Analyzing Sixers' Roster and Unresolved Questions Post Offseason

After the offseason dust has settled, let's take a closer look at the Philadelphia 76ers' roster and the key questions that remain unanswered. 1. Point Guard - With the departure of Ben Simmons, who will step up as the primary point guard for the team? Is Tyrese Maxey ready to take on a bigger role, or will the Sixers look to bring in another playmaker? 2. Shooting Guard - Danny Green is returning to the team, but can he continue to be a reliable shooter and defender at his age? Will Seth Curry be able to take on a larger scoring load this season? 3. Small Forward - Tobias Harris is locked in as the starting small forward, but can he elevate his game to become a true All-Star caliber player? Will the Sixers look to add depth at this position during the season? 4. Power Forward - With the addition of Georges Niang, the Sixers have more depth at the power forward position. How will Doc Rivers manage the rotation between Niang, Harris, and others? 5. Center - Joel Embiid is the cornerstone of this team, but can he stay healthy for a full season? Will the Sixers look to add another big man to provide insurance in case of injury? 6. Bench Depth - The Sixers have made some key additions to their bench, including Andre Drummond and Furkan Korkmaz. How will these new players fit into the rotation, and will they be able to provide consistent production off the bench? As the Sixers prepare for the upcoming season, these are just a few of the questions that still need to be addressed. With a talented roster and a new coaching staff in place, there is plenty of optimism surrounding this team as they look to make a deep playoff run.

Last summer’s look at the Sixers’ depth chart was full of enormous asterisks. James Harden remained on the team, PJ Tucker was in line for another opening-night start, and everything was subject to dramatic change.

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

So, with Day 1 of training camp scheduled for Oct. 1 in the Bahamas, let’s run through a tentative initial depth chart and highlight a few intriguing questions about the 2024-25 Sixers:

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

Three holdovers here from the Sixers’ playoff starting unit last year in Maxey, Oubre and Embiid. Though Sixers head coach Nick Nurse loves Kyle Lowry’s still-effective resistance against larger players, Oubre, George and Martin sure sounds like a versatile trio defensively.

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 short on second-unit guard experience. Whatever his precise role, Lowry should be helpful in acclimating new Sixers to Nurse’s system.

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

Yabusele, Council and Martin may very well compete internally for rotation minutes at training camp and during the preseason.

Andre Drummond — Adem Bona

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

Basketball’s not solely about scoring, but we’ll note that Maxey, Embiid and George combined for 83.2 points per game in the 2023-24 season.

The Sixers have tons of firepower and shouldn’t worry much about their top offensive players tripping over each other as they head to their favorite spots. And given the near-automatic double teams that Embiid draws, George’s catch-and-shoot credentials should be quite valuable. He made 43.5 percent of his 3.8 catch-and-shoot three-point attempts per game last season.

Especially if Oubre maintains the defensive focus he brought at the end of last year, the Sixers’ primary wings and forwards appear to be players who will generally work hard on both ends of the floor. As long as that’s indeed the case, the Sixers shouldn’t need to make radical repairs to their defensive habits come playoff time.

Nurse emphasizes the possession game and the Sixers still look capable of grading out well in several core areas. De’Anthony Melton and Paul Reed have gone elsewhere, but George has consistently been far above average at his position in steal rate and Drummond is a historically excellent rebounder. That doesn’t guarantee the Sixers will again be a top-five team in both offensive and defensive turnover percentage while also fixing their defensive rebounding woes, but severe drop-offs in the possession game would be surprising.

Broadly speaking, three stars is better than two. However, Embiid’s injury history is extensive and George is 34 years old. The Sixers know all about bad injury luck and need things to finally break their way in the playoffs.

Maxey, Lowry, Gordon, Jackson and McCain are all 6-foot-3 or under. Those players have traits to compensate for their lack of height — Jackson’s 7-foot wingspan, Lowry’s strength and smarts, etc. — but it might not always be easy to successfully switch one through four or one through five on defense.

Drummond and Caleb Martin stand out as new role players who will be happy to hustle and fight for “50-50” balls. Still, the Sixers will miss Nicolas Batum’s sensible, selfless game and entry passing brilliance. Sure, the Sixers’ stars will usually run the show, but it’s tough to truly replace Batum’s calm grasp of just about every imaginable situation and his great chemistry with Embiid.

On many nights, the Sixers should be perfectly fine if they opt against “traditional” power forward minutes. Guarding post-up after post-up isn’t imperative these days and none of Oubre, George and Martin could be called terribly undersized.

Oubre: 6-foot-7 with 7-3 wingspan, 203 pounds

George: 6-foot-8 with 6-11 wingspan, 220 pounds

Martin: 6-foot-5 with 6-10 wingspan, 210 pounds

Returning 23-year-olds Council and KJ Martin both welcome physical challenges. Martin has more NBA frontcourt reps, but the idea of Council defending fours and earning time as a second-unit wing/forward doesn’t strike us as outlandish at all.

If Yabusele carries over his Olympic form, this topic may not be complicated for the Sixers. Regardless, a 6-foot-8, 270-pound player could be especially handy in certain matchups. For instance, opening-night opponent Milwaukee plays 6-foot-10, 250-pound Bobby Portis at both the five and the four.

The Sixers tried a tiny bit of the “King Kong-Godzilla” duo — Drummond and Embiid — during the 2021-22 season. That would remain very outside of the box, but it's a theoretical option when the Sixers absolutely require a rebound, are facing a double-big unit, or simply want to experiment.

McCain is 20 years old and Bona is 21. Both were productive college players, but aspiring contenders at full strength don’t tend to throw youngsters into major roles.

If he can gain respect and trust from Nurse, Bona has a clean path to minutes. Anytime Embiid or Drummond misses a game, he’d slide up to the Sixers’ No. 2 center. Of course, the Sixers can always send Bona down to the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats to get some game reps.

McCain should learn a lot just from watching and listening to teammates like Maxey and Lowry. The Duke product had a subpar shooting performance in summer league — 28.6 percent from the floor, 25.5 percent from three-point range — but McCain will hope to show Nurse he’s a high-caliber, quick-release marksman who can do good work both on and off the ball.

As Maxey could tell him, there’s a decent shot his minutes will be sporadic as a rookie.