76ers Team Notes

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Woof

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

The Sixers came out of the break relatively healthy but it didn’t matter as they got absolutely steamrolled on their home court by the defending champion Celtics.

This organization does not need to enact any sort of plan to tank the rest of the way.

They’re just that bad on their own.

The Sixers kicked off their second half of the season by getting destroyed 124-104 by the Boston Celtics Thursday night.

Paul George led the Sixers in scoring with 17 points shooting 7-of-14 from the floor. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Tyrese Maxey each had 16 points a piece, and Joel Embiid had 15 points shooting 3-of-9 from the floor.

Payton Pritchard led all scorers with 28 points. Jaylen Brown finished with 20, and Jayson Tatum went for 15 points, 11 boards and 10 assists.

Here are some thoughts from the Center.

First Quarter​

• Not the cleanest start for the Sixers thanks to a couple of turnovers, but George’s jumpshots were falling early. On the other end though Boston scored on their first five trips down the floor, already getting to the rim with ease.
• As they like to do, Boston opened the game with Jrue Holiday guarding Embiid. While that had Embiid stymied, starting the game 1-of-4 from the field, Oubre took advantage of the Celtics sagging off of him by filling cutting lanes.

that Kansas connection pic.twitter.com/tN8A6GSRQB

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 21, 2025​

• The Sixers were fairly efficient from inside the arc. They shot 47% in the quarter despite going 2-of-9 from three. That put them behind in the math battle though as the Celtics shot a blistering 8-of-12 from deep, allowing them to get out to an eight-point lead after one.

Second Quarter ​

• A lot of the Celtics’ threes in the first quarter were shots they had to work for. They got some freebies to start the second though as the Sixers just left Pritchard wide open a couple times. Their hedging and recovering on screens was a mess, and led to several blown assignments.
• Andre Drummond had the first relief of Embiid, and he had a rough go of things. He smoked a couple of layups and got called for three seconds in the lane on both ends of the floor. He’s looked like he’s been playing in quicksand since returning from the toe injury.
• They still couldn’t buy a three, but the Sixers’ offense was still playing well. Embiid had gotten in a groove down on the block as he got the line seven times in the half. Maxey and Oubre were trying to play as fast as possible, running off of every miss they could. Boston still wasn’t really missing though as they were able to answer with a three every time. The Sixers went into the half trailing by 16.

Kelly Oubre Jr. hits the reverse and finishes through the foul for a three-point play pic.twitter.com/KYYevckzsJ

— Liberty Ballers (@Liberty_Ballers) February 21, 2025​

Third Quarter​

• Shockingly, the Sixers throwing a little zone in did not stop the Celtics’ three-point shooting barrage. The Sixers also came out of the break with less intensity and it showed with their breakdowns in coverages.
• Nick Nurse only went eight deep in the first half. He went a little bit deeper as Jared Butler and David Roddy checked in a couple minutes apart. They combined to miss their first five shots though as the deficit grew and the boos were loudly raining down.
• Not only was Boston having a terrific game from three but the Sixers were having a horrific one. After making two in a row, Ricky Council IV brought them up to 6-of-32 on the night. They trailed by 26 after three.

Fourth Quarter​

• It happened.
• This three-game homestand continues for the Sixers as they’ll welcome the Brooklyn Nets to town. They’ll square off Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/2025...me-recap-joel-embiid-tyrese-maxey-paul-george

 

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Would a two-stars-and-depth approach have saved the Sixers in 2024-25?

Photo by David Dowt/NBAE via Getty Images

Would the Sixers have been better off breaking up the money they spent on Paul George into multiple players?

The first year of the Sixers’ Big 3 era has been a bust. To some extent, that was predictable.

While injuries are largely to blame for the Sixers’ season from hell, this was one of the major concerns with the Big 3 model. As teams get more top-heavy salary-wise, they have fewer resources with which to round out their rosters. That makes it increasingly imperative to hit on the margins with their draft picks and free-agent signings, particularly those on minimum contracts.

The Sixers did find a diamond in the rough with Guerschon Yabusele, whom they signed to a one-year, minimum-salary deal after the 2024 Olympics. Other than that, they had far more misses with their offseason signings (Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond, Kyle Lowry) than hits.

That begs the question: What if, instead of signing Paul George this offseason, the Sixers went with a two-stars-and-depth model instead? Would they be better off both this season and moving forward than they are right now?

With a half-season’s worth of hindsight, let’s see if we can construct a roster that could have kept them afloat amidst Joel Embiid’s ongoing battle with his surgically repaired left knee.

First, let’s start with a caveat: No matter what team-building model the Sixers went with — a Big 3 or a more well-rounded two-stars-and-depth approach — they aren’t winning a championship without a healthy Embiid. He’s that critical to what they do on both ends of the floor. But given the underwhelming returns from George in his first season in Philly, they arguably could have better allocated those resources elsewhere.

The Sixers entered free agency with roughly $60 million in cap space. They had Embiid ($51.4 million), Jared McCain ($4.0 million) and Ricky Council IV ($1.9 million) under contract, as well as cap holds for Tyrese Maxey ($13.0 million) and KJ Martin ($2.1 million) on their books.

The Sixers spent their cap space on George ($49.2 million), Caleb Martin ($8.1 million) and Andre Drummond ($5.0 million) before re-signing Maxey and Martin via their Bird rights and re-signing Kelly Oubre Jr. to a two-year, $16 million deal with the room mid-level exception. From there, they handed out minimum contracts to Lowry, Jackson, Yabusele and Eric Gordon and signed second-round pick Adem Bona with the new second-round exception.

So, let’s start by working backwards. The Sixers would still have zero reservations about giving Maxey a full five-year max extension. The same goes for signing Yabusele to a minimum contract, although they’d likely prefer if he took a two-year deal with a second-year team option. They’d also presumably be fine with re-signing Oubre with the room MLE. Luckily, none of those moves would impact their cap space whatsoever.

With that in mind, here’s a partial list of free agents who changed teams this offseason either via free agency or sign-and-trade, along with their salary in 2024-25:

· Isaiah Hartenstein ($30.0 million)

· Tobias Harris ($25.4 million)

· DeMar DeRozan ($23.4 million)

· Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($22.8 million)

· Malik Monk ($17.4 million)

· Klay Thompson ($15.9 million)

· De’Anthony Melton ($12.8 million)

· Jonas Valanciunas ($9.9 million)

· Derrick Jones Jr. ($9.5 million)

· Buddy Hield ($8.8 million)

· Kyle Anderson ($8.8 million)

· Naji Marshall ($8.6 million)

· Malik Beasley ($6.0 million)

· Kris Dunn ($5.2 million)

· Tyus Jones ($2.1 million)

· Taurean Prince ($2.1 million)

· Monte Morris ($2.1 million)

Had the Sixers known how much time Embiid would miss this season, they might have been tempted to splurge on Hartenstein. However, spending $80-plus million on centers would have been a questionable allocation of resources. Instead, they could have ponied up an extra $4.9 million to upgrade from Drummond to Valanciunas, which would still have left them with roughly $55 million to spend elsewhere.

In retrospect, Monk would have been a steal at only $17.4 million. He’s having a career year with the Sacramento Kings, averaging 18.1 points, 5.9 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 three-pointers in 32.6 minutes per game. Monk is on the smaller side at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, so pairing him with Maxey would raise the same size concerns as the Maxey-McCain duo. However, he could have alleviated some of the playmaking/ball-handling responsibility from Maxey, and his long-range shooting ability would make him a nice complement to Embiid (when healthy) as well.

Had the Sixers signed both Monk and Valanciunas, they still would have had roughly $35 million in cap space to spend before re-signing Maxey, Oubre and KJ Martin. Re-signing Tobias Harris at $25.4 million might have led to a fan revolt — besides, he’s averaging only 13.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game with the Detroit Pistons this year — but they could have landed both Derrick Jones Jr. and Naji Marshall with plenty of room to spare. In fact, they’d have more than $19 million left over after signing Monk, Valanciunas, Marshall and Jones.

That could have allowed them to throw a bag at Max Christie, who re-signed with the Los Angeles Lakers on a four-year, $32 million deal as a restricted free agent. They also could have fit either Luke Kennard ($9.3 million) or Malik Beasley ($6.0 million) while still staying under the cap. From there, it would just be a matter of handing out minimum deals and re-signing their own guys.

When the dust settled on free agency, their rotation could have looked like this:

PG: Maxey/McCain/Morris

SG: Monk/Christie/Beasley

SF: Oubre/Naji/RC4

PF: DJJ/Yabusele/KJ Martin

C: Embiid/Valanciunas/Bona

Again, that roster isn’t winning a championship with a hobbled Embiid. The two-stars-and-depth Sixers would be just as reliant on him staying healthy, if not more so.

With that said, they’d have far more depth than the actual 2024-25 Sixers do, and more financial flexibility as well. It’d be easier for them to cobble together medium-sized contracts for a blockbuster move if one became available either at the trade deadline or during the offseason.

If George bounces back next season from the array of injuries that have limited him this year, perhaps this all winds up being much ado about nothing. But if he continues to underwhelm on his $200-plus million max contract, the Sixers may grow to regret having splurged on him rather than divvying up his $50-ish million in cap space between multiple players.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.

Follow Bryan on Bluesky.

Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/2025...e-joel-embiid-tyrese-maxey-daryl-morey-sixers

 

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Lonnie Walker IV: ‘It’s a full circle moment to be this close’

Photo by Alius Koroliovas/Euroleague Basketball

After being signed at the very last minute, it’s been a whirlwind couple of days from Pennsylvania native Lonnie Walker IV.

Now that the Sixers have officially announced the signing of Lonnie Walker IV, he was able to talk to reporters for the first time since returning to the states after practice Friday.

After six seasons in the NBA, Walker spent the first half of this season playing for BC Zalgiris in Lithuania, where he averaged 13.6 points per game on 38.7% shooting in 22 minutes per game.

Walker, whose clause to escape his EuroLeague contract was set to expire just two hours before he signed with Philadelphia, had his mind made up that he would be finishing the season in Europe. He had to be notified by his friends and family that he was returning to the NBA.

“It’s funny, honestly, everyone found out before me,” he said. “I was actually sleeping. I got the phone call from my agent. I had about 30 missed calls. I guess it was all over Twitter already.”

Walker was in vacation in Paris when he got the call, and only had his vacation clothes on him. Regardless, he got on a flight to come back to America.

“That’s all I have right now,” he said. “I’m only gonna be wearing Sixers’ sweatpants and stuff.”

When the signing happened, Marc Stein reported that he had been on the Sixers’ radar for most of the season. Nick Nurse admitted that recent injuries to Eric Gordon and Kyle Lowry pushed the team over the top in their pursuit of him.

Walker, a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, admitted it was always a goal to play for the team he grew up rooting for.

“I’ve came to plenty of games watching Jrue Holiday, Andre Iguoadala, Elton Brand, the list goes on and on,” he said, “truly a full circle moment to be so close, had to go so far to get so close.”

While it is special for him to play for his hometown team, he isn’t trying to focus on that. He knows how important this second opportunity in the league is and is trying to take full advantage of it.

He called his time with Lithuania one of the most important parts of his young adult life.

“I put myself in a very uncomfortable situation just to become a better man on and off the court,” Walker said. He went on to explain that he hopes to be able to impact the game when he’s not scoring the ball. Even if it’s just being a good teammate on the bench, he hopes to be a positive influence.

With just 27 games left in the season, Walker has a lot of acclimating to do fast. The time it will take him to get up to speed and find his place should be a good distraction from playing so close to home.

“I’m happy to be home, but I’m more so just locked in to the rest of the season,” he said. “I’m here to play for the 76ers. Home ain’t going nowhere.”

Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/2025...mr-basketball-miami-spurs-lakers-nets-celtics

 

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Sixers face Nets in battle for the sixth spot in the lottery

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

It’s a big night for the Tank advocates as the Sixers host Brooklyn.

We are beyond the point of silver linings, hopeful conjectures, and patient optimism. The Philadelphia 76ers have now lost six straight games in varying degrees of embarrassing fashion. Through the sheer incalculable ineptitude of the Eastern Conference, the Sixers are still just 1.5 games out of the Play-In Tournament, but this recent stretch has shown that such a goal is a fool’s errand.

The Sixers even have the majority of their guys on the court these days and they’re still putting forth some of the most depressing efforts of this era of Philadelphia basketball. Joel Embiid looks like a shell of himself and Paul George has the world’s most debilitating finger injury and is getting pain injections like he’s on Varsity Blues. Both guys are having season shutdowns thrown around when they’re being discussed. It is time to embrace the tank and hope that the lottery gods smile upon this team’s top-6-protected pick.

Speaking of top-6-protected, the Sixers are 20-35, tied with the Brooklyn Nets for the sixth-worst record in the league. And look at that, tonight’s opponent is Brooklyn, marking this game as an incredibly important one for the Sixers’ standings stumble. The Nets got a head start on their own tank with the offseason trade of Mikal Bridges, followed by a December deal sending out Dorian Finney-Smith. Their rotation is currently full of a bunch of guys who sound like auto-generated names in Year 8 of a video game dynasty mode. It’s weird to look back so fondly on similar days of Process past for Philadelphia, as at least there weren’t stunningly unfulfilled expectations. And yet, Brooklyn beat the Sixers at the Barclays Center just less than two weeks ago. Can the Sixers reach that level of failure once more? Let’s find out!

On the injury report, D’Angelo Russell (ankle), Cam Thomas (hamstring), Noah Clowney (ankle), and De’Anthony Melton (ACL) are out for Brooklyn. Justin Edwards (ankle), Eric Grodon (wrist), Kyle Lowry (hip), and Jared McCain (knee) are out for the Sixers. On paper, the Sixers’ list of available guys should be more than enough to snap back into the victory column. FanDuel has Philadelphia listed as 10-point favorites, which feels to me as if the bookmakers haven’t checked in on the Sixers recently. Because anything on paper this season has been shredded up and rained down like a snowfall of ashes, so who knows.

Enough doom and gloom for the moment. Let’s try to enjoy relative newcomers Quentin Grimes and Jared Butler make some plays off the bounce. Every Dancing Bear dunk still brings a smile to my face. Or even an old-fashioned Tyrese Maxey heater would be exhilarating. If you made it to the end of a Sixers preview right now in this spiritually draining season, you’re certainly invested to what would clinically be labelled ‘sicko’ levels. I hope tonight’s game still brings you joy, possibly just through some extra lottery combinations sent the Sixers’ way in the spring.

Game details​

When: Saturday, Feb. 22, 7:30pm ET
Where: The Center, Philadelphia, PA
Watch: TNBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Follow: @LibertyBallers

Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/2025...-lottery-philadelphia-76ers-brooklyn-nets-nba

 

[Philadelphia 76ers]

Sixers Bell Ringer: Nets buzzer-beater hands Sixers seventh straight loss

Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

The Philadelphia 76ers fell 105-103 on a buzzer-beater to the Brooklyn Nets, notching their seven consecutive loss.

Sixers Bell Ringer Season Standings:
Tyrese Maxey - 16
Jared McCain - 8
Joel Embiid - 8
Paul George - 7
Guerschon Yabusele - 4
Kelly Oubre Jr - 2
Ricky Council IV - 2
KJ Martin - 2
Justin Edwards - 2
Quentin Grimes - 2
Adem Bona - 1
Jared Butler - 1

---

The Philadelphia 76ers fell to a Brooklyn Nets buzzer-beater 105-103 on Saturday night. It wasn’t pretty.

At least the Sixers didn’t waste any time tonight before giving viewers plenty of reason to find something else on. After posting just two +30-point first periods in their past 15 games, the Nets put up 40 in the opening frame against a Sixers team that seemingly has decided defense is not only optional, but discouraged.

The Sixers trailed for the majority of this one and it wasn’t even passively enjoyable basketball until the fourth period when Philadelphia finally decided to play some defense and stage a bit of a comeback.

The problem is that the comeback, however, should have only made viewers (and especially paying fans in attendance) angrier. Let me explain. That final frame showed the absolute malpractice this team is committing in by letting Joel Embiid play right now and through some of the extremely questionable rotation decisions. Embiid missed the entire fourth period after physically struggling throughout the game prior, and it was no coincidence that the Sixers were suddenly quicker and able to defend better. So why is he playing if this team is better without him in his current state? Plus, the comeback push was a highlight reel of stellar defense and rebounding by Guerschon Yabusele. Which is great, but shines a huge spotlight on earlier decisions like going to Andre Drummond at backup for Embiid before Yabu in the rotation.

They ended up losing like this, in extremely-Sixers’ fashion.

Sixers lose in extremely Sixers' fashion. pic.twitter.com/sjsQiZgU71

— Liberty Ballers (@Liberty_Ballers) February 23, 2025​

I hear you saying “oh, but losing is good! They’re tanking!”... but more on that below.

This makes seven losses in a row for Philadelphia. The Sixers are off on Sunday before returning to the floor at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night to host the Chicago Bulls. Philadelphia trails Chicago by just 1.5 games for the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference, as if it matters.

Let’s get to the Bell Ringer.

No one.

I’m effectively cancelling Bell Ringer for tonight. You could not convince me there is a member of this team or organization that deserves praise after that performance. OK, maybe Guerschon Yabusele... but I have too much to say to just give it to him and call it a night.

I want to be clear: this is not a team tanking or even “stealth tanking”. That would be giving the Sixers way too much credit right now. This is a team that had Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George all available and still gave up 40 points in the first period alone to a recently-struggling Nets offense. This is a team sending Embiid and George out onto the floor when clearly neither is even close to 100%. This is a team that continues to make more and more questionable rotation decisions within games as well as seemingly-collectively deciding that defense is optional.

The Embiid and George situations, especially Embiid’s, become more difficult to understand with each passing day. Embiid is still physically extremely limited and was visibly in pain multiple times against the Nets. The Sixers looked genuinely better with him off the floor. So, for the 10837th time I ask: why is he out there? Even if he wants to be out there, it can’t be just up to him and, after tonight, it’s going to be extremely hard for the organization to justify sending him (or letting him) back out on the floor to play again.

This is not tanking. You are not tanking by sending out your injured center that just signed a multi-year extension with your franchise. This is a team drowning, trying desperately and fruitlessly to pretend their heads are above water when they’re actually already halfway down the drain. Most egregiously is that this is a organization that is trying to convince paying fans that they are not giving up on the season and are still trying for a push to the playoffs via the Play-In Tournament. But this is the product they are putting on display each night? In front of their own crowd? OK, sure.

Plus, say they somehow move up into a Play-In position. There’s only 26 games left for this team to make a miraculous turnaround from complete embarrassment night in and night one, to a playoff contender. No one should be holding their breath for that to happen and it’s appalling anyone with the Sixers’ organization is pretending otherwise.

The Play-In also won’t magically heal both Embiid and George (or make George play defense, for what it’s worth) nor will it fix the array of rotational issues currently marring Nick Nurse’s coaching.

It’s just embarrassing for the team. It’s egregious on behalf of the franchise. It’s absolutely unacceptable to the fans. Even if the losses end up being better for the Sixers, it is happening in spite of the franchise’s practices, not due to any meritorious strategy.

Because of that, you won’t catch me giving this organization even a shred of credit for “tanking” when they clearly are doing so unintentionally.

So, tonight, the winner of the Bell Ringer is no one. “No one” will receive a tally in the season standings starting the next contest too, just in case we have to resort to this again in the remaining 26 games...

Source: https://www.libertyballers.com/2025...iid-paul-george-guerschon-yabusele-nick-nurse