4 Reasons to Aim to Retain Ersan Ilyasova After This Season
The Philadelphia 76ers have Ersan Ilyasova on contract for the remainder of this season, but there’s reason to try to sign him after this year, too.
The Philadelphia 76ers have quite the busy offseason ahead of them. If they don’t end up trading Nerlens Noel at some point this season to clear their frontcourt logjam, they need to figure out whether or not they should match any offers that come in for him, as he will be a restricted free agent.
On top of that, the Sixers are expected to have two lottery picks in this year’s NBA Draft, adding to the amount of things the Sixers need to figure out what they want to do with this offseason.
Ersan Ilyasova may not be near the top of the list when it comes to a to-do list for the offseason, but he should be somewhere on the list. The Sixers need to figure out whether or not Ilyasova fits with this team, if they should attempt to re-sign him, and if so, for how much money.
Ilyasova was traded for earlier this season in return for forward Jerami Grant, a trade that the Sixers seem to have won big-time — unless the Oklahoma City Thunder have some secret weapon that relates to Jerami Grant.
His play has been solid this season, and he seems to be fitting right in as one of the glue guys of the Sixers roster. Philly has won 7 games this year so far, which is six more than the team had in the win column at this point last year.
While the wins aren’t because of Ilyasova alone, they are partially because of him.
There are plenty of reasons to aim to retain Ersan at the end of the season. Here are a few.
Dec 16, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) dribbles past Los Angeles Lakers guard Louis Williams (23) during the second half at Wells Fargo Center. The Los Angeles Lakers won 100-89. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
3-point shooting
One major reason to retain Ersan Ilyasova is because he has dramatically increased how good the team is overall at 3-point shooting. Ilyasova ranks in at fifth on the team in 3-point percentage, something the team has struggled with immensely in previous years.
The trend of the league is taking more 3-pointers, and it makes sense. It took us a while to figure out, but three is, in fact, greater than two. While the Sixers have a few decent 3-point shooters in Dario Saric and Joel Embiid, they are not yet — and Embiid may never be — a high-volume 3-point shooter.
Ersan contributes 6 points per game via 3-pointers alone, which is the most on the team, and 2.1 points higher than Dario Saric, and 2.4 higher than Joel Embiid.
His 3-pointers tend to be pretty clutch when they need to be, too. With less than 3 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Ilyasova is hitting 63.6 percent of his attempted 3-point shots this season.
Looking back on his career, 3-pointers have been something that Ilyasova has, for the most part, always been pretty good at. Ilyasova has not shot below 36 percent from the 3-point zone in the past 3 years. So it wouldn’t be that far out to assume that Ilyasova could keep hitting those 3-pointers at a decent rate if the Sixers were to re-sign him.
The Sixers should, of course, continue to look for shooters to surround Ben Simmons with, but Ilyasova is by no means a bad start. He could be a decent option as an off of the bench scoring machine for the next few years if the Sixers decide to re-sign him.
Dec 6, 2016; Memphis, TN, USA; Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33) drives in the second quarter as Philadelphia 76ers forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) defends at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
The extras
Another reason that the Sixers should remain interested in him is the extras he brings to the court. There has been a lot of talk around the league regarding Ilyasova and the amount of charges he draws.
Ilyasova currently ranks first in the league in total charges drawn at 15.
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Charges are marked down by the NBA as one of the stats categorized under “hustle stats.” These are the stats that used to be non-quantifiable (officially) but now are counted by the league.
Some parts of players’ games used to go unnoticed by those who would only consider the numbers because things such as this were not counted by the league. With the emergence of hustle stats, players like Ilyasova are rightfully valued at a much higher level than they previously were.
Other things that are included in hustle stats are deflections, screen assists, and recovered loose balls.
Drawing charges seems like a very minuscule thing when it comes down to the grand scheme of a game, but for a player like Ilyasova who is not the best defender that exists, it shows one very important thing — effort.
Ilyasova puts up a defensive box plus/minus of just -1.5 this season, which is below the “normal” of 2.0, that of an “average” NBA player.
So instead of great defense, drawing charges shows that, despite how unskilled he may be as a defender, he’s still trying to get involved on the defensive end, and still trying to make his presence known in whatever way he can.
He may not be the player getting a lot of steals or blocks, but he’s definitely not too shabby at getting in the way while the opposition is trying to work their offense. In some instances, that can be just as valuable as good defense.
A motivation such as that on the defensive end deserves reward, and the Sixers may look at things that Ilyasova does just like that and decide they are good reasons to pursue him in free agency.
Dec 18, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Dario Saric (9) drives toward the net during the second quarter of the game at the Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
A mentoring role
One of the overlooked qualities of Ilyasova at first when he was traded for is that he can be a mentor to Sixers rookie forward Dario Saric.
Saric, who is not new to pro basketball, played for a few years overseas. Most recently, prior to coming over and playing for the Sixers, Saric played for the Anadolu Efes in Turkey, where he garnered a lot of hype leading up to his Sixers debut.
The Saric experiment was an interesting one that hasn’t been tried a whole lot in the NBA. The Sixers drafted Saric and stashed him for a few seasons overseas to let him develop without taking up Sixers cap space or a roster spot.
Ilyasova, too, is an international player who is familiar with the culture Saric played in for a few seasons, being Turkish himself (Ilyasova actually played eight games with the Efes during the 2011 NBA lockout).
They both draw a likeness to each other in more than just an international sense, too, though. Ilyasova is a forward that can hit long shots just like Saric has shown he has the ability to. They both stretch the floor decently.
Saric showed that he had tendencies that could make him a stretch four in the NBA while he was in Turkey, but since coming to the NBA, has not really unlocked that potential yet. While there’s still tons of time for Saric to meet that ceiling that he has, Ilyasova could speed along the process by being a mentor to the young Croatian.
Saric has struggled with relationships with some of the American players (he and T.J. McConnell do not seem to like each other a whole lot) and having a player on the team who has gone through some of the same hardships of transitioning to a new country and a new league could really help boost Saric’s morale a ton, and in turn impact his game in a huge way.
Nov 19, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers forward Ersan Ilyasova (7) leaps to grab a ball headed out of bounds past Phoenix Suns forward P.J. Tucker (17) during the second quarter at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
The financials
The financials of any new contract are always important to consider, and with a player like Ersan who is not in-line with the youth of this team, how much money he is offered and for how long must also be considered heavily.
Ilyasova is a veteran, and contracts for aging players can go one of two ways. In some instances, they are paid through the nose because they are seen as not only valuable players, but also voices of wisdom for a locker room.
On the other hand, they can at times be paid less if they aren’t seen as much of a wise voice, and due to the risk of signing a player who is past the apex of their career.
Ilyasova has been in the league for 9 years, but doesn’t have a whole lot of honors, only having appeared in 17 playoff games. So it’s not as if Ilyasova is one of the Paul Pierce-like players that has a ton of playoff experience, and a ton of leadership experience either.
While that can be looked at as a reason to stay away from Ilyasova, it could also be looked at as an advantage when bartering with him. Other teams may not offer him as much as he’s worth due to the illusion that he doesn’t have as much of a wise veteran presence like other players his age do.
As the Sixers have seen, though, Ilyasova is still valuable on the floor.
Additionally, as previously discussed with Saric, Ilyasova could be more of a veteran presence for Philly than any other team, just because of Saric. While it isn’t lucrative to sign a player due to the idea that he could be a veteran presence for just one player on the team, he has proven that he can be effective on the court still as well.
With all of this in mind, the Sixers may be interested in Ilyasova in the perfect season of his career. The Oklahoma City Thunder trading Ilyasova for Jerami Grant may have foreshadowed what his value will be like as the free agency period approaches — low. With the Sixers seemingly treating him as a premium, though, they may be able to get just what they want in Ilyasova for cheap.