Who’s Taking the Last Shot?
Jimmy Butler deciding to retire at the end of last season left the Sixers in a bad situation. After they traded, G league star turned NBA all-defensive team player, Robert Covington, and Euro Sensation Dario “The Homie” Saric for the aging journeyman he decided his time in the NBA had come to an end, so he did the noble thing and tricked the Miami Heat into trading for him, giving the Sixers an all-around contender in the prime of their career, small forward Josh Richardson.
The Sixers, without a player they relied so heavily on to close out games for them through the season, now need to make a decision. Who is going to be the guy with the ball in his hands when Marc Zumoff says, “Hold on Alaa we’re coming in for a landing!”?
Before we find out who’s taking the last shot we must first figure out who will be on the court in those final seconds. Last year’s roster saw a late-game lineup of Jimmy, Ben, Joel, Tobias, and Ennis for defensive stops, but if we needed a bucket, it was very possible to see Ennis switched out with Mike Scott, or JJ Redick depending on how exposed we wanted to be on the other end. Now that Jimmy and JJ are both gone it’s fair to say we’ll stick with our new starting lineup for defensive stops unless we see major improvements from either Zhaire or Matisse. Offensively I could see Brett going with Mike Scott in the Horford spot if he wanted to play small.
Out of the fifteen players on the roster, we can narrow down the possible shooters to eight but let’s also take Zhaire and Matisse off this list due to no guarantee they will show enough improvement to be in late-game situations. We now have SIX possible players with the ball in their hands as the clock counts down, AL Horford, FIVE Joel Embiid, FOUR Tobias Harris, THREE Ben Simmons, TWO Josh Richardson, ONE Mike Scott.
Ben Simmons
If you’ve been on Twitter recently you would have seen this video of Ben shooting threes, step-back jumpers, fadeaway jumpers and other jumper like activities. Seeing Ben take jump shots is what every boomer has been waiting for, and I’m not referring to the Australian national team. This newly acquired skill hopefully means we will be seeing more of it over the season, but it doesn’t mean he should be taking the last shot, if open gym workout videos have taught us anything it’s, wearing a hoodie can get you a contract, double-teaming isn’t part of the game, and Fultz will be back any day now. Enjoy the video don’t read too much into it.
Joel Embiid
Joel has been the guy everywhere else on the court for us, he even is our go-to bucket getter, but he has shown the fans time and time again it’s a mistake to go to him in the final seconds of a game. His game relies on fear, his defender needs to be second-guessing every one of their moves, in an attempt to not foul Jo. He’s going to get fouls called in his favor all game, and he loves that… 
Once the shot clock shuts off so do the refs, if you think an NBA referee is going to send a player like Joel to the line to end a game you’re crazy, it’s up to the players to finish it, not the refs. Joel’s turnovers in late-game situations have always been a problem he’s struggled with, but the biggest mistake when putting the ball in his hands when the clock counts down is he’s not under the basket for the rebound, having Al will provide an advantage in second-chance points but, I know I’d feel much safer at night knowing Embiid was there under the basket.
Al Horford
Al has the second-best three-point shooting percentage on the team at .360 with 3 attempts per game behind Mike Scott at .412 at 4.4 attempts per game. Spacing the floor on a drive and kick from Ben or a play designed to get Al open beyond the arc, are two possibilities I wouldn’t be surprised to see next year.
Defenses with their center on Embiid in the paint will have to make a choice, sticking an undersized 4 on Horford giving him a mismatch or putting a backup center on him around the perimeter, and I don’t know too many starting centers that can guard the three-point line that well let alone a backup.
That all being said I wouldn’t be surprised if Horford had a few clutch shots next year, but I’m still not sold on him being the guy, our Iso Joe if you will.
Mike Scott
Mike is cold-blooded, as I’ve stated He’s the team’s best three-point shooter, he’s had experience with clutch shots in late games, and as we all know “he ain’t no bitch”.
These are all important things when it comes to taking the last shot. Mike has recently stated that he’s dedicating this summer to improving his game, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was taking JJ Redick Esque, shots coming off screens with unset feet.
Mike is amazing at shooting off an assist but to be a true last-second shot maker he’s going to need to be able to shoot off the dribble, Iso defenders, and handle the ball much more than he did last year. Let me finish by saying, Mike is clutch, probably the most clutch player on the Sixers right now. In the fourth quarter alone Mike’s FG% jumps up to .438 Mike Scott gets better in the fourth quarter how many players can say that.
Josh Richardson
Josh is the newly acquired wing from Miami and in his past four seasons in the NBA he’s shown that he can be a surprisingly capable defender, pulling off multiple chase-down blocks, a consistent three-point shooter, keeping his percentage at NBA average even though he increased his threes from 4.1 attempts per game in 17-18 to 6.3 APG last season.
One way to describe his playstyle would be a Diet Jimmy Butler that takes more threes and plays all four quarters, he can get to the rim with ease and is an above-average defender, things we only rarely saw from Butler.
I don’t think it’s insane to expect an increase in his offensive performance this season coming from a Miami team that needed him to do more and face other teams best defenders. On the Sixers, Josh will be our fourth or fifth option on offense, with teams having no other option but to hide their worst defender on him, this will be an all you can eat buffet for JRich.
Richardson’s threat to drive and ability to shoot from beyond the arc makes him the ideal candidate for the Sixers closer, we’ll see what happens when they get on the court in October.
Tobias Harris
This is Tobi’s ninth season and the Sixers are his fifth team, he had half a season to try and learn how to play with, Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Jimmy Butler on his farewell tour. The Sixers have shown a lot of faith in Tobias, buying into him as the third star signing him to a deal for five years $180-million.
Tobias is the key to a dynasty in Philly if he can assume the role as the lead scoring wing, pick up his production from three, and also be the guy who takes and makes the game-winners, this team would be unstoppable. I believe given the keys to the offense Tobi can take his game to another level.
You may think this is a lot to ask of one player and you’re probably right. Tobias is a fantastic shooter he’s never shot below 45% in his career, asking the impossible from him may be the Sixers last option, Only time will tell.
I’ve heard the question “Who takes the last shot?” answered another way, a simpler way, a way that makes my whole article redundant.
“We just beat every team by thirty.”
To that answer I say… “Yeah, that would be Furkan great.”
