The Sixers\u2019 new era is on deck.<\/p>\n
With\u00a0LeBron James<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jaylen Brown<\/a>\u00a0on board and training camp\u00a0set to begin in late September<\/a>, we\u2019re taking a look at key questions for the 2026-27 Sixers.\u00a0<\/p>\n We\u2019ve asked:\u00a0<\/p>\n Next up: Can the Sixers\u2019 retooled second unit get the job done in the playoffs?\u00a0<\/p>\n The Sixers\u2019 offseason transformation wasn\u2019t solely about the stars. Dean Wade<\/a>, Anfernee Simons<\/a>, Ariel Hukporti<\/a>, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope<\/a> and rookie Labaron Philon Jr.<\/a> are all new bench pieces.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 33-year-old Caldwell-Pope is hoping to earn a third NBA championship. Hukporti won his first title as the third-string center on the 2025-26 Knicks.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Sixers have also added a pair of new two-way contract<\/a> players in Caleb Love <\/a>and Rayan Rupert.<\/a> Their third two-way slot remains open. Tacko Fall, Jameer Nelson Jr. <\/a>and Dillon Jones <\/a>are among the players who have signed Exhibit 10 deals with the team. \u00a0<\/p>\n Sixers head coach Nick Nurse will work to land on optimal rotations. He likely won\u2019t start with perfection, although the clarity of Wade and Simons\u2019 roles should help.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both Simons and Wade project to be integral, every-game bench players when they\u2019re available. Wade\u2019s main tasks will be playing stellar, dogged on-ball defense and sinking open jumpers. Simons will be asked to launch three-pointers and mesh smoothly with his fellow guards. He averaged 14.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists last season in 24.9 minutes per game.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old is eager to play with starters Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cJust helping them out as much as I can,\u201d Simons said in a July virtual press conference, \u201cwhether it\u2019s handling the ball or being off the ball, giving them space to work. \u2026 Just doing whatever it takes for us to be successful as a team. People say Tyrese had a big workload the last couple years \u2014 him and VJ. I\u2019m just here to help them in any way they need to relieve some pressure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As far as both simple shotmaking and team spacing, Simons\u2019 deep range should benefit the Sixers.\u00a0<\/p>\n He attempted 5.5 shots per game between 25 and 29 feet last year (and made 38.0 percent). For a player who averaged under 25 minutes, that\u2019s quite a high number. All-Star guards Anthony Edwards and Jamal Murray also attempted 5.5 jumpers per game from the same range.<\/a><\/p>\n Simons last played in February because he aggravated a left wrist fracture<\/a>, but he said in July that he was \u201cfine\u201d physically.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m pretty much completely healed now,\u201d Simons said. \u201cI haven\u2019t felt it in a long time, so there\u2019s no concern with that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Philon is another bench guard worth highlighting, especially given that Nurse on draft night called the Alabama product \u201ctalented enough to play\u201d as a rookie.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n The shifty 20-year-old showed off all sorts of offensive skills as a college sophomore, posting 22.0 points and 5.0 assists per game. His efficiency dipped in summer league<\/a>, but Philon still impressed over four games in Las Vegas and averaged 18.5 points, 5.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s another fast, exciting guy that kind of plays a lot like Tyrese and VJ,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cThe speed, athleticism, quickness, deep range, the creativity with the ball. He\u2019s a pretty good pick-and-roll player already, probably more advanced than a lot of guys coming into the NBA. We\u2019ll have to see. \u2026 I think it\u2019s just another really fast, exciting guy.\u201d<\/p>\n We imagine Philon will have regular-season opportunities to prove he deserves consistent rotation minutes. Perhaps the No. 22 overall pick will capitalize and surge into the playoff spotlight much like Maxey did as a rookie.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Quentin Grimes<\/a>, Andre Drummond <\/a>and Trendon Watford<\/a> departed the Sixers in free agency, Dominick Barlow<\/a>, Adem Bona,<\/a> Justin Edwards and Jabari Walker are back.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those four players all experienced playoff basketball for the first time last season. Walker was outside of Nurse\u2019s rotation, but Barlow, Bona and Edwards each received meaningful minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n For Barlow, the path to a greater role appears to be continued success as a hustling, savvy frontcourt player and significant strides as an outside shooter. Edwards will aim to be a dependable 3-and-D wing. Bona will try to reduce his unnecessary fouls while keeping the core of his energetic, rim-protecting game. He may very well compete with Hukporti for the No. 2 center spot behind Embiid. Anyone seeking to cement a place on the second unit will know that defensive rebounding matters and the Sixers must improve as a team in that department.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Sixers certainly might tinker with their bench personnel during the season, but they\u2019ve got an intriguing mix of veterans and youngsters as things stand.<\/p>\n Just like with their starters, they\u2019ve upgraded on the surface but will need to meet expectations once the games begin and thrive in the postseason. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sixers\u2019 new era is on deck. With\u00a0LeBron James\u00a0and\u00a0Jaylen Brown\u00a0on board and training camp\u00a0set to begin in late…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3769],"tags":[679,4329,7,5759,865,71227,6,678,207,3817,5902,4186,49668],"class_list":["post-835221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-76ers","tag-76ers","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-basketball","tag-dean-wade","tag-kentavious-caldwell-pope","tag-labaron-philon-jr","tag-nba","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia76ers","tag-sixers-analysis","tag-sixers-news","tag-sixers-training-camp"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117270785761043184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}