Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – February 02: Tyrese Maxey # 0 of Philadelphia 76ers celebrates his … more
The Philadelphia 76ers put the finishing touches on Perhaps the most disappointing season in franchise history on Sunday. They entered the 2024-25 campaign with championship expectations, but they finished it with the fifth-worst record in the NBA.
After the sixers landed Nine-Time All-Star Forward Paul George in free agency this past offseason, they loaded up on proven playoff performers with an eye on April, May and June. That wound up backfiring, as they dealt with a relentless wave of injuries both to their big three and their older supporting cast.
The Sixers eventually Embraced A Youth Movement Once the season went fully off the rails, in part to maximize their chances of keeping their first-round pick this season. (They’ll keep it if it lands in the top six, but they owe it to the oklahoma city Thunder if it’s No. 7 or later.) But during his End-of-season media availability Sunday, Team President Daryl Morey pledged to take those teams-building lessons to heart moving forward.
“I was very focused on finding Veteran-type players who generally perform very well in the playoffs, and I didn’t put enough emphasis on the team getting through the regular season,” Morey said. “So next season, for sure, we will be a younger, more dynamic group.”
If the sixers stick to that plan-and both morey and head coach Nick Nurse are aligned in that vision-it might help salvage something from this otherwise lost season.
How the League has changed
Historically, title hopefuls have tended to lean on established Veterans over Young Players. However, a few major changes-both on the court and off-could change that team-building meta moving forward.
“I think the game keeps getting faster and more dynamic,” nurse said Sunday. “Just for really basic things like defensive transition or defensive rebounding, we just need to be a little bigger, longer, stronger, more athletic just to get that basic thing kind of under control.”
Given the volume of injuries the sixers endured this year, it’s hard to read too much into their season-long statistics. George, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey Combined to miss 134 of a possible 246 games and played Less than 300 Total Minutes Together. With that said, The sixers finished this season Ranked 28th Leaguewide In defensive efficiency in transition and 30th In total rebounding percentage, which speaks to nurse’s concern about their roster composition.
Morey noted how a leaguewide strategic shift during the regular season has changed how teams need to approach roster-building.
“It used to be every team was just dropping back after their shot,” he said. “Now, teams are with Length and Athleticism, with high effort, both attacking the offensive glass and able to get back in transition. It’s just a very high-effort. That’s why we need to deliver, more at nick around our three main guys.”
However, Morey acknowledged that the stylistic variance between the regular season and playoffs creates a “team-building challenge” for front offices across the NBA.
“I don’t expect the playoffs to change, especially with the changes to the foul rules that happened last february that have continued,” he added. “I do think the playoffs are gonna still be pretty veteran-heavy and sort of a war out there, where the foul rate, foul calls will go down and things like that. But the regular season has turned into really high-effort.”
Luckily, The Sixers got off to a head start in their push to get younger around their big three.
The Late-Season Youth Movement
Rather than double down on their aging supporting cast, the sixers began turning the controls over to their younger players after the all-star break. Trade-Deadline Acquisition Quentin Grimes Was the headliner Of their late-season youth movement, but rookie forward justin edwards and second-round big man adem bona showed promising flashes that hinted at rotation upside as well.
“Coach nurse has really done a good job,” Morey said Sunday. “When you go through a tough time like this, you want to make sure to maximize it. And we feel like we have been well. Justin Edwards, who’s have some great minutes, who we got at the trade deadline. These are all guys in their prime. These are all guys in their prime Or well before it, in the early parts of their careers, that are gonna give us great minutes. It’s gonna be a much younger, more dynamic group to help us manage through the season. “
With George, Maxey and Embiid All on Max contracts, The Sixers’ Cap Sheet Forces Morey’s Hand to some extent. He can either continue to cycle through veterans on one- or two-year minimum-salary contracts, which would reduce year-over-year continuity, or he can try to find longer-term keepers via the draft and undafted free agents on two-way deals.
That Tension Recently flared in DenverWhich wound up costing both head coach Mike Malone and General Manager Calvin Booth their jobs. The nuggets lost critical pieces from their supporting cast over the past two offseasons after winning the 2022-23 NBA championship, and booth and malone didn’t see eye-to-eye on how to replace them. Booth wanted Malone to rely on some of his recent draft picks, while malone preferred established veterans such as Russell Westbrook.
Nurse’s Willingness to Lean on Young players in this lost season was a promising sign, but it’s also a deviation from his history in Toronto. Perhaps both Morey and nurse realize that recent on- and off-court changes in the NBA give them fewer alternatives to pursue. But if they’re able to replenish their young supporting cast this offseason and stay healthier next year, there’s a chance that this lost 2024-25 campaign goes down as a forgettable one-year blip. If anything, it might have been a wake-up call to Morey, Nurse and the Roster and Large.
It makes sense for the sixers to be laser-focused on the playoffs, but they Can’t take the regular season for granted. They are by no means Guaranteed a playoff spot each year, as this season proved.
Finding the right balance of young, Dynamic players to keep them afloat in the regular season and high-end talent for the playoffs will be their team-building challenge of the offseason.
Unless Otherwise Noted, All Stats Via Nba.com,, PBPStats,, Cleaning The Glass or Basketball Reference. All Salary Information via Spot And Salary-Cap Information via Realgm. All Odds Via Fanduel sportsbook.
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