Sixers focus on attacking slow start to the season from the outside

Sixers guard Louis Williams' ability to stretch a defense is limited. David E. Klutho/SI

PHILADELPHIA -- Watch the 76ers for just one quarter and you will find yourself haunted by one question: how can this team be this bad?

Think about it: They have scoring. Elton Brand (who is expected to miss two more weeks with a shoulder injury), Andre Iguodala, Lou Williams, Willie Green and Thaddeus Young are all threats to go off for 20-plus points every night.

They have rebounding: Brand and Samuel Dalembert are vacuums on the glass, and Reggie Evans does as much with a slight frame (generously listed at 6-foot-8) as any other player in the NBA.

And they have one of the NBA's premier playmakers in Andre Miller, a quietly effective talent who exceeds his own physical limitations every night.

So why is Philadelphia, with its $67.3 million payroll, six games under .500? How does a team that can look so good (witness Tuesday's night's 104-96 pasting of the Rockets) go 1-6 on a road trip, including a wish-you-never-went 17-point drubbing at the hands of the undermanned Utah Jazz?

If you have an answer, Sixers coach Tony DiLeo would be happy to hear it.

"I think we're close," said DiLeo. "We have to put it together for a couple of more minutes every game. But overall, the basketball has been pretty good."

One weakness clear to all, especially the Sixers, is three-point shooting. Philly has been mediocre at defending teams from beyond the arc (opponents are shooting 35.1 percent from three-point range) while posing no threat themselves: the Sixers are shooting an NBA-worst 29.4 percent from downtown.

It's their own shooting that irks the Sixers the most.

"We need to shoot more threes," said Sixers GM Ed Stefanski. "And we need to make them."

"We have to be a threat from out there," agreed DiLeo. "We're giving [players] a green light. We can't have other teams making 10 threes and we're making one."

DiLeo says he would like the Sixers to play a style similar to the New York Knicks, who have embraced Mike D'Antoni's run-and-gun philosophy. But the Sixers have no one on the roster who is considered a pure shooter. Indeed, no Sixer who has attempted more than 30 threes has connected on better than 33 percent of them. Philadelphia's "gunners" include Green (32.8 percent), Young (32.5 percent) and Williams (26.3 percent). Not exactly Jason Kapono, Mike Miller and Kyle Korver.

Still, DiLeo remains committed to launching more three-pointers in hopes of connecting on between 5-7 shots per game. The team has added extra shooting drills to practices and been told that it has the freedom to launch at any point in the shot clock.

"When guys are playing in the summer, there are a lot of three-point shots going up," said Iguodala. "We just have to make sure we don't take bad threes. We have to make sure we keep going to the basket. And if there is an open three, take it."

While instilling long-range confidence in his players is foremost on DiLeo's mind, finding another perimeter threat is what concerns Stefanski. The Sixers president says he is in no rush to make a deal ("You can't just make a trade for a need," said Stefanski. "We have too many good young players) and is holding out hope the return of Brand will key a strong second-half run that will get Philadelphia into the playoffs.

When it comes to Brand, however, the entire Sixers basketball staff is in agreement: it will be up to Brand to fit into the team's system, not vice versa. If he does, Philadelphia stands a strong chance not only of stretching its offense, but also of making a postseason run. If he doesn't, well, there is always Phillies season.