After missing a month to start the season, Paul George finally made his much-awaited season debut for the Philadelphia 76ers in their most recent game against his former team, the LA Clippers. In true Sixers fashion, they had to face a double-digit deficit anew before staging — and completing — a furious comeback in the fourth quarter to escape with a win.
In 21 minutes of game play, George finished his season debut with nine points, seven rebounds, three assists, and a couple of blocks. As expected, his shot was pretty rusty, having drained just two of his nine field goal attempts, including just one of his four three-point tries. Still, George looked great in his first game back from injury, and his activity was especially impressive.
However, despite George looking good in his return, there is something precarious the 76ers will have to deal with. It is the fact that their small forward rotation is currently very thin in view of the fact that Kelly Oubre Jr. had just been afflicted by the injury bug, and that George will have to do the heavy lifting in the position while trying to regain his mojo.
The 76ers are currently vulnerable at small forward despite the return of Paul George
Tapping into external help is an option for the 76ers, but it is still way too early to bank on the trade market to abate their issues. Hence, it will be up to the in-house options present to lift the team up from its current cracks.
The 76ers have been lucky that they now have players who are natural power forwards, meaning that George and company no longer need to play out of position for entire 48-minute durations. Still, with basically only a two-man rotation at small forward in George and Justin Edwards, the 76ers are quite vulnerable in that department.
George will be on a minutes restriction, meaning that Edwards will sniff the court more than he has. That remains a dicey proposition, though. While the sophomore has been shooting the ball much better in recent games, he is still far from a stable hand.
Oubre has become so vital to the 76ers that his absence will resonate with the team, no doubt. Hence, there would probably be some added pressure for George to start playing well on both ends, lest the team will be forced to resort to a bunch of Plan B’s and C’s to bolster the position, such as playing small, which is a dangerous design given their below-average team defense.
Hopefully, Paul George (and Justin Edwards) become more consistent producers moving forward. The 76ers cannot afford to be mediocre at small forward, especially since they are not well-equipped to handle a black hole in that area.