Richaun Holmes is the Sixers' best three-point shooter

Share

The loss of Robert Covington for the last ten games of the Philadelphia 76ers' season has essentially left the team's starting five without a single reliable shooter. Point guard T.J. McConnell has hit exactly five triples all of 2017. Two-guard Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot is shooting under 30% from deep for the season, and small forward Justin Anderson is shooting 27% since coming over to the Sixers. Power forward Dario Saric has attempted 25 triples over the last five games, and hit precisely one per contest. 

The bench doesn't offer much relief either: Gerald Henderson has hit 5 of his last 20 from deep, while Nik Stauskas' three-point shooting has gone in the tank since Covington peaced out for the season, drilling just nine of his 36 attempts over that span. Unsurprisingly, the Sixers' team shooting percentage from three has plummeted in Cov's absence, down to 29% from 35% for the team's first 74 games. The one exception to all of this long-bombing misery? Sixers center Richaun Holmes. 

If you asked casual fans to guess the Sixers' current leader in three-point percentage on the season, it'd probably take most of 'em at least seven or eight tries to get at Holmes, pacing the Processors with his 37.5% with two games to go in the season. As the rest of the team has totally lost their touch from distance in the cramped spacing of the Sixers' current rotation, Richaun's has only gotten featherier -- he's shot 9-18 from three in the Sixers' six games without RoCo. 

Is it sustainable? Is it just late-season flukiness? Can you pay attention to anything going on with the Sixers right now? Will Richaun Holmes be on the Sixers next season? Does basketball matter all that much in the grand scheme of things? What is a 76er? Will Harry Styles' pretty good new single finally end Ed Sheeran's interminable reign on top of the Billboard Hot 100? None of these answers are yet clear, but it's good to know we might have a backup center who can approximate Joel Embiid's ranginess when he sits in future seasons, allowing an enviable consistency and fluency to our offense. Assuming Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers and the concept of the NBA as a professional sport are all things that still exist next October, anyway.

Contact Us