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175659111.30 teams 30 days philadelphia 76ers
Welcome to my 30 teams in 30 days series, the most comprehensive and informative previews for every team in the NBA. Inside these posts, you’ll get up to speed with every team’s offseason additions and their roster hierarchies, learn whether they’ve addressed their biggest areas of need, ponder over 5 questions that will define their season and then decide whether you agree with my offseason grades and record predictions.
Notable Additions: VJ Edgecombe, Trendon Watford, Johni Broome
Notable Subtractions: Guerschon Yabusele
Depth Chart:
PG: Tyrese Maxey / Jared McCain / Kyle Lowry
SG: Quentin Grimes / VJ Edgecombe / Eric Gordon / Hunter Sallis
SF: Justin Edwards/ Kelly Oubre Jr / Jabari Walker
PF: Paul George / Trendon Watford / Johni Broome
C: Joel Embiid / Adem Bona / Andre Drummond / Dominick Barlow
Roster Hierarchy:
Franchise: Joel Embiid
Core: Tyrese Maxey, Paul George
Key Rotation: Quentin Grimes, VJ Edgecombe, Jared McCain, Adem Bona, Justin Edwards
Rotation: Kelly Oubre Jr, Trendon Watford, Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, Kyle Lowry
Development: Johni Broome, Hunter Sallis, Jabari Walker, Dominick Barlow
Offseason Overview:
A little over 2 months ago, Dotun Akintoye published an article titled, “Joel Embiid sees you”, 13,675 absolutely masterful words that gifted basketball fans a glimpse into the world of basketball’s biggest enigma. Akintoye’s exhaustive chronicle of Embiid’s journey as the walking embodiment of “The Process” was a powerful reminder of how an entire franchise has staked their futures on the shoulders of one man for a decade, how Joel has been their anchor (and punching bag) in a sea of uncertainty, their continuity “through three front office regimes, three head coaches, a gallery of failed, too quickly aborted or still emergent costars…”.
Embiid is Philadelphia’s North Star, their guiding light illuminating a path towards contention…if he’s healthy. Joel’s position as franchise cornerstone has been just as consistent as his “doubts, his silence, his bad luck, his frailty, his complicity…”, with this summer revolving around the same celestial body who arrived in 2014. After many offseasons of overhauls and tinkering, Daryl Morey opted for stability with Philly lucking into the 3rd overall pick of the 2025 draft, rolling the dice on the health of their franchise player for yet another year.
Pre-Draft Areas of Need:
🥇 Shooting: Defensive Playmaking: 30th in OPP Rim FG% & contested shot
🥈 Shooting: −2.1% vs league-average 3PT efficiency (27th)
🥉 Positional Size/Athleticism: Heavy roster (3rd Avg Wt), just 27th in Height
4️⃣ Connectivity: 29th in Potential AST/G; 10th in Passes/G
Philly addressed their needs well in the draft, with VJ and Broome bringing much needed physicality, disruption and quick decision making, but they may not be featured enough to dramatically improve Philly’s flaws.
Season Outlook:
1. How valuable is continuity for a team who saw their 3 best players share the floor for 280 minutes together?
0.07%. That’s the percentage of Philly’s 3,936 minutes played that came with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George on the floor with one another. The Sixers are entering training camp with their core seeing such a small sample of on-court time, that it’s essentially as if Philly traded for PG this summer. Nurse will need to tinker quickly, as in that tiny sample, the offense struggled mightily (-5.2 relative offensive rating).
2. Is there a resolution to the Grimes contract negotiations?
Quentin Grimes unfortunately played well enough for the Sixers to want to retain him, but not well enough to unseat the 3 other guards on this roster who are ahead in the pecking order in terms of both contract and role. Guard is the most inefficient position to stack talent, generally due to a lack of lineup flexibility and overall redundancy. They could *maybe* get away with 3-guard lineups if PG and Embiid were a few years younger (more on that later), but as it stands right now, there’s 96 mins available for 4 guys, and PHI will do everything in their power to squeeze as much value out of Grimes as possible. Considering PHI will enter the tax with ANY Grimes contract, I would offer Grimes MLE money over 3 or 4 years (~ 3Y/$48, 4Y/$60), which keeps his contract tradeable without overindexing on the position.
3. Can Embiid get a player with modern 4 skills and size next to him?
I love Morey Ball and the “traditional power forward” has gone extinct, but PHI needs to be realistic about their ability to protect the rim as constructed. Embiid challenged his lowest shots at the rim per 100 by far (~ just 9.5, 33rd% among bigs) and had his 2nd worst season protecting the rim. PG and Oubre have been tasked to play the 4 due to roster construction, despite their net ratings clearly showing they are better suited to play on the wing. Asking him to continue to cover for guys playing out of position who also lack the physicality and mentality to do trench work such as boxing out and rotating from the weakside, just isn’t feasible with his offensive load and decreased mobility.
I was intrigued by the Adem Bona/Alperen Sengun minutes in Eurobasket and I wonder if that could work for stints against specific matchups. I imagine Morey is looking at Watford as the energetic athletic 4, with Broome potentially forming double-big lineups next to Joel, especially considering his comfortability as an interior passer and DHO hub playing next to Dylan Cardwell at Auburn. PG and Oubre should not under any circumstances dominate the PF minutes (PG -> +4.2 at SF, +3.8 at PF, Oubre -> -3.37 at SF, -5.55 at PF over the last 3 seasons).
4. How much of a role will VJ Edgecombe (and Johni Broome) play?
Lack of youthful exuberance was a huge issue for Philly before all the injuries struck. Morey likes his guys, which is the only explanation for Eric Gordon still being on this roster. VJ and Broome are schematic fits who bring some much needed energy and motor, and both of them are grinders on defense, which leads me to think Nurse may reward them with minutes earlier than most coaches.
5. Will the second unit generate enough threes and paint touches when Maxey sits?
PG and Embiid can’t be relied upon to generate consistent rim pressure on drives at this point in their careers, which is where Tyrese Maxey comes in. He ranked 4th in the NBA in drives per game and exhibited more growth as a drive and kick initiator as opposed to a pure finisher. His open-court speed and pull-up shooting ability makes him an incredibly effective transition player, evidenced by his team-leading influence over transition scoring effectiveness over the last 2 seasons.
Can Philly replicate his downhill pressure as a committee? VJ has similar burst and may be even more athletic than Maxey, but he struggled mightily against pressure on the ball and will need plenty of reps to tighten his handle. McCain and Grimes are a bit more methodical in their driving approach but are certainly capable of getting both feet in the paint after demolishing closeouts. While VJ, McCain and Grimes will probably struggle to replicate Maxey’s halfcourt pressure, their collective open-court twitch and processing should help PHI get back to being a top 5 transition offense.
Record Prediction
Total Wins Over/Under: 42.5 via BetMGM
Floor: 34-48 (+10 wins)
A bet on Embiid being healthy is risky in itself, but when a team is also gambling on PG’s health, you get a team with a massive range that’s incredibly tough to predict. There are few teams in the league that depend on their star as much as Philly does on both ends, and this unit isn’t fit to survive in his absence.
Ceiling: 52-30 (+28 wins)
In that same vein though, this unit makes a ton of sense with Embiid operating in the middle. VJ, Maxey, Grimes and McCain would feast off of his scoring gravity and handoff ability, and as long as Philly resists the urge to play their decrepit role players (Lowry and EG mainly), they can finish in the top 6.
Overall Grade: B
Let me know if you agree with my predictions! What are your expectations for the Sixers this season?
Up Next: San Antonio Spurs
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