Watch: Sixers Live Q&A ahead of season opener vs. Bucks originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Sixers kick off their 2024-25 campaign Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. when they host the Bucks. To get you set, tune-in to our Live Q&A at 5:30 p.m., where our experts will be answering your questions in person and virtually.
You can watch the stream above.
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 standard roster spot open below the 15-player maximum. There’s no need to load any projection with caveats and contingencies.
Let’s run through a tentative initial depth chart and highlight a few intriguing questions about the 2024-25 Sixers:
Starters
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.
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 short on second-unit guard experience. Whatever his precise role, Lowry should be helpful 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 may very well compete internally for rotation minutes at training camp and during the preseason.
Bench big men
Andre Drummond — Adem Bona
A rebound-hungry veteran and a shot-blocking rookie behind Embiid.
Where should the Sixers be strongest?
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.
How about potential weaknesses?
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.
What’s the best way to approach power forward?
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.
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Oubre: 6-foot-7 with 7-3 wingspan, 203 pounds
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George: 6-foot-8 with 6-11 wingspan, 220 pounds
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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.
How will Sixers handle their draft picks?
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.