No situation is perfect in the NBA. You can be the defending champions with little roster turnover and still find yourself coming up short against a new-look team... Just ask the New York Knicks.
Sure, the Philadelphia 76ers have concerns at the five spot, due to their obvious lack of depth. And the team already rolled out Tyrese Maxey for 40 minutes, while popping the cap off Joel Embiid and LeBron James' supposed restriction.
But man, the Sixers' blockbuster offseason lived up to the hype on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Outside of the injured Dean Wade and Ariel Hukporti, the Sixers saw their free agent and trade pickups make their debut against the Knicks. And one game in, it's hard to find something to dislike.
Each player showed out
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Since the start of camp, the Sixers have been super complimentary of KCP. His leadership alone has been a difference-maker, according to those who are close to the team. He checked in for 26 minutes, logging 10 points on 2-6 shooting from three. Caldwell-Pope also came down with four rebounds and blocked a shot.
I don't expect KCP to produce Sixth Man of the Year numbers off the bench, but that was a quality performance he turned in.
Anfernee Simons
I do expect Simons to produce Sixth Man of the Year numbers in 2026-2027. Tuesday's action went about as expected. He was rusty out of the gate since he missed all of the preseason. Still, Simons collected 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field off the bench. He attempted eight of his shots from beyond the arc. There is a clear willingness there to get off a high volume of threes. He's a 38% shooter from deep throughout his career, so he played to his standard in that department.
Jaylen Brown
I won't overreact to this because it's one game of a long season, but what are the critics talking about? Jaylen Brown stuffed the stat sheet everywhere with such a quality performance and locked down on defense. As for the assumptions that Brown will dislike not being the player with the highest usage on the floor, he looked pretty engaged and fired up, despite watching Tyrese Maxey be the only player to sniff 30 points.
Brown dropped 19 points, shooting an efficient 7-for-14 from the field. He collected eight rebounds, dished out six assists, snatched one steal, and blocked one shot. I'd say the analytics that mattered were pretty good. Again, it's one night, so they can't get too high or too low, but that version of Brown was perfect for Philly.
LeBron James
The 41-year-old might not be an MVP candidate at this stage of his career, but the Sixers needed a high-IQ facilitator like 'Bron to look to in critical moments. It also helps that James is a willing small-ball center who simply needed to help when the combined 13 minutes from Adem Bona and Jabari Walker didn't look great.
James played for 34 minutes and produced 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, one steal, and one block. Doing a little bit of everything and nearly logging a triple-double, the superstar forward found a way to fit right in without confusing the pecking order.
So far, all signs about this new-look group are positive. The next test comes on Thursday, when the Sixers host the Cleveland Cavaliers for their first home game of the year.
Add us as a preferred source on Google