The Sixers have enjoyed a banner offseason with their ample cap space, signing top priority Paul George, as well as Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon. They also gave Tyrese Maxey a max rookie scale extension and re-signed Kelly Oubre and Kyle Lowry. Nick Nurse can’t wait to put all the pieces together.
“We certainly had a great summer,” the Sixers’ head coach said, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “There’s just no other way of looking at it in that there’s a lot of guys that we targeted that were at the very top of our list, and a lot of categories that we needed to fill, and we got a lot of them.”
Nurse is especially excited by the prospect of George complementing the skills of the other Sixers stars, Maxey and Joel Embiid. “We had the one, five [positions] solidified. We needed something in the middle. That’s PG,” he said. “We are going to have to wait and see. I’m sure it’s going to take some time, you know, for total connection and chemistry, but obviously they all can score at all levels. So it should be a great fit.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Ricky Council has emerged as a go-to scorer during Summer League action and could jump into the Sixers’ rotation next season, Pompey writes in a separate story. Council was signed to a four-year contract in April. “If you can play basketball, someone will find you at some time,” assistant coach Mike Brase said. “It might be when you are young in the process and being recruited or when you get older. And in Ricky’s case, he went to Wichita State and Arkansas and [goes] undrafted [last summer] and makes the most of it.”
- The Celtics exercised their $2.1MM club option on Sam Hauser‘s contract but Hauser could be a cap casualty next offseason, Brian Robb of MassLive.com speculates. Hauser’s next contract will be significantly larger, so the Celtics’ efforts to re-sign him next summer could hinge on whether they move a big salary.
- Second-round pick Jamal Shead exemplifies the Raptors‘ commitment to getting better defensively, Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes. Shead has displayed his defensive tenacity during Summer League play. “As you can see in the draft class as well, we’re trying to find as many possible two-way guys that can be — we call them the most important guy,” coach Darko Rajakovic said. “(The) most important guy is the guy who’s got who’s guarding the ball. He makes it easier for everybody else.”
As good as Hauser is, and he is good, he’s replaceable and the replacement might already be there. They have both Shierman and Peterson who could step into that role
Sam Hauser would be very tough to replace. He’s NBA level proven he can make threes and play very solid defense. And why is anyone speculating about more than a year from now? Go Celtics!
People also said Grant Williams would be very hard to replace.
As a Sixers fan I’ll be happy once we add a real PF.
KJ Martin and a first for DFS via a sign and trade would be ideal
Lowry Maxey PG DFS Embiid
McCain Gordon Oubre Martin Drummond
Or swim thing along those lines, maybe Gordon over Lowry as a starter, less ball dominant better shooter might help the spacing and allow the big 3 to have more touches. While Lowry would help McCain develop more and run the second unit better.
Lowry won’t be starting
I get the feeling the sixers will be a boom/bust team. Lots of new players so they will need time to gel. As a sixers fan I’m happy with off season but it’s going to take time
Agreed, they probably should play a couple games together before they’re anointed a true threat. They’ll be good, sure, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be a 4 or 5 seed.
PG and Embiid…
Maxey going to be the lone star for a lot of 76ers games this season…
Sam hauser is by far the best bargain in the nba 2.003million for a very good rotation player