Breaking down Sixers' roster and key questions nonetheless to reply with offseason mud settled

Breaking down Sixers’ roster and key questions still to answer with offseason dust settled initially appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Final summer season’s have a look at the Sixers’ depth chart was full of enormous asterisks. James Harden remained on the staff, PJ Tucker was in line for an additional opening-night begin, and all the pieces was topic to dramatic change.

A yr later, the Sixers have 13 gamers below contract and an agreement with Guerschon Yabusele. Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey mentioned in July that the staff planned to enter the season with one roster spot open below the 15-player maximum. There’s no must load any projection with caveats and contingencies.

So, with Day 1 of training camp scheduled for Oct. 1 in the Bahamas, let’s run by way of a tentative preliminary depth chart and spotlight a couple of intriguing questions in regards to the 2024-25 Sixers:

Starters

Tyrese Maxey — Kelly Oubre Jr. — Paul George — Caleb Martin — Joel Embiid

Three holdovers right here from the Sixers’ playoff beginning unit final yr in Maxey, Oubre and Embiid. Although Sixers head coach Nick Nurse loves Kyle Lowry’s still-effective resistance towards bigger gamers, Oubre, George and Martin certain appears like a versatile trio defensively.

Bench guards 

Kyle Lowry — Eric Gordon — Reggie Jackson — Jared McCain — Jeff Dowtin Jr. (two-way contract)

With 38-year-old Lowry, 35-year-old Gordon and 34-year-old Jackson, the Sixers aren’t quick on second-unit guard expertise. No matter his exact position, Lowry ought to be useful in acclimating new Sixers to Nurse’s system.

Bench wings and forwards 

Guerschon Yabusele — Ricky Council IV — KJ Martin — Justin Edwards (two-way contract) — David Jones (two-way contract)

Yabusele, Council and Martin could very nicely compete internally for rotation minutes at coaching camp and in the course of the preseason.

Bench massive males

Andre Drummond — Adem Bona

A rebound-hungry veteran and a shot-blocking rookie behind Embiid.

The place ought to the Sixers be strongest? 

Basketball’s not solely about scoring, however we’ll observe that Maxey, Embiid and George mixed for 83.2 factors per sport within the 2023-24 season.

The Sixers have tons of firepower and shouldn’t fear a lot about their prime offensive gamers tripping over one another as they head to their favourite spots. And given the near-automatic double groups that Embiid attracts, George’s catch-and-shoot credentials ought to be fairly priceless. He made 43.5 percent of his 3.8 catch-and-shoot three-point attempts per game last season.

Particularly if Oubre maintains the defensive focus he brought at the end of last year, the Sixers’ major wings and forwards seem like gamers who will usually work laborious on each ends of the ground. So long as that’s certainly the case, the Sixers shouldn’t must make radical repairs to their defensive habits come playoff time.

Nurse emphasizes the possession game and the Sixers nonetheless look able to grading out nicely in a number of core areas. De’Anthony Melton and Paul Reed have gone elsewhere, however George has persistently been far above average at his position in steal rate and Drummond is a traditionally glorious rebounder. That doesn’t assure the Sixers will once more be a top-five team in both offensive and defensive turnover percentage whereas additionally fixing their defensive rebounding woes, however extreme drop-offs within the possession sport could be stunning.

How about potential weaknesses? 

Broadly talking, three stars is best than two. Nonetheless, Embiid’s damage historical past is intensive and George is 34 years outdated. The Sixers know all about bad injury luck and wish issues to lastly break their means within the playoffs.

Maxey, Lowry, Gordon, Jackson and McCain are all 6-foot-3 or below. Those players have traits to compensate for their lack of height — Jackson’s 7-foot wingspan, Lowry’s energy and smarts, and so forth. — but it surely won’t at all times be straightforward to efficiently change one by way of 4 or one by way of 5 on protection.

Drummond and Caleb Martin stand out as new position gamers who might be pleased to hustle and struggle for “50-50” balls. Nonetheless, the Sixers will miss Nicolas Batum’s sensible, selfless game and entry passing brilliance. Certain, the Sixers’ stars will normally run the present, but it surely’s robust to really change Batum’s calm grasp of nearly each possible state of affairs and his nice chemistry with Embiid.

What’s one of the simplest ways to strategy energy ahead? 

On many nights, the Sixers ought to be completely tremendous in the event that they choose towards “conventional” energy ahead minutes. Guarding post-up after post-up isn’t crucial lately and none of Oubre, George and Martin could possibly be known as terribly undersized.

• Oubre: 6-foot-7 with 7-3 wingspan, 203 kilos

• George: 6-foot-8 with 6-11 wingspan, 220 kilos

• Martin: 6-foot-5 with 6-10 wingspan, 210 kilos

Returning 23-year-olds Council and KJ Martin each welcome bodily challenges. Martin has extra NBA frontcourt reps, however the concept of Council defending fours and incomes time as a second-unit wing/ahead doesn’t strike us as outlandish in any respect.

If Yabusele carries over his Olympic kind, this subject is probably not difficult for the Sixers. Regardless, a 6-foot-8, 270-pound participant could possibly be particularly useful in sure matchups. As an example, opening-night opponent Milwaukee performs 6-foot-10, 250-pound Bobby Portis at each the 5 and the 4.

The Sixers tried a tiny little bit of the “King Kong-Godzilla” duo — Drummond and Embiid — in the course of the 2021-22 season. That might stay very outdoors of the field, but it surely’s a theoretical choice when the Sixers completely require a rebound, are dealing with a double-big unit, or just wish to experiment.

How will Sixers deal with their draft picks?

McCain is 20 years outdated and Bona is 21. Each had been productive school gamers, however aspiring contenders at full energy don’t are likely to throw kids into main roles.

If he can acquire respect and belief from Nurse, Bona has a clear path to minutes. Anytime Embiid or Drummond misses a sport, he’d slide as much as the Sixers’ No. 2 heart. In fact, the Sixers can at all times ship Bona right down to the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats to get some sport reps.

McCain ought to be taught quite a bit simply from watching and listening to teammates like Maxey and Lowry. The Duke product had a subpar taking pictures efficiency in summer season league — 28.6 percent from the floor, 25.5 percent from three-point range — however McCain will hope to point out Nurse he’s a high-caliber, quick-release marksman who can do good work each on and off the ball.

As Maxey may inform him, there’s an honest shot his minutes might be sporadic as a rookie.