{"id":840765,"date":"2026-09-22T01:09:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/840765\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T01:09:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:09:49","slug":"sixers-revamped-bench-could-be-one-of-the-best-of-the-embiid-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/840765\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixers\u2019 revamped bench could be one of the best of the Embiid era"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sixers<\/a>\u2019 electric offseason has understandably drawn plenty of attention, but one crucial part of this new-look team has received considerably less: the bench. After years of struggling to put together a reliable second unit, Philadelphia may have assembled one of its best of the Embiid era.<\/p>\n

Last season, the Sixers found themselves as the seventh seed heading into the playoffs despite the ascension of Tyrese Maxey. While a highly competitive Eastern Conference played a part, Philadelphia\u2019s bench was ultimately one of the factors that kept the team from surpassing teams like the Atlanta Hawks in the standings. The bench finished with the fourth-fewest points per game (32.4) and seventh-fewest assists (7.7).<\/p>\n

The season prior wasn\u2019t much better, as Philadelphia finished 25th in bench scoring (31.1) and 24th in assists (7.0). In fact, since the 2017-18 NBA season, the Sixers have finished with a top-15 bench just once. This season could represent a significant shift thanks to a few key personnel moves.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia completely revamped its bench this offseason, beginning with two key free-agent additions. Veteran power forward Dean Wade signed a four-year, $39 million contract after spending the past several seasons as an important member of the Cavaliers\u2019 bench. He also brings 32 games of NBA playoff experience to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Wade was vital in the Cavaliers\u2019 recent run to the Eastern Conference finals, appearing in 18 games and starting 14. He shot 37.5% from beyond the arc and was often the team\u2019s primary defender. While he may not be an offensive powerhouse, his defense and spot-up shooting will be key to making the second unit more efficient.<\/p>\n

Simons provides another significant upgrade to the second unit as a crafty on- and off-ball player. He spent the majority of last season with the Boston Celtics as their leading sixth man before joining the Chicago Bulls at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

While he is a few seasons removed from averaging 22.6 points per game in 2023-24, Simons’ 14.3 points per game on 38.5% shooting from beyond the arc last season could suggest he has the ability off the bench to be a dark-horse candidate for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award if he can carve out a large enough role.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s improved depth extends beyond Wade and Simons, with a collection of young players who have shown flashes of upside alongside proven veterans who can provide guidance and stability. Labaron Philon, Justin Edwards and Adem Bona will fill out the bench alongside Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ariel Hukporti.<\/p>\n

While the Sixers\u2019 star-studded starting lineup will garner most of the attention, their bench has the potential to become a top-10 second unit for the first time in nearly a decade. With a healthy mix of shooters, defenders and ball handlers, Philadelphia could have one of its deepest rosters of the Embiid era.<\/p>\n

MORE: How Adem Bona’s preseason injury affects the Sixers’ center depth<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tSixers,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philadelphia 76ers,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Anfernee Simons,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Dean Wade,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Joel Embiid,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Tyrese Maxey,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Labaron Philon,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t NBA\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sixers\u2019 electric offseason has understandably drawn plenty of attention, but one crucial part of this new-look team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[4329,7,306,305,193,3846,5759,936,2879,6,207,96,1263],"class_list":["post-840765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-basketball","tag-cavaliers","tag-cleveland","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-clevelandcavaliers","tag-dean-wade","tag-joel-embiid","tag-labaron-philon","tag-nba","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-sixers","tag-tyrese-maxey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117312030182752983","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840765","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=840765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}