Philadelphia 76ers Season Preview

Philadelphia 76ers

2014 Record: 18-64

2015 O/U 21.5

Who are their stars:

It is easy to become the worst team in the NBA when you are relying on your 19 year old draft pick to be your best player. Jhalil Okafor will more than likely be the teams leading scorer. Scoring isn’t his problem, but free throws as well as defense are his major pre draft concerns. An NBA season is so much more than NCAA season and I would expect no chance for Okafor to be out there every night. Potentially beside him or in his spot will be 21-year-old Nerlans Noel. Noel may still have the highest upside of his draft class, but he still needs a bit of time to develop to become an all-star potential player. He is there on the defensive side of the ball, but his lack of size, as well as scoring are what hinder him. When you are looking at a franchise with those two at the helm, you immediately turn your attention to development and how they can grow together in the future. Some don’t, but I like the mix of the two, and if Joel Embiid comes into the mix in the next year or so, believe it or not it isn’t hard to trade talented big men.

Who are the glue guys?:

It seems like the 76ers plan is to fill the rest of the roster out when they find their stars. It helps guarantee a top draft pick, but you would assume it would be better to have them develop around a group of guys for more than one year. One move the 76ers made was to trade for “Sauce Castillo” Nick Stauskus. Stauskus has potential to be a glue guy as a three-point threat. Like the others he is young and if he can hit his open shots, he can form into a strong bench guy who the guys can grow with the stars.

Rotational guys:

The Sixers have themselves rotational guys! Carl Landry is my favorite rotational guy on the team, mainly because he has seen the playoffs before. He is going to get a lot of burn next to the two potential stars this season and you just hope that his presence is a good one. Guys like Tony Wroten, Isaiah Cannan, and Robert Covington may actually be starters on this team, but on most teams these are the guys who don’t see the floor. It is convenient in which they do get to learn and develop, but between the three I don’t see upside. If pieces are added it may be nice to have guys who know the system fill the bench, and that is what I would be looking for with these three youngsters. You look down the roster and you see a shot at a 3-and-D guy in JP Tokoto, and a young forward in Jerami Grant who should see a lot of minutes, but outside of that I don’t see any other players sticking in this core. Joel Embiid obviously is in the plans for next year, but these are the nine players I would hope to get the most minutes, because it is a group that will still lose in the present, which seems to be the idea, but it will give them all a chance to actually form a core lasting longer than one year.

Where do they rank? Over/Under? How far can they go?

This team is destined to get a top 5 pick. At that point, their best case scenario will be picking #1. If their regular season goes to the best there is a chance they are picking fifth or sixth, but I doubt it. I would be easing both of the young budding players in, and I would be mixing and matching them with the others to see what sticks. Unfortunately for them, it was quite easy to give them the ranking of 30. As for the over under it is too low to take under. I would hate to take over and get burned, but 21-61 is just too bad.

15th best in the Eastern Conference, 30th best in the NBA.