Even the biggest naysayers would be hard-pressed to find any reason that would force them to hoist the Philadelphia 76ers as nothing other than huge victors this offseason. The franchise entered the summer armed with the biggest spending power in the league and they certainly didn’t disappoint, quickly getting in on the action to snag the best free agent available alongside new, well-fitting members to the crew.
Way-too-early prognostications have the 76ers as the prime challengers to the reigning champions, the Boston Celtics, in the East. Philly does have one of, if not the deadliest Big Three in the NBA purely off raw talent, and really, the only manifest obstacle to this squad reaching its full potential is the threat of the injury bug.
There’s another problem nobody’s really talking about, though, and if the push comes to shove, it could ultimately derail their bid for the championship next season.
The 76ers have a big depth problem — and they may not be able to address it at all
While the 76ers definitely aren’t a top-heavy team, the front office had to pull off a barrage of financial gymnastics to make the salaries work, meaning that they also had to settle for concessions along the way. An early look at the roster reveals their biggest problem at this juncture — depth.
As of writing, Philadelphia has a grand total of seven players with considerable experience as consistent minute-getters. Heck, that’s nowhere near a high bar to clear. That the 76ers will be forced to embrace rawer commodities is one thing (and not necessarily a bad one), but hell could break loose if ever the team gets afflicted by a perennial curveball.
Between Joel Embiid and Paul George, the 76ers already have two, oft-injured superstars who are on the wrong side of 30. The former has never played more than 68 games in his career while the latter has missed 128 outings over the last five seasons. Yikes.
The team is better equipped to handle Embiid’s scattered absences, but Andre Drummond has proven to be a much less effective resort when exposed to a bigger role, and Adem Bona is still a question mark as a fill-in. Meanwhile, Philly doesn’t have a designated replacement for whenever George misses games thanks to their sheer lack of depth at forward.
In comparison, both the Celtics and Knicks are constructed to be able to withstand key players going down to injuries. That’s the definitive edge those teams have over the 76ers.
Luckily, the Philadelphia 76ers still have a lot of time to get creative and address this concern, but the pool of available players is finite. Naturally, this is also a race against the clock to ensure that they are as spotless as possible heading to the upcoming campaign.