Will Paul George solve the Philadelphia 76ers' playoff shortcomings?
Daryl Morey's master plan worked.
After the Philadelphia 76ers' season ended with another postseason exit, Morey was tasked with retooling the team's roster in free agency and the draft, and he knocked it out of the park.
Morey landed the top free agent in nine-time All-Star Paul George to form a new big three with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. He extended Maxey and Embiid, filled out the roster with veterans ready to help a championship contender like Andre Drummond, Caleb Martin Jr., and others, and drafted Duke sharpshooter Jared McCain in the first round of the 2024 NBA draft.
While it all looks good on paper, the focus now shifts to the regular season, which begins tonight against former Sixers coach Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks at the Wells Fargo Center.
Embiid and George will both miss the season opener because of knee injuries, but here are three storylines to watch as the Sixers try to make a run to the NBA Finals.
How will the Sixers manage Embiid's health?
Embiid is entering his ninth season with the Sixers after sitting out the first two years of his career due to injury.
The Sixers have largely been successful in the Embiid era. They've made the playoffs seven straight seasons but have flamed out every time. The team hasn't been to the Eastern Conference Finals since Allen Iverson's Herculean performance in 2001 during a run to the NBA Finals, where the team lost to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Sixers' playoff runs in the Embiid era have fallen short for several reasons. Some of it has to do with underwhelming performances from the team's top players, including Embiid. Some of it has fallen on the coaching, or the team collapsing whenever Embiid left the floor.
But another reason is the untimely trend of Embiid dealing with injuries every postseason. Against the New York Knicks earlier this year, he dealt with a knee injury and played through Bell's palsy. In 2023, he dealt with another knee injury as the team fell in the second round to the Boston Celtics. In 2022, he dealt with a fractured orbital bone and a torn ligament in his thumb — the list goes on.
The team is hoping the 2024-25 season will have different playoff results. The Sixers will try to manage Embiid better than they ever have before in the regular season. In an ESPN story early this month, Embiid said he would probably "never" play back-to-back for the rest of his career.
The Sixers will likely develop a plan similar to what the Toronto Raptors did for Kawhi Leonard in the 2018-19 season.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse was the Raptors head coach at the time, and it allowed Leonard to be healthy for the playoffs en route to an NBA title and Finals MVP.
Embiid didn't play in the preseason due to left knee management as a part of the plan for the 2024-25 season. He'll also miss the season opener and could even miss more games. But time will tell if the plan will deliver Embiid to playoffs fully healthy.
Does the addition of Paul George put them over the top?
Throughout Embiid's career, the Sixers have had a rolling cast of sidekicks for the big fella. The runs with Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons and James Harden ended the same way — disappointingly.
Enter George, who slides into Philadelphia's starting lineup as a seamless fit alongside Embiid and Maxey. So, with George in the fold, can the Sixers finally get past the second round of the playoffs?
George, 34, isn't the player he once was during his early years with the Los Angeles Clippers or the season he finished third in MVP voting with the Oklahoma City Thunder. But he doesn't need to be that player with the Sixers with Embiid in his prime as one of the top players in the association and Maxey rising into one of the top guards in the sport.
George is coming off a 2023-24 season where he averaged 22.6 points and shot 41.3% on 3-pointers to make his ninth All-Star game, which are much better numbers than the Sixers got from their third option, Tobias Harris, in recent seasons.
George's play will be heavily scrutinized in the postseason, especially if the Sixers draw the Celtics, the reigning champs. If that happens, George, along with the other wings on the Sixers, would be tasked with guarding Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in a highly anticipated matchup.
How does the Sixers' rotation shake out?
With George as the headliner, the Sixers have a lot of new faces on the roster for the 2024-25 season, which will give Nurse plenty of options to work through throughout an 82-game regular season to figure out his rotation.
Embiid, George, Maxey, Martin Jr. and Kelly Oubre Jr. will start for the Sixers when they're fully healthy, but the team has plenty of experienced veterans who will contribute immediately.
The Sixers brought back Drummond, who played 49 games with the team in the 2021-22 season, as a reliable backup to Embiid. With the plan to rest Embiid on back-to-backs, that means Philadelphia's third-string center, Adem Bona, will likely get a decent amount of playing time. The team drafted Bona in the second round of the 2024 NBA draft out of UCLA.
At the guard spot, Philly native Kyle Lowry returns to back up Maxey. Nurse previously said that Lowry won't have as big of a role as he did last season, which will better suit the 38-year-old.
Reggie Jackson, a 13-year veteran who won an NBA championship with the Denver Nuggets in 2023, signed a one-year deal in the offseason. The Sixers also added veteran sharpshooter Eric Gordon Jr. and drafted McCain, but it's unlikely he'll crack the rotation early in the season.
At the wing spots, the Sixers will have some interesting options off the bench.
Ricky Council, the hyper-athletic 23-year-old, could take a leap in the 2024-25 season after flashing as a rookie. He had a solid Summer League and should get a chance to crack the team's rotation. The team also brought back KJ Martin on a one-year deal and signed Guerschon Yabusele following a stellar performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Yabusele led France to the gold medal game in the Paris Olympics and averaged 14.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and shot 51.9% from the field in the Olympics. It will be Yabusele's second stint in the NBA after playing two seasons with the Celtics from 2017-19. He played overseas for several years before returning to the NBA.
Nurse is known for not being afraid to experiment with new lineups, and we'll get our first opportunity to see his new-look Sixers Wednesday night against the Bucks.
