They may not be aware of it, but the Philadelphia 76ers definitely made a bold choice to expose themselves even before the opening whistle for their first hurrah this season.
After several months of inaction — further augmented by their grand failure from their previous campaign which culminated in a lottery finish — the 76ers are finally back in the hardwood action, taking the stage, front and center, for the league’s foremost preseason game this season against the New York Knicks.
The 76ers in Abu Dhabi as part of a two-game series against the Knicks, continuing the NBA’s annual tradition of going abroad to grace the preseason. However, unbeknownst to them, the team may have just showed their bad cards to everyone right off the bat with a rather interesting — if not strange — lineup choice for their first outing.
The 76ers started Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre Jr., Dominick Barlow, and Adem Bona. Of course, with Joel Embiid and Paul George still out, we cannot put much stock nor expectations of permanence with this group. However, this is definitely pretty telling of the plight the team could face this season.
76ers expose their ugly flaw in their first preseason game
Embiid and George will miss a considerable amount of games this season. Even with a relatively cleaner bill of health compared to last season, expecting that is only prudent given their extensive injury track record.
However, whenever both player miss games at the same time, 76ers fans coud very well be treated to a grim slap of reality. Philadelphia has an utter dearth of frontcourt players who can create their own shots, and while they have an embarrassment of riches in the backcourt, a guard-heavy attack can only do so much.
Oubre is probably the most reliable scorer aside from Embiid and George in the frontcourt, and that is probably not a very inspiring fact, The veteran forward is not exactly known for his efficiency, and having to play him a lot only displays more of his pronounced weaknesses on offense.
The 76ers need a lot more variance in their scoring attack, although that could prove to be borderline impossible if both of their stars miss outings at the same time. The coaching staff needs to prepare for that probable instance, and the preseason should be the ideal platform to tinker with lineups that could mask that flaw.