What will 2024-25 Sixers be able to depend on? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The 2024-25 Sixers will begin training camp next October 1 in the Bahamas.
As that date approaches, we will dive into several topics of significance to the team Nick Nurse’s second season as head coach.
First: What will the Sixers be able to depend on?
The Sixers are used to volatile swings in fortune, Joel Embiid injury problems and serious roster changes. Through it all, they have been a very good regular-season team since the 2017-18 campaign at 347-208 overall (62.5 winning percentage).
It still feels at times that the Sixers can’t be counted on for much, especially in the playoffs. For this year, our pre-camp reading is that the following three areas should be relatively reliable.
Productive scoring from the stars
Joel Embiid averaged more points than minutes per game last regular season. He scored 50 points on 13-for-19 shooting in the Sixers’ Game 3 playoff win over the Knicks. In Game 5, Tyrese Maxey dropped 46. Paul George is now part of a Sixers star trio.
Will the Sixers be able to work around some subpar outside shooting from their key players? George hasn’t drawn a ton of bad shots in recent years and Maxey is still figuring out the nuances of when to actively look for contact and when to just focus on finishing inside. However, Embiid’s poor drawing often helps mitigate slumps. He shot 11.7 free throws per game over the past three seasons and the Sixers ranked third in free throws made as a team last year, by Cleaning the Glass.
On most nights, the Sixers should be comfortable leaning on the many offensive gifts of their stars.
Safe decision making
While Nurse will encourage Maxey to play an even faster, more aggressive stylethe 23-year-old is usually a low-cost player. He committed more than three turnovers inside just six games last regular season and his 6.6 turnover rate was lowest among NBA point guards.
The Sixers had the best turnover percentage of the NBA out of garbage time in the 2023-24 season and none of their offseason pickups should hurt them badly in that department.
Nurse also won’t tolerate a lot of sloppy, possession-swapping plays by non-star players. If Andre Drummond throws overly ambitious behind-the-back passes or Eric Gordon has a strangely lazy night, there’s a good chance Nurse will consider other options.
Role players with signature non-shooting abilities
This one is much less specific and quantifiable. Again, we’ll go back to the cold shooting. Even if neither Sixer has great shooting, it’s fair to assume Drummond will be an elite rebounder; Kyle Lowry will be exceptionally smart and competitive; Caleb Martin will be versatile defensively and find ways to pop up as a cutter, slasher and offensive rebounder.
The Sixers always need three-point shooting around their stars – Buddy HieldThe appeal of last trade deadline was obvious – but the team’s current cast seems reliable for much more than jumpers.
In a broad sense, that quality could be the difference between an adequate showing in Embiid-less playoff minutes and a disastrous blown lead. That will be the hope, anyway.
