Thirty-seven seconds was all it took for Brett Brown, Nerlens Noel, and the Sixers to get a feel for the type of effect Ish Smith could have on the team. In the Sixers’ opening offensive set Saturday at Talking Stick Resort Arena, Noel came to meet Smith at the top of the three-point arc. Smith then dribbled down the right side of the lane, and, with Noel diving to the rim, threw a catch-and-dunk lob back to Noel for an alley-oop slam. The successful pick-and-roll sequence was representative of the chemistry Smith and Noel developed together in 23 games down the stretch of last season. Smith’s immediate impact in the Sixers’ 111-104 win over the Phoenix Suns wasn’t lost on Noel.”First possession, he throws it up. The chemistry’s back,” said Noel following Monday’s shoot-around in Salt Lake City, where the Sixers take on the Utah Jazz at 9:00 PM EST. “Just everything he brings to this team, his leadership, his experience in the NBA, how well he knows how to operate an NBA pick-and-roll.”Brown felt Smith assumed a role in the Phoenix game that “couldn’t have scripted any better.” Not only did Smith spark the Sixers in a dominant first quarter, after which they held a 14-point lead, he also delivered a clutch lay-up in the final two minutes that helped put the Suns away. “Ish is a fantastic late addition,” Brown said of the Christmas Even trade that sent Smith from New Orleans back to the Sixers for a pair of future second-round NBA Draft picks. “People on the outside can assume what we all know in here, how timely it really is to keep our spirits up. His arrival is a breath of fresh air for me, and for our team.”Now, with the Sixers having delivered a victory in Smith’s season debut, all parties involved aim to keep the positive momentum moving forward. “We’re building on a good win the other night, we still got a long, long ways to go,” said Smith on Monday morning. “I know it feels like I’m a veteran, but still as far as games, I’m still a young guy. So, staying hungry after a good win. Staying positive, still having fun with it. It feels good, feels good to be back. My teammates and coaches have been great, welcoming me back. Now we just have to kind of get a rhythm, and get a flow and build off last game.” Smith notched 14 points and five assists in Phoenix, representing the 11th time this season he’s reached marks of 10 points and five assists in the same game. He believes he has more room to develop, on both ends of the court. “I want to say, defensively, obviously, get better pressuring guys, getting into guys, for some specific ways our defense, if the big calls a call, get into his body and force him that way,” Smith said. “Then offensively, knowing when to take my shots, when to make passes, when to get off the ball instead of trying to do too much. Let the offense run itself, and then when it comes back, being aggressive. There’s just still some points strategically that I want to get better at, and hopefully I can get it and it can start clicking.”When Smith heard he’d be returning to the Sixers, his mind instantaneously began thinking and brainstorming about one specific dynamic: the team’s frontcourt. Although right knee soreness will prevent Jahlil Okafor from appearing in either of Smith’s first two games back with the Sixers, Smith is focused on figuring out how to best maximize the abilities of the rookie, and Noel. He feels it’s “a good problem when you got two guys that talented on the same floor.”Smith continued, “I’m not comparing us to the Clippers, but I see how Blake Griffin and DeAndre [Jordan] work together in the sense where one’s lobbing and one’s posting up, and [Chris Paul] does a great job of balancing those two out, and getting J.J. Reddick together. I think the first thing I noticed when the trade happened was how that was going to work, how we going to do it, but it’s a good problem to have.” With 50 games remaining in the regular season, the Sixers, Brown, and Smith have been presented with goa second chance to grow together. The 27-year old Wake Forest University product has played for nine different franchises, and has been part of 19 NBA transactions since breaking into the league as a rookie free agent in 2010. “How hard it is to be a starting NBA point guard, I think it’s the position in the league,” said Brown. “It’s the most difficult, and in many ways, the most important. It’s a hard league to go say, ‘I’m a starting point guard,’ and hold onto a franchise for four to six years. So with that, he’s bounced around a little bit.”
Brown added, “I get most excited because I look at his age. I think he’s at a wonderful age, and I think that 27 to 32 range is a wonderful age where you’re not young anymore, and you’re not old. You’re just in that nice honeyspot. It’s a veteran type of age, and mind, and physical presence. It’s not like he’s been used up before he came here. He hasn’t played really a lot. So I think all over the place, it’s really timely for Ish’s arrival.”Smith has averaged 4.2 points, 2.6 assists, and 13.4 minutes in his 274-game professional career.
