As I sat and watched from press row at tonight’s Sixers home opener against the Nets, I couldn’t help but wonder: who will this team be able to count on besides Andre Iguodala in terms of a game-by-game basis? I don’t have many answers to that question.

The Sixers are a team overloaded with swing men and have few offensive options when it comes to their frontcourt. Thus, you hear the term perimeter team thrown around a good deal. And that’s fine. They are a perimeter team with a plethora of players who you can cluster around the three point arc. Unfortunately, it’s tough to be a perimeter team when you don’t knock down shots.  The Sixers will get production from Iguodala (though tonight he only shot the ball ten times and finished with 16 points) and Kyle Korver from the outside. After that, there’s a significant dropoff. Philadelphia shot 3-for-15 from beyond the arc tonight (two of those three came from Korver and the other from Iguodala).  Someone else needs to step up.

Still, there are other problems. Missed free throws down the stretch (21-of-32 as a team) and a failure to block out from a defensive rebounding standpoint come to mind. At one point late in the fourth quarter, Philadelphia’s Samuel Dalembert failed to box out Antoine Wright and Wright ended up saving a ball headed out of bounds, giving Jersey a fresh 24 and sending the Sixers to their fate.  When you have a team that’s not exactly bustling with talent, it’s important to play mistake free basketball. This is a ballclub that can’t get by on just talent because there just isn’t enough to go around.

With that said, here are some things I saw tonight that I really liked:

1.  Point guard Lou Williams always seems to make plays when he steps on the floor. He’s a young point guard with a score-first mentality and you can see how much the NBA summer league really helped. Williams attacks the basket without fear and has the ability to explode off the floor.  What does he have to learn? Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said it best tonight when he mentioned time and score. The former high school product needs to understand situations better….when he needs to go in and try to score as well as when to back out and slow things down. Other than that, he’s developing into a nice player in his third year in the league. It’s going to be fun to watch him grow over the course of this season.

2.  I love Reggie Evans’ intensity out on the floor.  This guy gives his all on every play and never stops fighting for boards. He’s had double-figure rebounding games in two of the first three contests this season. The only problem: Evans is sort of an offensive liability. He doesn’t give you much in terms of post moves and in turn that makes it tough for him to be on the court late in ballgames.

3.  Jason Smith had a great preseason and has shown some signs that he might be a decent pro. He has more range than most guys his size in this league. Smith needs to get more comfortable with banging down low on the boards but he definitely is a plus coming off the bench for Philly.

Some other observations:

Calvin Booth: Can anyone explain to me why the team decided to sign this guy and pay him a little over a million dollars a year to stand around and give you two or three minutes a game and absolutely no offense whatsoever. Booth even makes more than Lou Williams……is there any way to fix that glitch in the payroll?

Andre Miller has never been known as a jumpshooter. His M.O. has always been as a very good passer and a guy who can take it to the basket and finish when need be. This might explain why I’m confused as to his shot selection tonight. Many of Miller’s shots ended up being 15 foot jumpers and he finished 6-for-16 from the floor. That’s six more shots than your franchise player Iguodala. I understand that sometimes these things happen in the flow of the game but nights when your point guard shoots more (and less efficient) than your leading scorer shouldn’t happen much.

I still believe this is a better team than most people think. They spread their scoring and play a balanced game and based on what this group has to offer, I think that’s the way it will need to do things in order to come up with wins. Iguodala just needs someone else to step up and help shoulder the load. There’s no reason he can’t be the go-to-guy but it’d be nice if Sixers fans could see the emergence of a Robin-type character to Iggy’s Batman .

 Matt Martucci  is a sportscaster who covers the Sixers, Flyers, Phillies, and Eagles for ESPN Radio 1450 in Atlantic City. He resides in Philadelphia and is also the play-by-play voice of Saint Joseph’s University Women’s Basketball as well as a fill-in voice for Hawk Men’s Hoops. You can visit his website at www.mattmartucci.com and e-mail him at mwmartuc@gmail.com