Ten days ago the Sixers assigned Craig Brackins to the Springfield Armor – the franchise's D-League affiliate – in hopes that he'd aquire some game-experience and be able to work on his defense and rebounding. Since the Sixers share the Armor with the Nets and Knicks, they decided to send assistant head coach Quin Synder along with Brackins to personally coach him for a few days.
Per Tom Moore the plan was to send Brackins to the D-League for five games and then call him back up. So far he's played three games, and started one. The Armor' next two games are this Friday and Saturday against the Austin Toros, so if the Sixers stick to the original plan Brackins will return to the Sixers sometime next week.
Make the jump for some Brackins stats.
Through three games Brackins is averaging 20.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.3 turnovers on 50% shooting. He came off the bench the first two games, but started the third. In his first and only start Brackins shot 13-24 from the field, 1-2 from three, 3-4 from the line, scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
The last time the Sixers used the D-League was when they sent Lou Williams down in 06-07. In three games (2 starts) Lou averaged 26 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds on 71% shooting, so Brackins big-time numbers come as no surprise. He was sent to the D-League to shake off some rust and work on his two weaknesses: defense and rebounding.
Having not watched the games it's difficult to assess Brackins' defense, and simply looking at rebounds per game can be misleading. Unfortunately, an assessment of the defense would have to come from someone who watched the games. However; by using our pal Akis' advanced calculator we can calculate Brackins rebounding percentages, and adequately assess his progress.
DREB% - 22.6 (Comparable NBA player: DeMarcus Cousins)
OREB% - 12.5 (Comparable NBA player: Andris Biedrins)
TREB% - 18.6 (Comparable NBA player: Joakim Noah)
Brackins' rebounding percentages are pretty good, particularly his offensive rebounding. For a little perspective, here are Brackins rebounding percentages his junior year in college:
DREB% - 19.4
OREB% - 6.5
Albeit a small sample size, his rebounding percentages have significantly improved since last season. I'd like to see even higher percentages considering the D-League competition, but can't complain with improvement.
Hooray D-League!