I appreciate everyone who offered candid feedback on the new site design and The Feed. We’re all continuing to get used to everything and your feedback is genuinely taken into consideration.
With all that said, let’s get right into your questions.
Note: I’ll be on vacation next week so no mailbag.
I’ve been having a hard time convincing folks that three-guard lineups will work. But I’m down for a four-guard look. Get what could very well be your best four players on the court at the same time. Let’s get weird! The biggest issues will be the team guarding a pure 4 and rebounding, but those issues are going to exist no matter which lineup they use (unless they use the two-way guys a bunch). Unless an opponent goes very small, I doubt Nick Nurse would go to this look, but it sure would be fun!
If you’re meaning this more holistically, like the four-guard rotation, I think each guy just needs to be who they are. Let Tyrese Maxey use his speed to get downhill and find his shooting stroke again. Let Quentin Grimes take the playmaking burden off Maxey with the starting group. Let Jared McCain cook off the bench and explore more of his playmaking ability. Let VJ Edgecombe be an athletic freak who flys all over the court.
As I’ve said several times, I want to see three-guard lineups used a ton. Let’s see Grimes and Edgecombe guard up and how that looks. You need to see how it all works for future team building. Plus, it might be your best path for winning right now.
I’m likely going to be in the minority here, but the former.
Postseason experience is invaluable. Let’s see what McCain, Edgecombe, Adem Bona, Justin Edwards, Johni Broome, etc. all look like in a playoff scenario. Will they make some sort of shocking run to the Finals? Extremely unlikely. But imagine the Xfinity Mobile Arena (that’s official now) packed for a play-in game while cheering on the team’s quartet of young guards. I get the goal is to win a championship, but that would be an enjoyable experience for fans. Remember
joy? Maybe you could allow yourself to feel it about your basketball team.
I was not in favor of tanking last season until things truly went to shit (more on that below). I can’t go into a season, knowing the East is going to be awful (more on that below) with the talent this team should have, and think about a 42% chance to land a pick. I’m not anti-tank by any stretch. If things go the same as they did last season, I’d consider it. But I’d also want to be sure guys like McCain and Edgecombe are getting proper time and runway to develop — and those guys will not be trying to lose with they way they’re wired.
I get why Daryl Morey waited to tank, though I do think Joel Embiid and Paul George should’ve been shut down much sooner. I was basically on board with a tank once they lost that buzzer-beater to the Nets. That wound up being Embiid’s last game of the season — though we had to wait for that announcement to come.
It’s a tricky question. Yes, if things go off the rails earlier, it might be worth exploring tanking, but the flattened odds make things difficult. The teams that owned the top three picks in 2025 — Mavericks, Spurs, Sixers — didn’t start tanking until later in the season when their stars went down. As you mentioned, the pick is top-four protected. It’s basically designed to make sure it conveys to the Thunder for 2026 (that Sam Presti is pretty good at his job!).
The other element that makes tanking trickier is you have a bunch of young, hungry players who want and need development time. As mentioned, if all the young guys are healthy, they’re going to want to play and they’re all going to play to win. The Sixers have (seemingly purposely) acquired young players who are also winners. With that, those guys are going to play hard every single night. They might just have enough talent to keep the team in a bunch of games.
As for jobs, I’m not positive Morey and Nurse would survive another 24-win season. Going to keep using the word “tricky” here though. If you fire Morey and Nurse, you’re leaving the next VP of basketball ops and head coach quite the mess. If you recall, Morey inherited a pretty sizeable mess himself, forcing him to attach a first-round pick to dump Al Horford’s contract. He also inherited Doc Rivers and a teetering Ben Simmons.
These aren’t excuses. Morey did well to clean those things up. But after he cleaned them up, he signed George to a huge contract and gave Embiid a massive extension. Those are the moves that will define his tenure despite acquiring guys like Maxey, Grimes, McCain and Edgecombe. So, does Josh Harris let Morey see it through or find yet another executive to clean up yet another mess? It would be a tough spot, but again, I can’t be positive he’d survive another season like 2024-25.
Man, I know this is a worst-case scenario, but many of you are in a grim place. I get it. This franchise hasn’t instilled much confidence over the last decade or so. And this scenario is plenty feasible, sadly.
Since you asked for my best-case scenario (within reason), I’ll hit on that.
Before his recent surgery, I was expecting a decent bounce-back season from George. He was never healthy at any point last year. I think his performance was mostly due to health issues, though surely there’s some decline for a 35-year-old. I think if George is reasonably healthy, he could have a much better season. Keep in mind that despite the injuries, George was still above average on the defensive end of the floor. If he can just be an overpaid 3-and-D guy who supplies some secondary playmaking for 50ish games, it improves the team’s chances immensely.
I have zero clue what Embiid is going to look like when he does play. Similar to George, I don’t think you need him to be an MVP candidate to help this team win. If he’s healthy and allows the young guards to sort of take over the offense, it could go a long way to preserving him this season — and possibly for the rest of his career. If he plays 40ish games at an All-Star level and is healthy for the postseason, the sky is the limit for this team.
Those best-case scenarios are lofty. It’s more realistic those two players will miss more time and struggle to be effective when playing.
Where I draw a lot more optimism is the youth movement. I think Maxey has a bounce-back season, Grimes shows there is more to his game (though I don’t think his March production is replicable), McCain reminds people he would’ve run away with Rookie of the Year, Edgecombe proves every bit worthy of the No. 3 pick, Bona and Edwards reaffirm they are NBA rotation players — those are best-case scenarios and I think they happen. Guys like Broome, Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow making an impact also seems possible.
The absolute best-case scenario is Embiid and George are as healthy and effective as they can be and this team could take advantage of a depleted Eastern Conference. The more realistic best-case scenario is those two aren’t major factors and the young guys lead the team to the play-in/playoffs and give the franchise hope for the future.
I’ll start be answering your question — yes, they can make the playoffs. Have you seen the Eastern Conference? There is enough talent with the rest of this group to at worst be a play-in team.
Your point is fair. It definitely hurt the team last season when both guys were in and out of the lineup and there was so much uncertainty. I don’t think it goes down like that this season. Maxey admitted he let the situation get to him to start the year. It was reflected in his poor start to the season. His best stretch came mostly with Embiid and George out of the lineup in January. I expect to see more of that player this season.
Beyond Embiid and George, I think people are forgetting just how banged up the rest of the roster was. Yes, Morey deserves plenty of blame for assembling an old roster, but he course corrected starting at the deadline and going into the offseason. Yes, Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon are back, but they’re basically going to be the 13th and 14th guys on the roster.
It appears Morey misread the market under the new CBA in signing George to a max deal. Again, that will be the defining move of his tenure. But at least he didn’t compound that mistake by making even more all-in moves. The Sixers will in fact be younger and more dynamic. That’s why I think they can snag a playoff spot in a depleted East.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the @okcthunder receive their championship rings and raise their championship banner before hosting the @HoustonRockets… pic.twitter.com/TRuUEgH3zP
