As the Philadelphia 76ers are still searching for their first win, Brett Brown has emphasized trying to find a balance between “pace and post.” Basically, how do you push the ball up and down the floor as if your hair is on fire (like the Sixers did the last two years) and also consistently feed the new low-post scorer in the halfcourt?



So far, Brown and his players haven’t found that tricky little balance, as the Sixers sport the worst offense in the league. On Monday night against the Dallas Mavericks, we saw one of the many problems that the offense routinely encounters: When running set plays for Jahlil Okafor, it takes the Sixers far too long to enter the ball into the low post.



The Sixers ran the same play on two consecutive possessions in Monday’s first quarter. In the first shot, Hollis Thompson should be starting in the weak-side corner, which would give us a “Horns” alignment with two wings in the corner and two bigs at the top of the key near the three-point arc. He cheats up to start on the wing, but the play is the same.



Isaiah Canaan feeds Okafor and replaces JaKarr Sampson in the strong-side corner. Meanwhile, Sampson cuts along the baseline to the other side of the floor. He’s replacing Thompson, who receives a back screen from Jerami Grant. Then, Grant pops out to receive the pass from Okafor.







After Grant quickly swings the ball to Sampson (not pictured), the intended target is finally in sight: Thompson’s diagonal screen should free Okafor on the left block. Unfortunately, Dallas is ready for the play and Grant also runs too close to Thompson’s screen so the lane is clogged. That is some execution Chip Kelly can get behind.



When Okafor catches the ball in decent (but not great) position, there is five seconds on the shot clock. That’s not enough.







Check out video of the next possession, where the Sixers run the same play. Okafor scores this time because he’s a load for Dwight Powell to handle on the low block, but he catches the ball in scoring position with only four seconds left to shoot. More times than not, that won’t work.



Everything, from Canaan walking the ball up the floor (Tony Parker flies through these sets) to Okafor taking a few unnecessary dribbles to indecisive cutting from everyone involved, is too slow. This is a Spurs play run in slow motion, which is to say not a Spurs play at all.

Down 83-82 with a little over three minutes left, Brown ran another nifty misdirection play that took forever to materialize. Okafor ended up catching the ball on the elbow with seven seconds left on the clock, and he hoisted a really difficult shot:

So, what is the solution? I’m not quite sure. Getting Okafor touches is a sound strategy, but trying to do so in the flow of the offense is difficult. Going forward, it may be on Okafor to consistently carve out better post position on his own, because the Sixers (including him) can’t seem to execute some of Brown’s plays fast enough.

Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann

