A day after suffering a 34-point loss in the preseason opener in Washington, Brett Brown and the Sixers were back in the practice gym at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on Wednesday focused on a cure.
The illness?
The transition defense, or lack thereof.
Led by John Wall and Bradley Beal, Washington out-ran and spread the floor on the Sixers to a degree that left them gasping for mercy. Yes, that will happen from time to time, but when the Sixers spent a week at Stockton University focused on transition defense and the last two seasons establishing an uptempo pace as the team’s forte, Tuesday’s effort was troubling.
“[Washington is] one of the best teams in the East, but that doesn’t water down my disappointment,” Brown said after Wednesday’s practice. “We didn’t play transition defense at all and that’s what our camp was based on.”
The Wizards seemed to run a layup and three-point drill during the second half. They scored 28 points off 24 turnovers and had the Sixers’ defense out of sync by hitting 15 of 26 three-pointers. Conversely, the Sixers shot just 9 for 30 on three-pointers which created long, fastbreak-friendly rebounds for the Wizards.
“They did a good job,” said Isaiah Canaan, who led the Sixers with 13 points Tuesday. “When we were out of position they made us pay.”
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At issue is how the Sixers got out of position so often. In Brown’s transition defensive scheme, the motion begins as soon as a shot leaves a players’ finger tip. The Sixers send two players to the offensive glass for the rebound, but everyone else drops back for the defensive balance.
“Nothing can happen without the effort to get back,” Brown said.
Conceptually, it’s simple: two players crash the offensive boards and the rest head back on defense on every shot. But with a young team like the Sixers against a veteran-laden team like Washington, things can get tricky.
“It’s easy to coach in terms of accountability,” Brown explained. “Where it gets murky is when John Wall gets in the open court and you try to show him a crowd and he’s a roadrunner and he’s just throwing dimes to (Bradley) Beal.”
Wall played just 20 minutes Tuesday night and had nine assists with 10 points. Beal went 9 for 13 for 19 points in 21 minutes. Meanwhile, the Sixers’ second unit, which received the bulk of the playing time during the second half, shot 17 for 45, including 4 for 20 on three-pointers.
Those shooting numbers, with the 15 turnovers from the second group, opened up the court for Washington.
“Their pace hurt us tremendously,” Brown said.
“They had no right being good offensively last night and they won’t be for a month. We have invested a lot of time in defense and our offense is going to have to catch up to our defense. Last night our defense let us down.”
So it’s back to the drawing board for the Sixers, who spent the morning reviewing film before hitting the court for more work on — you guessed it — transition defense.
“You go back and you do it again and then you do it again,” said Brown, reiterating that the entire month of October will be used as the team’s training camp. “Ultimately, they get more comfortable.”