Sixers 2015-16 player evaluation: Kendall Marshall

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Over the next couple of weeks we will evaluate the Sixers' roster following the 10-72 season.

Next up is Kendall Marshall.

Position: Point guard

Status: Team option for 2016-17 at $2.04 million

Signature game
It’s hard to find a standout game for Marshall from this past season. Like really hard.

He scored in double figures only twice and one of those was the season finale against the Chicago Bulls, when he finished with 11 points in a season-high 37 minutes.

If you’re looking for something he did in a win, Marshall actually played in only three of the Sixers’ 10 victories.

Yeah, slim pickings.

With that said, we’ll go with his other double-figure scoring game. Marshall put up 12 points (4 of 8 shooting) with four assists and two turnovers in a Feb. 24 loss to the Detroit Pistons. Those numbers are more in line with what the Sixers expected from the PG when they signed him last offseason.

Marshall in 2015-16
It was quite the year for Marshall, and that’s not in a good way.

He missed the first 23 games of the season while rehabbing from a torn right ACL. When he returned in December, Marshall was almost immediately handed the keys as the Sixers’ starting point guard.

“It’s going to be his job to lose,” head coach Brett Brown said at the time.

And that’s promptly what he went out and did.

During five starts that month, Marshall averaged 5.4 points on 44.0 percent shooting, 4.8 assists and an unforgivable 3.2 turnovers per game. He was also a combined minus-50 in the plus/minus category in those starts.

The Sixers traded to bring back Ish Smith before the month was over and the rest was pretty much history, save for some nonsense complaints about playing time from Marshall’s dad, and more empty appearances off the bench the rest of the way.

All in all, Marshall averaged 3.7 points (36.4 percent shooting), 2.4 assists, 0.9 rebounds and 1.4 turnovers in 30 appearances. Even the reliable three-pointer he was supposed to possess abandoned him, as his percentage from long range dropped from 39.9 and 39.1 the past two seasons to 32.7 in 2015-16.

That’s nowhere near the production the Sixers expected when they signed the 24-year-old Marshall as a potential point guard of the future.

Prospectus
Every player comes back from an injury differently, especially one as significant as a torn ACL.

Still, there is no way around stating that Marshall just didn’t live up to expectations at all during his first season in Philadelphia.

With team options for the next three years on his contract and point guard being a sure focal point for the Sixers during the offseason, Marshall likely won’t be around for a chance at redemption.

On Kendall Marshall
“He’s a grown man. Obviously, it’s the wrong time and place to say it, but he said it and apologized for it. It was an emotional comment and personally I’m most frustrated not because I’m not playing, but because I’m not playing well.” — Kendall Marshall on his father's comments about his playing time

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