the Philadelphia 76ers overstretched themselves by bunching four young wings nearly simultaneously? No..."/> the Philadelphia 76ers overstretched themselves by bunching four young wings nearly simultaneously? No..."/>
The Sixer Sense
Fansided

The numbers game: must Philadelphia 76ers prune young players?

By Bret Stuter

PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 12: Joel Embiid
PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 12: Joel Embiid /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 16: The lottery drawing begins inside the lottery room during the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery at the New York Hilton in New York, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 16: The lottery drawing begins inside the lottery room during the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery at the New York Hilton in New York, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Back to the future

And so, with a skew on the roster towards the back court, we already know the roster is off-balance. But now we are ready to project that 2018-2019 roster from current players and incoming talent and see how this works:

Position                  Starter                     Veteran                        Developing Player

Center                     Joel Embiid              Ersan Ilyasova(#)       Anzecs Pasecniks
Power Forward    Dario Saric              Richaun Holmes         Jonah Bolden
Small Forward     Robert Covington  Justin Anderson         Furkan Korkmaz
Small Forward     ()                                 ()                                     Mathias Lessort
Shooting Guard    J.J. Redick (#)           Marco Belinelli (#) /
Shooting Guard    ()                                Jerryd Bayless           Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
Point Guard          Ben Simmons         T.J. McConnell             Markelle Fultz

If the team wants to compete in post season, the veteran column must be addressed by a player capable of quality spot starts plus significant production off the bench. For now, we’ve simply retained the veterans needed to make the depth chart work. If the team elects to “move on”, that vacancy is simply one more slot added to the shopping list during the 2018 Free Agency signing.

Double Trouble

Now look more closely at the 2018-2019 depth chart. At first, what do you see? After that, what don’t you see?  What you do see is Justin Anderson and Furkan Korkmaz lined up as small forwards. Of the pair, neither have earned the right for spot starts or quality bench minutes. And yet, that is where they are. No veteran behind Covington? Wait, what?  But then we get to the shooting guard role and we see the opposite happening. Jerryd Bayless has not delivered. And this is Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot’s second season, and he is regressing.

What you do not see is room for any new 2018 rookies. NADA. If the team wishes to carve out roster spots, they must either be content with young unproven talent off the bench (a disaster), or opt to keep Euoleague players stashed overseas. Neither of which fixes the underlying issue.