It's almost a relief to know that the temporary loss of Jahlil Okafor — out two games now with a shin contusion, if they say so — has not suddenly transformed the Philadelphia 76ers into a competent basketball team. As much as Jah has become a scapegoat for the team's larger issues of poor offensive chemistry and poorer defensive effort, his removal from the lineup appears to have done naught to turn the Sixers into a team that can put together four quarters of coherent basketball together. After faltering late against the Wizards on Monday, the Sixers absolutely collapsed in the second half last night against the Hornets, ending on a medley of embarrassing plays that infuriated their coach and had their fans begging for Lou Williams and Damien Wilkins. Final score: Charlotte 119, Philadelphia 99.
The defense, the defense, the defense. Nerlens Noel was supposed to come alive without his paint-clogging frontcourt mate getting in his way, but even at center the Eraser remains listless, putting together an impressive offensive stat line — 17 points on 6-11 shooting, with four assists — but only grabbing three boards and collecting zero blocks, while Cody Zeller and Kemba Walker (combined 45 points and 22 FTAs) got to the rim and the line with impunity for Charlotte. Otherwise, Isaiah Canaan and Robert Covington rained hellfire from deep (8-18 combined on threes) but made terrible decisions driving the ball and also combined for six turnovers. Nik Stauskas went scoreless until picking up a meaningless six in garbage time. Everyone on the team made at least one terrible pass, including an all-time-low contender from Nerlens.
It's depressing that three years into this rebuild, we still have no players we can totally depend on. Covington, Stauskas, and Canaan's utility comes and goes. Ish and Jerami are still a jump shot away from being reliable. Nerlens and Jahlil are both capable of brilliance, and capable of short-circuiting the entire team with poor effort and/or lack of awareness. Even T.J. McConnell has been minorly slumping of late. Consistency is always gonna be an issue with young teams, but the fact that it doesn't seem to be getting better — and at current appears to be actively depreciating — is a bummer.
Next up: A home-and-home against the Heat, beginning Friday at the not-WFC. The Sixers could do themselves a draft-night favor by handing the surging post-Joe Johnson Heat a couple of L's, but the smartest money certainly wouldn't be on Brett Brown's crew against a playoff team anytime soon. At least the Lakers actually won a game on Tuesday, putting them an unfathomable four games behind the Sixers in the lottery standings. So one thing about this season is going according to some version of The Plan.