With Daryl Morey leading the way, the Philadelphia 76ers have become more known as a head-hunting franchise, going after the biggest names available in the market whenever they can, for better or for worse.
That has been pretty evident thanks to the slew of moves they have made in recent years involving stars such as Jimmy Butler, James Harden, and just last year, Paul George. All of those blockbuster additions did not pan out — or in George’s case, at least not yet — but this is telling of the front office’s disposition when it comes to raising the team’s ceiling as a championship aspirant.
But times have changed. As what their 2024-25 campaign taught them, sheer star power can only get you so far in today’s NBA, especially when those big names are far from the most available ones on a game-to-game basis.
If the 76ers wish to return to relevance and then some, they have to vary their approach in roster-building.
The 76ers have to hit a hard Maxey-McCain reset and build through the draft
One thing Morey has done well in his tenure so far is acing the draft. More often than not, the 76ers picked in the 20s, yet the front office mas managed to find a handful of gems.
Philadelphia drafted All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey with the 21st overall pikc in 2020, and just last year, they picked the steal of the draft and Rookie of the Year frontrunner Jared McCain just outside the lottery range. Aside from those two, the 76ers also drafted the likes of Adem Bona and Isaiah Joe in the second round.
Given this strength of theirs, the 76ers have to fully commit to building through the draft and hitting a hard reset, funneling their energy into constructing a roster with Maxey and McCain at the core of things.
Joel Embiid is getting up there in age and his health is currently in a dire situation. Banking on him to continue carryig the torch for the franchise is simply not a sustainable outlook. Paul George is also being slowly reduced into a role player. There are lots of reasons to move on from these two.
Maxey and McCain, at their best and when healthy, should easily be one of the most dynamic backcourts in the league. even better, it would be much easier to find complementary players around them than, say, Embiid.
The Philadelphia 76ers have had a lot of success in the Joel Embiid era, but the most ideal pathway for the franchise moving forward is to build around Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain and continue maximizing the draft.