Sixers' Season Preview
Lonzo is back for his 7th season.
PHILADELPHIA, PA: After a underwhelming season in which they couldn’t make it past the first round of the postseason, the Philadelphia 76ers have made a few tweaks in order to correct what went wrong for the team that finished 8th in the East with a 46-36 record.
Returning are starters Lonzo Ball, Brian Bowen and Moritz Wagner, the so called "core" of the team. Recently acquired during last season's deadline, Mikal Bridges and Kendrick Nunn will also be back for next year, with the former nailing an 8-figure extension during Free Agency.
Also, with their lone trade of the offseason, Philly shipped Jamal Murray (who had a really rough year last season, specially in efficiency, yet led the Sixers in scoring) along with do-it-all big Jordan Bell for Marcus Smart, Eric Mika and Royce O’Neale.
Least, but not last, rookies Marcus Louzada Silva and Ibrahima Fall Faye will have a year of experience under their belts and more time to adjust to the speed of the CSL after a rough first season. Louzada returns from a serious injury and has been putting in the work to show why he was selected 6th overall during last year’s draft. He’s still going to miss training camp as he can’t do any contact drills for now, but should be available for games mid November.
With the 10-man rotation set and only minimum salaries to finish the roster, it’s safe to bet Philly isn’t making any other big moves this offseason. So, let's dig further to discover the reasons behind each moves and how it impacts the Sixers next season and beyond:
1) A MVP CALIBER SCORER
Smart, a perennial MVP candidate last season, joins Philly in the last season of his deal, and while he’s turning 32 this year and shows small signs of regression, he can still be a highly impactful player for the next 2-3 years. Defensively, he’s a huge upgrade over Murray, no question, but offensively, even though he can’t shoot the ball, he’s the upgrade the Sixers were hoping to find. A true volume scorer, specially on drives and post moves, his efficiency has always been around league average at worst, something Murray had a hard time achieving. He also solves one of Philadelphia’s biggest weakness: getting to the line. Smart averaged almost 10 free throws per game last year, among the best in the league. Coach Brian Cardinal said he’s gonna play Smart off the ball and hopes him and Lonzo can co-exist in a way that Marcus gets his shots while Ball handles first playmaking duties. Having a true MVP caliber scorer should make things much easier for a middle of the pack offense (at best) last season.
2) RIM PROTECTION IS NEEDED
Jordan Bell was a fan favorite last season but his pairing with star big man Mo Wagner was always a question mark because of Bell’s inability to properly protect the rim. Eric Mika brings the same mentality of doing the dirty work defensively, grabbing boards, helping with ball movement and staying out of the way offensively, but Mika, with his 2.1 threes made on 42% last season, should help keeping the lane spaced for drives, and defensively should be able to protect the rim as he just averaged 2.1 blocks in 28 minutes per game two seasons ago. Bell put a lot of work and will forever be appreciated by his time in the City of Brotherly Love, but Mika is a much better fit to this roster moving forward.
3) QUALITY END-OF-THE-BENCH DEPTH
O’Neale returns to Philly after showing his three point prowess wasn’t a fluke when he was shooting 43% from deep in 2025. With tough nosed defense, good size for both wings and a deadly three point shot, he should provide them some quality, much needed depth during the long 82 game season. Last year the injury bug hit Philly hard and they were without multiple key contributors at almost every time of the year, including the miracle 13 game win streak that put them in playoff contention. O’Neale should be a much better contributor to step in for injuries than they had last year.
4) OFFENSIVE VERSATILITY
Fans argued Philly was too predictable last year. In fact, they couldn’t be more right. Build around an arsenal of shooters and the playmaking of Lonzo Ball, the Sixers were only suited to the perimeter game and lacked both positional and offensive versatility. With Smart on board, they still have multiple shooters and Lonzo, but they now have ways to mix it up offensively when needed. They could focus on getting Marcus his shots, could work the post for Wagner, and should still have lots of three point threats in Bowen, Bridges, Mika and Nunn. They can experiment with offensive sets during the year and it’s pretty safe to say the coaching staff should find at least two types of offenses that greatly benefits the team this time. That could be a big differential come postseason.
Bowen is expected to play a larger role in his 3rd season.
5) POSITIONAL VERSATILITY
With Bell gone and only 3 legit big men option, there’s a clear signal that Philly sees Brian Bowen as a front court option moving forward. He should be able to add some weight to better handle both forward spots next year, and should be given the starting power forward position next to Wagner. Bridges, fresh off signing a 10.5M flat 5-year deal, should start at small forward on an increased role. That means there will be 4 plus defenders around Wagner at the starting lineup, and an emphasis at playing a point-of-attack defensive style to prevent drives to the rim. There should be plenty of lineups featuring Wagner and Mika as well, with Bowen stepping out of the post to his natural SF position. This roster surely has way more positional versatility than years before, with Marcus Smart also a capable SF in 3-guard setups.
2020, 2023, 2027
