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The Blue Review: Things haven’t been great, but they could be worse

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It’s been a little over a month since we last checked in on the Sixers’ farm system and things haven’t been great.

Once a top-three in the Eastern conference, the Blue Coats have seen their standings plummet in recent weeks. A large part of their struggles can be attributed to their lack of starters. With Zhaire Smith and Marial Shayok getting a temporary call-up and Shake Milton and Norvel Pelle finding roles for themselves at the NBA level, the Coats were short handed. As a result, they dropped three of their last five games heading into the All-Star break.

The All-Star break gave the Coats a chance to regroup, but so far not much has changed. Despite the returns of Smith and Shayok, the team has lost four of their last six games since the break. In total, they’ve lost seven of their last eleven games since February fifth.

The Blue Coats now sit in the sixth seed with only a half game lead on the Capital City Go-Go. Just six teams earn a playoff bid from each conference, so the Coats are on the cusp of elimination. With less than a month left in the season, this team needs to turn things around. Otherwise, they can say goodbye to their first postseason bid in franchise history. The Coats are a game and a half behind the Lakeland Magic for fifth place in the East.

Amid the losses, there have been some very encouraging performances. Most notably, the play of Xavier Munford, Justin Robinson, and Jared Brownridge. The two are splitting point guard duties as of late and have put up some big numbers doing so. Robinson, claimed off waivers in late January, has scored 17 points or more in six of his last nine games. Since joining the Blue Coats, Robinson averages a team leading six assists per game.

Since February 5th, Brownridge is tied with Robinson for third on the Blue Coats in scoring at 17.4 points per game. He is also shooting 41% on a gaudy 9.7 three point attempts per game. Brownridge, who has been playing in Delaware for the past three seasons, recorded a career-high 39 points in the win over the College Park Skyhawks on February seventh.

Munford has become a go-to guy over the last month for the Blue Coats. He’s averaging 18.9 points per game since February fifth including five performances with at least 24 points. The six-year G-League journey man looks like he may have found a home in Delaware. He recently posted a 36-point performance – his fourth 30+ point performance of the season – in the Blue Coats loss to the Long Island Nets.

In other news, Christ Koumadje’s record setting season is still setting records. The rookie big broke the Blue coats single season block record – 105 blocks set by Norvel Pelle – on February ninth. Since then, he’s only continued to shatter the record. Koumadje is currently up to a league-leading 133 blocks on the year, that’s nearly 40 blocks more than second-place and 50 more than third-place in the league.

Koumadje also set the G-Leguae single-game rebounds record with 24 against the Windy City Bulls on February 29th. He then followed that with a 22-point, 12-rebound outing against the Capital City Go-Go. Is there anything he can’t do?

Zhaire Smith is still impressing with the developments he’s making to his game. He posted an ugly 0/3 shooting night against the Go-Go, but outside of that, he’s shooting 38% on about seven three point attempts per game since his return to the Blue Coats.

His step back is starting to look serious:

And last, but not least, Marial Shayok is still doing Marial Shayok things. The Sixers’ second-round pick was honored as a member of the Eastern Conference midseason All-NBA G-League team. A bit of a mouthful, but still a great honor.

Shayok is first in the G-League in scoring (23.1 pts) among all players with at least 25 games played. In his most recent outing, Shayok posted a 22-point, 12-rebound double-double in a loss to the Long Island Nets.

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