Ricky Council IV working on earning a spot in the Sixers’ rotation: ‘I want to continue to prove myself’
The 23-year-old swingman, who is working out with teammates in Los Angeles, says, “I just need to be able to hit open shots and guard people.”
CARROLL, Iowa — Ricky Council IV regularly worked on his game with 76ers assistant coaches last summer.
But that was just a starting point.
“This summer has been a whole lot of work, maybe even more than last year,” Council said, “keeping my shooting touch up, working on different finishing moves, just learning the game, playing against good competition every day.
“All that’s going to help me in the long run.”
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The 6-foot-6, 205-pound swingman is in Los Angeles with teammates, participating in the Rico Hines Private Runs led by the Sixers assistant coach. The undrafted second-year player is determined to earn a regular spot in the Sixers’ rotation.
Shortly after last season, Council, 23, was told he would likely get more minutes by moving to forward.
But that was before the Sixers revamped their wing position with the acquisitions of nine-time All-Star Paul George, Caleb Martin, and Eric Gordon, and by re-signing Kelly Oubre Jr. The Sixers also added Guerschon Yabusele on Sunday and re-signed KJ Martin at power forward, a position Council filled in at a couple of times.
“I want to continue to prove myself,” said Council, who played shooting guard at Arkansas. “And when training camp and practice come around, continue to prove myself and get my trust in the players and coaches and see what happens from there.”
Council averaged 5.4 points and 9.0 minutes and shot 37.5% (12-of-32) on three-pointers in 32 games last season. He had career highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 119-113 victory over the Washington Wizards on Feb. 10 at Capital One Arena.
The former two-way player had a knack for producing whenever he received extended minutes. He did the same thing in July as the go-to guy for the Sixers’ summer league team.
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Council averaged 18.7 points and was the third-leading scorer at the Salt Lake City Summer League. He also shot 42.1% on three-pointers.
He followed that up by averaging 18.8 points in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. Council didn’t shoot the ball well in Vegas, making just 18.2% of his three-point attempts. However, he averaged 2.3 steals.
“I feel like most of my game is complete,” Council said. “I know on this team, I really don’t need to do much …
“We have Paul George. We have Tyrese Maxey and we have Joel Embiid. I don’t expect they’ll need much off the dribble in that nature. So I just need to be able to hit open shots and guard people.”
Going camping: The Sixers will hold training camp at Atlantis Paradise Islands in the Bahamas from Oct. 1-5, the team officially announced on Monday.