Pundits have pointed out that shooting will be the Philadelphia 76ers' most glaring weakness this upcoming season. That was in full display in Philadelphia's 112-93 loss to the Washington Wizards.
Nevertheless, Sixers head coach Brett Brown doubled down on his belief that they have better shooters than what the rest of the field perceives.
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Brown said that their preseason finale would be their “dress rehearsal” game and treat this as if it were a regular season outing. Unfortunately, the Sixers fell flat last night. As a team, they shot just 34-of-84 from the field (40.5 percent) and made just 7-of-27 from beyond the arc (25.9 percent).
The Sixers lost their best shooter from last season in J.J. Redick, who signed with the New Orleans Pelicans this past summer. Redick, even at 35 years old, is still regarded as one of the best shooters in the league, especially in catch-and-shoot situations.
Redick has been an integral part of the Sixers offense over the past two seasons. Philadelphia used to run the Duke sharpshooter in plenty of dribble hand-offs or off-the-screen sets with either Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons. It might be impossible for Philly to replace the elite shooting that Redick brought to their team.
Nevertheless, the Sixers still have some pretty capable shooters such as Tobias Harris, newly-acquired guard Josh Richardson, Trey Burke, and Turkish guard Furkan Korkmaz, to name a few, that can collectively fill in that need for them.
Oh, and Ben Simmons can shoot now, too.