Bombs Away! What Mike D'Antoni Would Mean For Every Sixers Player

Get ready to let them fly, Tobi.

(Photo by Timothy Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Mike O’Connor is the best O’Connor in basketball writing. Previously of The Athletic, you can find Mike on Twitter @MOConnor_NBA.

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Based on the latest rumors, Mike D’Antoni now seems to be the favorite to fill the Sixers’ head coaching vacancy. That could change in a moment’s notice, but for now, it appears to be his job to lose.

With that in mind, I thought it’d be fit to do a deeper dive (I touched on him a bit in last week’s piece) on his style and how he could impact this team. Here, I’ll look at how his style might (or might not) affect each player on the roster that is under contract for next season.

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Joel Embiid: More pick and pop 3s, more passing out of the post

How D’Antoni coaches Embiid is the biggest mystery surrounding this potential hire. Embiid’s play style is so at odds with D’Antoni’s system that it even led me to wonder last week if a D’Antoni hire would be a precursor to an eventual Embiid trade. However, assuming there is no Embiid trade looming, I do think D’Antoni could figure out ways to play around Embiid and help him evolve his game.

First things first, Embiid would need to commit fully to upping his 3-point attempts in order to become a legitimate pick and pop and spot-up threat. Cut down on the loopy pump fakes and hideous drives, and instead take the semi-open 3s that true pick and pop threats attempt with regularity. 

D’Antoni’s knack for getting players to shoot more 3s would hopefully be able to overcome Embiid’s past spite for attempting them. That could end up being a tense subject, but the hope is that D’Antoni’s persuasion wins out.

One subtle area where D’Antoni could help unlock Embiid: passing out of the post. Despite doing so at a low frequency, D’Antoni actually runs some quality sets to set up shooters via post-ups. D’Antoni’s emphasis on maintaining proper spacing off the ball could also be of help to Embiid’s post-up game -- too often under Brett Brown, the Sixers moved in a discombobulated fashion while Embiid had the ball in the post. More organization could help Embiid dissect defenses more easily.

Overall, I still struggle to make sense of how the Sixers think D’Antoni’s system meshes with Embiid’s style of play. But I trust D’Antoni to adapt and innovate in ways that find a happy medium. 

Ben Simmons: Faster pace, more pick and rolls, and more isolations

Somewhat lost in the sea of issues for the Sixers’ offense this season: they finished the regular season with the 10th slowest pace in the entire league. For a team that employs Ben Simmons, that should never be the case.

D’Antoni’s run-and-gun style should immediately clean that up, even if the Sixers don’t overhaul the personnel around Simmons. I have no doubt that he’ll encourage Simmons to push the pace at all costs.

I’m equally intrigued, though, how D’Antoni will use Simmons in the half court. Will he lean into him being a power forward / small ball center? Or will he tap more into the guard-like aspects of his game? 

What I’d like to see is a combination of both -- use Simmons more as a roller in the pick and roll, but also allow him to work in a spread floor as a ball handler in pick and rolls and isolations. 

Under Brown, we never got to see enough of either of those, but especially the latter. I imagine D’Antoni would be more inclined than Brown to run these types of plays at the end of games for Simmons -- spread the floor, set a screen, and let Simmons dart to the rim. 

Would D’Antoni also let Simmons work in some James Harden-like mismatch hunting scenarios? Find the other team’s weakest defender, get him switched onto Simmons, and let him barrel towards the rim?

The possibilities are endless. I expect D’Antoni to get very creative in his use of Simmons. One thing I’m not expecting, though, is that D’Antoni becomes the jump shot whisperer that cures Simmons of all hesitation to shoot. If it happens, great, but I’m simply not expecting it. 

Schematically, though, I expect D’Antoni to simplify the offense in ways that very much cater to Simmons’ strengths. 

Tobias Harris: More 3s both off the dribble and off the catch

As I’ve harped on quite a bit since he became a Sixer, Harris’ current willingness (or lack thereof) to attempt 3s is unacceptable. This season, he attempted seven 3s per 100 possessions, good for 214th in the league. Some other players who attempt around this frequency of 3s include Dorian Finney-Smith, Nikola Vucevic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. For a player who is 6-9 with a quick release, it’s just an unacceptably low number of attempts. 

As with Simmons, I’m not entirely sure that D’Antoni will be able to get through to Harris about attempting more jumpers. But if there’s any coach who can do so, it’s D’Antoni. 

I’d also be interested to see how Harris might fare in an offense that utilizes fewer dribble hand-offs and more pick and rolls. Harris thrived in a more pick and roll based offense in LA before coming to the Sixers, and reverting to that style of offense could be good for him.

Al Horford: Space to the corner 

I won’t spend too much time on Horford since I don’t expect him to be here next season. But one subtle thing that always drove me nuts about Horford was his habit of not spacing all the way to the 3-point line, and instead hanging out on the low block. I imagine that D’Antoni’s insistence on proper spacing would help ingrain it in Horford’s head that he is not to wander around on the low block; get to the corner and create space for teammates. 

Even if Horford didn’t increase his attempts at all, simply standing by the 3-point line would be an improvement. It’s inexplicable that he didn’t embrace this responsibility, or that Brown didn’t drill it into his head enough.

Josh Richardson: Fewer DHOs and fewer ball handling duties in general

After watching him up close for an entire year, I’m pretty much out on the idea of Richardson ever being a major source of half court shot creation. The Sixers were forced into letting him try to shoulder that type of load this season, and the results were generally hideous. Richardson is an underwhelming off the dribble shooter, a horrendous passer, and not a natural finisher around the rim whatsoever.

My bet is that D’Antoni would thrust him more into a true 3-and-D role -- hit spot-up threes and not much else. So long as the Sixers are able to fill the gap left behind from Richardson’s shot creation in other areas, it’s a no-brainer to me.

Matisse Thybulle: You are now a center (kidding)

Nah, D’Antoni won’t do to Thybulle what he did with Robert Covington and make him a center. Rather, I think D’Antoni does what he has done with all iffy shooters, which is give them the green light to pull from deep, and if they ultimately prove incapable, pull them out of the rotation. 

No matter the team or the coach, it was always going to be the case that Thybulle’s jump shot developing or not developing will be the difference between him becoming an elite role player and a 15ish minute per game specialist. D’Antoni will at least give him confidence to pull it from deep.

Shake Milton: Become a major pull-up threat out of the pick and roll

At this point, I’m becoming pretty repetitive: he’ll get these guys to chuck more 3s.

If I’m D’Antoni, though, and I’m looking for a way to see if I can get the absolute most possible potential out of Shake Milton, I’m betting that I can do it by turning him into a major pull-up threat in the pick and roll.

The model for Milton here could be a similar evolution to that of Devonte’ Graham, who went from taking 8.7 3s per 100 possessions in his rookie year to 13.3 this season. Graham became a truly unapologetic gunner from 25-plus feet, essentially trying to become a Curry/Lillard/Trae Young impersonator. And for Milton, I do think there’s a chance that he has the marksmanship and range to do a similar type of impersonation. 

I’d expect D’Antoni’s message to Milton on day one of training camp to be: any time you see a sliver of daylight in the pick and roll, fire away. Milton is a natural born marksman, and I’m curious how far he could push the boundaries of his off the dribble shooting. 

Furkan Korkmaz, Marial Shayok, and Mike Scott: Continue to bomb away

Not much to explain here. D’Antoni will ask these guys to simply be the gunners that they are. 

Zhaire Smith: You pump fake, you sit

If Smith is even on the team next year, I imagine that D’Antoni would have little patience for letting a rookie try to overcome hesitancy to shoot. You pump fake, you sit. 

Norvel Pelle: Get ready to rim run

Pelle’s ability to rim run and catch lobs would be a nice bonus if they had a pick and roll ball handler. If they do acquire (or develop) such a player, and Pelle progresses to the point where he becomes the backup center, get ready to see lots of rim running.