Sixers Review: Luc Mbah a Moute, the dependable vet

Luc Mbah a Moute is on the Philadelphia 76ers for two reasons. First, he was a cheap expiring contract that the Philadelphia 76ers could commit to for the short term in the Thaddeus Young trade. Second, he is tight with fellow Cameroonian Joel Embiid. Mbah a Moute was brought in to mentor Embiid, provide some veteran leadership, and probably move on after the season. That’s about it.

However, Mbah a Moute has played a significant role for the 76ers this season. He’s started 34 of the 35 games he’s appeared in (He’s missed five games with back, calf, and toe injuries), and is fourth on the current roster in both points and rebounds per game. Mbah a Moute has been the team’s starting small forward and power forward at times this season, and while he’s struggled at some things, his biggest weaknesses are team-wide weaknesses. Overall, on the court, Mbah a Moute has been pretty acceptable.

Offensively, Mbah a Moute has been a mixed bag. Scoring-wise, he’s often the last option on the floor, as the team more often looks to let their guards and Nerlens Noel create opportunities, while guys like Mbah a Moute, Hollis Thompson, and Henry Sims pick their spots to fill in. Mbah a Moute is posting his highest usage percentage of his career at 17.6 percent of possessions used (career-average: 14.0), but that’s still well below average for an NBA wing.

Because of this, Mbah a Moute is fourth on the team in scoring at 9.3 points per game, but just seventh on the team in scoring per 36 minutes at 12.0 points. Most often, as you can see from his shot chart below, he is scoring on cuts and threes, which is expected of a low-usage wing player.

Mbah a Moute is hitting a pedestrian 54 percent on shots at the rim, but that’s a ton better than many on a team that’s shooting barely over 51 percent in the restricted area. He’s been a pretty decent mid-range shooter, but that’s never a huge deal for a team that actively avoids that shot. Where Mbah a Moute has really struggled this season is from three.

He’s taking about 30 percent of his shots there, and he’s hitting just 27.5 percent from beyond the arc. Now, he’s never been a great outside shooter — averaging 27.7 percent from three for his career, after all. However, in Philadelphia’s offense, way more of his shots have come from open catch-and-shoot threes than at any point of his career, and his percentage hasn’t increased. However, he is one of the better finishers on the team at the rim, so he still has value offensively.

SportVU data also suggests that Mbah a Moute isn’t a very good passer. He averages 35.3 passes per game, and generates about 3.1 assist opportunities per game. This puts him in the company of other low-usage wings playing heavy minutes, so that’s fine. However, for some reason, his teammates can’t really finish assist opportunities.

The Sixers are shooting 41 percent from the field for the season, so you’d expect the team to be finishing around that rate for all players. The Sixers are shooting 33.3 percent off Mbah a Moute assist opportunities per SportVU, however. This probably indicates that Mbah a Moute isn’t putting teammates in good position to score, and that teammates are taking bad shots off his passes. It’s probably more the latter than the former, but still, that does not speak well to Mbah a Moute’s passing ability.

Defensively, Mbah a Moute has been pretty productive this year. This makes sense given his reputation as a solid wing defender throughout his career. The Sixers defense does improve when Mbah a Moute is on the floor, from allowing 103.6 points/100 possessions to allowing 102.9. This isn’t a huge uptick, but given that Mbah a Moute’s rest minutes usually come when K.J. McDaniels is on the floor, it makes sense.

Individually, Mbah a Moute has forced opponents to shoot 1.4 percent worse than they normally do, per SportVU. He’s not a great presence at the rim, allowing 62 percent within six feet, but his perimeter defense has been solid. Mbah a Moute is only allowing opponents to shoot 33.3 percent from three while he’s guarding them, a great number that is one of the top marks on the team.

The Cameroonian has played equal time as a three and a four this season, acting as both the team’s starting small forward and de facto third big. He’s probably the best suited to handle this role of anyone on the team, but it does have some problems associated with it. Given Mbah a Moute’s relatively small frame for a power forward (6’7? and 230 pounds, although with a 7’0? wingspan), it’s not surprising that he gets feasted on when facing opposing power forwards and gives up a high percentage at the rim.

Likewise, leaving him on the perimeter at small forward somewhat forces him into being asked to be a three-point shooter. Mbah a Moute is at his best when he gets to work off cuts and defend the perimeter, but the Sixers haven’t really had the personnel to allow him to do that — until Robert Covington came along.

Covington and Mbah a Moute are so, so good together. That’s because Covington has the size to be able to defend post players better than Mbah a Moute can, and can also stretch the floor as Philly’s only reliable three-point shooter. In addition, Covington is a much better passer than Mbah a Moute. This frees LMAM to do what he’s good at without the Sixers compromising their high three-point rate, or allowing shots at the rim defensively.

Covington and Mbah a Moute lineups have accounted for 424 minutes of action this season, and lineups featuring these two are some of the better options the Sixers have. These lineups have an offensive rating of 97.7 (6.7 points higher than team average), and a defensive rating of 103.3 (team average). These lineups also have a true shooting percentage of 51.4 percent — the highest of any two-man combination that’s played at least 350 minutes together this season.

It’s no wonder that these two have featured together a ton recently as the team has started improving on both ends. In fact, they’re the forward tandem for the Sixer lineup that’s been absolutely wonderful to watch over the past 10 or so games – The Michael Carter-Williams/McDaniels/Mbah a Moute/Covington/Noel starting lineup that has a net rating of +12.3 in 99 minutes this season.

Mbah a Moute has played pretty well this season, for what it’s worth. He’s got some short comings, but the newly discovered partnership with Covington has worked to help negate those. It’s questionable how well Mbah a Moute’s leadership is going, but as a 28-year-old journeyman, that was probably always the wrong role for him. But that’s another matter. On the court, Mbah a Moute has been reliable, and in a season like this one for the Sixers, reliable is good.