PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers got closure last Friday for the 2024-25 season on the status of Joel Embiid, the oft-injured big man officially ruled out for the season. And while he was, literally and figuratively, the biggest piece of a rotation that will end the season doing the nightly tank-or-contend dance without him, the season’s implosion is not solely on him.
The Sixers were always going to go as far as their Big 3 would take them, and that Big 3 would always go as far as Embiid could elevate with two stars next to him. They were, as you know well by now, 31-8 last season with him in the lineup and playing at a near-MVP level before his meniscus injury in late January. This year, he showed glimpses of being a two-time NBA scoring champ, but the Sixers were 8-11 with him in the lineup, including the bulk of a recent nine-game losing streak.
Thus, 2024-25 will go down as yet another season in which Embiid’s body couldn’t withstand the rigors of 82 games. But it’s too tidy of a narrative for the season’s failures.
From the Process to their latest long-term extension of Embiid to the summer’s signing spree, the Sixers were invested in Embiid as the future. They were never going to contend for a title this year without him at his max.
But … Embiid is not responsible for myriad other mistakes made in the personnel acquisition department over the last two years. If you had sketched a rotation of 10 or so players in preseason, you would’ve settled on Embiid starting with Tyrese Maxey, Caleb Martin, Paul George and Kelly Oubre. The likeliest reserves would’ve been Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon in the backcourt, with K.J. Martin, Guerschon Yabusele and Andre Drummond in the frontcourt.
At the 60-game checkpoint of that design Monday night with Portland in town, two of those 10 are gone from the organization (both Martins). Two, Embiid and Gordon, are done for the season. Lowry’s return from a nagging hip injury seems uncertain. Monday was the 20th game missed by George with what seems like the 20th different ailment. Drummond has played only 35, Lowry 33. Hence the 37th different starting lineup in 60 games.
Even beyond the rotation, the upheaval has been far beyond sustainable. Twenty-eight players suited up for the 76ers in 2023-24. Twenty-one of them moved on, and they’re up to 23 this year. (Two-way signees Alex Reese and Jordan Hood-Schifino could be 24 and 25.)
All told, that’s 44 different individuals and counting who have played for the Sixers since the start of the 2023-24 season. Last year’s 28 players was the most since 26 in the 2018-19 season, and another appearance this year will break the tie of 23 set twice in the last five years.
In miniature, there always seems a valid reason for the changes. Quentin Grimes and Jared Butler would be cheaper for their roles than the Martins, though both were deals that Daryl Morey signed. Veterans Reggie Jackson and Gordon brought seasoning that the Sixers might need in the event of a postseason run. Serendipitous discoveries like Justin Edwards, Yabusele and Jared McCain changed the calculus for the better.
When asked after the trade deadline if Morey had any thoughts of standing pat and trying to see if the preseason plan might come to fruition with some health, Morey was quick to dispel that notion.
“I think we have very few opportunities to upgrade the team, and we did feel like Grimes is an overall, long term better fit both age and game,” he said then. “So we saw that opportunity to upgrade the team. So we did.”
That is, it seems, part of the issue in Philadelphia. The more they’ve doubled down on building around Embiid and Maxey, the more they’ve shuttled in dozens of support pieces looking for a fit. And the less they’ve learned their lessons. The 76ers could luxuriate in their current lousiness if they had control of their first-round pick this year, but their tank window is narrowed by only retaining it if it’s in the top six, having sent the pick with Al Horford to Oklahoma City to remedy another disastrous personnel decision. That pressure means the club can’t even unreservedly enjoy a day like Saturday when Grimes, looking like a second-unit scorer to hold onto, scored 44 to beat Golden State, for its damage to their draft hopes.
On paper, the Sixers seem fated to another run with Maxey, Embiid and George, their contracts all but unmovable on the market. If they can retain Oubre and Yabusele, with McCain-Grimes-Edwards as the build-in second-unit backcourt, the decisions this offseason could be relatively simple. They would still be subject to Embiid’s body permitting him to be an elite NBA player again, but they’d also create a more stable support network that might cushion the blow on nights he’s unavailable.
It would all require front-office acumen that the 76ers haven’t had in a very long time.
Contact Matthew De George at mdegeorge@delcotimes.com
Source: Berkshire mont