Mbah a Moute’s value is in his versatility

The 76ers will host the Golden State Warriors Monday night, then head their separate ways for an 11-day respite, their season two-thirds of the way finished.

The odds are highly likely they will lose to the Warriors. You can count on both hands the teams that have done something other than lose to the Western Conference leaders. When the season was one-third complete, there would have been no qualifier about the game’s result.

Much of the improvement has come thanks to their young players steadily improving with experience. However, the rookies and second-year players haven’t been the only ones showing more skill as the season progresses.

Luc Mbah a Moute has had a reputation for being a poor man’s Andre Iguodala in his seven seasons, with his defensive skills being on par with the former Sixer. However, his offensive skills always lagged well behind those of Iguodala, whose offensive game usually received criticism of its own.

All year, Brett Brown has been encouraging the team’s oldest player to expand his offensive horizons. Lately, the results have been what Brown hoped he would see. In the last 12 games, Mbah a Moute has averaged 12.2 points, shot 45 percent from the field and 30.6 percent from 3-point range. After attempting just 86 3-pointers in his first six seasons, Mbah a Moute has put up 122 this year. After making just 17 of his first 73 (23.3 percent), he has hit 16 of his last 49 (32.7 percent). That recent rate is about the same percentage guys like Kevin Love, Carmelo Anthony and Jimmy Butler are shooting from the arc this season.

No one will confuse Mbah a Moute with those guys, but he only needs to shoot it well enough to complement his defensive credentials.

For Brown, the value of his veteran comes in the way he can be two entirely different players at opposite ends of the court. He marveled how Mbah a Moute would be guarding Hornets power forward Al Jefferson at one end during Saturday night’s win, then running the point on offense — not because they were his best positions, but because those were what the Sixers needed the most.

“How about Luc?” Brown said. “He’s my accountant, he’s my dentist, he takes care of my kids. He is my personal do-all.”

The unknown is how long Mbah a Moute will be the team’s taskmaster. The trade deadline will arrive before the Sixers return from the break, and there are teams out there hoping to improve their depth. That Mbah a Moute is so willing to play different roles, and even show that he can still find improvement in areas that are weaknesses, are what should make him and his expiring contract appealing to teams hoping to go deep in the postseason.

A team might have been added to the potential suitor list this weekend when the Clippers announced Blake Griffin needed surgery to excise a staph infection from his elbow. The All-Star forward will miss at least two weeks, and it could go well beyond that time frame depending on the seriousness of the infection. L.A. started Spencer Hawes in Griffin’s place against Oklahoma City Sunday. The former Sixer had one rebound in 35 minutes. The Clippers were blown out.

“I actually don’t look at that,” Mbah a Moute said of the trade possibility during the break. “This free time is going to be for me to relax. I try to just look at the next game.”

Even though he’s only 29, Mbah a Moute is like the resident adviser of a college dorm in the Sixers’ locker room — a respected one, one his young teammates would miss if he weren’t around.

I think Luc enjoys it,” K.J. McDaniels said. “I think we make Luc laugh a lot. He knows that we’re young and that we’re coming here to have fun.

“Luc means a lot to the team. He goes out there and starts (defensively) against the best player on every team. I look up to that ... the way he takes on the challenge every time.

“I would love for Luc to come back (with the Sixers when the trade deadline passes). I know the NBA is a business, but to have Luc back would be great for us as a team.”

Mbah a Moute hasn’t played on a team that has won a playoff series in his career, so it’s absurd to think he wouldn’t want the opportunity to offer assistance to a contender. But the Sixers’ steady improvement has offered him a personal reward.

“To see guys get better, whether individually or as a team, that has been a big reward,” he said. “You think, ‘Wow, we’re really starting to get it.’”

If Mbah a Moute is traded, it will be a challenge for the Sixers to stay on that path without suffering a short-term step backward. Plus, Brett Brown will have to find someone else to figure out his itemized deductions.