Analyzing the Sixers’ roster and questions that remain to be answered after the offseason dust settles – NBC Sports Philadelphia

Looking at the Sixers’ roster last summer was full of huge doubts. James Harden remained on the team, PJ Tucker was in line for another opening night start, and everything was undergoing dramatic changes.

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 plans to start the season with one spot on the standard roster below the 15-player maximum. There is no need to burden any projections with caveats and contingencies.

With the first day of training camp set for October 1 in the Bahamas, let’s go over a preliminary roster and highlight a few interesting questions about the 2024-25 Sixers:

Starters

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

Maxey, Oubre and Embiid are three players from the Sixers’ playoff starting lineup from last year. Although Sixers head coach Nick Nurse still appreciates Kyle Lowry’s effective defense against bigger players, Oubre, George and Martin certainly sound like a versatile trio on defense.

Bench protector

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 have no shortage of experience at second-unit guard. Whatever his exact role, Lowry should help acclimate new Sixers to Nurse’s system.

Winger and substitute

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

It is quite possible that Yabusele, Council and Martin will compete internally for rotation minutes in training camp and preseason.

Bench for tall men

Andre Drummond — Adem Bona

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

Where should the Sixers be strongest?

Basketball isn’t just about scoring, but we’d like to point out that Maxey, Embiid and George combined to score 83.2 points per game during the 2023-24 season.

The Sixers have plenty of firepower and don’t have to worry too much about their best offensive players tripping over each other on the way to their favorite positions. And given the almost automatic double coverage Embiid attracts, George’s catch-and-shoot skills should be quite valuable. Last season, he converted 43.5 percent of his 3.8 catch-and-shoot three-point attempts per game.

Particularly if Oubre maintains the defensive focus he displayed late last year, the Sixers’ key wing and forward players appear to be players who will generally work hard on both ends of the court. As long as that is indeed the case, the Sixers should not need to make any radical changes to their defensive habits come playoff time.

Nurse is putting an emphasis on the possession game, and the Sixers still seem capable of producing well in several core areas. De’Anthony Melton and Paul Reed have gone elsewhere, but George has consistently been well above average in steal rate at his position, and Drummond is a historically excellent rebounder. That doesn’t guarantee that the Sixers will return to being a top-five team in both offensive and defensive turnover rate while fixing their defensive rebounding issues, but major declines in the possession game would be surprising.

What about possible weaknesses?

Generally speaking, three stars are better than two. However, Embiid’s injury history is long and George is 34 years old. The Sixers are no strangers to injury and need things to finally get going in the playoffs.

Maxey, Lowry, Gordon, Jackson and McCain are all 6’3″ or shorter. These players have traits that compensate for their small size – Jackson’s 7’3″ wingspan, Lowry’s strength and intelligence, etc. – but it’s not always easy to successfully transition from one to four or one to five on defense.

Drummond and Caleb Martin stand out as new role players who like to compete for 50-50 balls. Still, the Sixers will miss Nicolas Batum’s sensible, unselfish play and brilliant passing. Sure, the Sixers’ stars will usually call the shots, but it’s hard to truly replace Batum’s calm feel for virtually any situation imaginable and his great chemistry with Embiid.

What is the best way to approach power forward?

On many nights, the Sixers should be perfectly content opting against “traditional” power forward minutes. These days, defending post-up after post-up is no longer a necessity, and none of Oubre, George, and Martin could be described as horribly subpar.

• Oubre: 2.01 m tall, wingspan 2.10 m, 92 kg
• George: 2.03 m tall, wingspan 2.08 m, 100 kg
• Martin: 1.95 m tall, wingspan 2.08 m, 95 kg

Council and KJ Martin, 23, both welcome physical challenges. Martin has seen more NBA frontcourt action, but the idea of ​​Council defending fours and earning time as a second-unit winger doesn’t seem far-fetched at all.

If Yabusele maintains his Olympic form, that issue should not be a problem for the Sixers. Regardless, a 6-foot-8, 275-pound player could be particularly useful in certain matchups. For example, opening night opponent Milwaukee is running 6-foot-1, 275-pound Bobby Portis at both the five and four.

The Sixers have tried out the “King Kong-Godzilla” duo of Drummond and Embiid a bit in the 2021-22 season. While that would be very unconventional, it’s a theoretical option if the Sixers desperately need a rebound, are facing a unit twice their size, or just want to experiment.

How will the Sixers handle their draft picks?

McCain is 20 years old and Bona is 21. Both were successful college players, but up-and-coming top players don’t tend to promote young players to important roles.

If he earns Nurse’s respect and trust, Bona will have free playing time. Whenever Embiid or Drummond miss a game, he will move up to the Sixers’ No. 2 center position. Of course, the Sixers can also send Bona to the Delaware Blue Coats in the G League to gain some playing experience.

McCain should learn a lot from watching and listening to teammates like Maxey and Lowry. The Duke product had a below-average shooting percentage in summer league — 28.6 percent from the field, 25.5 percent from three-point range — but McCain hopes to show Nurse that he’s a high-level, quick-shooter who can do good work both with and without the ball.

Maxey could tell him that there is a good chance that as a rookie he will only be used sporadically.