While the Philadelphia 76ers have the foundations in place for the future, they could benefit enormously from an injection of 3-point shooting.
The recent absence of veteran shooting guard J.J. Redick has delivered a dose of reality to the Philadelphia 76ers.
With their premier perimeter threat being sidelined for the past seven games with a left leg injury, the Sixers have had to resort to an assortment of options to deliver their points from long distance. But now 46 games into their 2017-18 campaign, the Sixers need to seriously consider addressing this glaring issue.
Currently, the Sixers are ranked 18th in 3-point shooting by converting at a 35.9 percent clip. Aside from Redick, the Sixers simply don’t possess a genuinely consistent and reliable shooter from 3-point range.
Forward Robert Covington started the season on fire from long range, converting at a 48.7 percent clip on 7.5 attempts through the first 15 games. However his drop-off has since has been substantial, converting at a 32.1 percent clip on 7.1 attempts over his ensuing 30 games. Considering he is now a career 35.9 percent shooter from downtown, this drop-off is not surprising.
SIXERS WIN! pic.twitter.com/951rP7Cj7N
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) January 27, 2018
The other major contributor from 3-point range this season has been forward Dario Saric. Granted, Saric has increased his efficiency this season by converting at a a 37.1 percent clip on 5.0 attempts per game. However, Saric has already had 21 games this season where he has nailed one or zero 3-pointers, converting at a 15.2 percent clip over these games.
The punctuation point on this issue was the Sixers’ most recent game, a 107-95 road loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Without the services of both Redick and center Joel Embiid, Covington and Saric combined to shoot 0-of-16 from 3-point range. Redick’s replacement in the starting lineup, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, was 0-of-4 from long distance as the Sixers as a team proceeded to shoot 2-of-25 overall.
That's two games in a row where Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot failed to record a point in the game's final 44 minutes of play.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) January 30, 2018
As many are aware, the Feb. 8 trade deadline is fast approaching, with some big-name players around the league being mentioned as potential trade bait. With this in mind, here are some 3-point shooters the Sixers need to seriously target prior to the deadline.