WASHINGTON — Tuesday’s 129-95 loss to the Wizards in the preseason opener at the Verizon Center was head coach Brett Brown’s first chance to make an assessment in the Sixers’ battle for the point guard position.
Needless to say, his first reaction wasn’t a ringing endorsement.
“It was average,” Brown said of his point guards' play. “It’s something that, there it is. We’ll get healthier bodies in the not-too-distant future. There will be opportunities to see some more candidates at that position.”
More candidates? Could that mean the Sixers would bring in a healthy point guard to compete for one of the open positions?
That remains to be seen. However, the biggest roster battle has not yet manifested itself to any reasonable degree.
With six point guards in training camp vying for three open spots, only veteran Isaiah Canaan and rookie Scottie Wilbekin participated Tuesday night. Two others, Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten are still out recovering from ACL injuries, and T.J. McConnell and Pierre Jackson were held out of Tuesday’s action.
McConnell has a sprained left foot that could keep him on the shelf for the next few days, while Jackson, battling a nagging groin injury, may be out longer than the rest. Jackson returned from a ruptured Achilles to play in the Las Vegas Summer League with the Sixers only to suffer a groin injury that he really hasn’t recovered from.
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Though Jackson played in last Saturday’s scrimmage at Stockton University, he said his groin is still sore enough that he is going to visit with his surgeon this week.
“It’s just a little sore," Jackson said. "Everything else is fine. I felt good through training camp. I’m not expecting any bad news.”
Though Canaan and Wilbekin played Tuesday night, there wasn’t much good news seen in their stat lines. Canaan logged 24 minutes and scored a team-high 13 points on 5 for 10 shooting with six assists and five rebounds (see game recap).
Wilbekin also played 24 minutes, but shot 2 for 7 for five points with two assists. Though it’s an imperfect statistic, Wilbekin posted a minus-30 in his 24 minutes.
Canaan and Wilbekin combined for five of the Sixers’ 24 turnovers.
Regardless, Brown said his offense should be a bit behind. After all, Brown said 75 percent of the team’s focus in practice has been on defense with 40 percent of that on the transition defense. That doesn’t leave much time for offense, though it was difficult to find any silver linings in a 34-point loss.
“You better come with a hardhat and with a level of desperation where you put your hand up and say, ‘Notice me,’” Brown said about the battles to make the team. “I didn’t see that from some of the guys trying to make a team.”
Whatever point guards are available will have another chance to show something Thursday night against the defending Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers. They get a slight reprieve since All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving is still recovering from a fractured left kneecap suffered in last summer’s NBA Finals.