
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
NBA Playoffs Content Module
Related FanPosts on Liberty Ballers
Related FanShots on Liberty Ballers
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- Blake Griffin highlights, “NBA Jam”-style (VIDEO)
- Finally, Shelvin Mack and Robert Pack have a dance dedicated to them (VIDEO)
- Create-a-Caption: Allen Iverson, superfan
- Kobe Bryant-themed Gotye cover song waxes wistful for ‘The Kobe That We Used to Know’ (VIDEO)
- After the city canceled its outdoor viewing party, Oklahoma City Thunder fans work to get it back
