Brown: Point guards dribble too much

SAN FRANCISCO – How many times have you thought 76ers point guards  Michael Carter-Williams and Tony Wroten dribble the ball too much?

Well, you're not alone.

"Both Tony and Michael dribble the ball too much," coach Brett Brown said following Monday's practice at St. Ignatius College Preparatory. "Some of it you say, 'Well, pass the ball.' And other times you say, 'Well, I'll be, there's nobody to pass it to."

Brown said the Sixers' spacing needs to be better coached to avoid the latter.

But he added the team's strength is playing downhill and attacking the rim.

"And that gets you in a bunch of trouble, because you can turn it over," Brown said. "You can play in a crowd. You can over-dribble.

"A poised, patient team we are not, and we shouldn't be. I think we need to run. It just comes with a bunch of pain."

The focus of Monday's practice was spacing. Brown is trying to prevent the Sixers from playing in a crowd and wants his point guards to stop dribbling as much.

In addition to dribbling too much on Saturday, Carter-Williams had a horrid shooting night. He hit just 2 of 20 shot attempts.

"Was every one of those shots a great shot? No," Brown said. "We are showing him how to know his reads. Like I tell him, he's Tom Brady. How do you study? How do you understand outlooks? How do you understand rotating?  How do you know when [center] Nerlens [Noel] needs a shot?

"That's a point guard."

Follow and contact Inquirer 76ers beat writer Keith Pompey on Twitter @PompeyOnSixers and on Instagram at PompeyOnSixers