'Not just waiting around for Paul and Joel': NBA scouts, execs on what's next in Philly

Few seasons in the Philadelphia 76ers‘ long history can match the misery of 2024-25.

Last season opened with dreams of ending a more-than-four-decade championship drought, hopes sparked by the summer acquisition of free agent wing Paul George to pair with 2022-23 MVP Joel Embiid and rising superstar guard Tyrese Maxey.

But Embiid was limited to 19 games due to lingering left knee issues, Paul George managed just 41 with the fewest points per game since his second year in the league and Philadelphia endured a desultory 24-58 season that was largely spent banking on lottery luck.

The 76ers got it, keeping their top-six protected pick in June and using it on No. 3 selection VJ Edgecombe, who is off to an impressive start that has scouts, executives and league insiders buzzing about the future of Philly’s young backcourt.

“These guys give them the ability to move on from the Embiid and George era,” a Western Conference executive told ESPN.

It hasn’t mattered that both Embiid and George have barely played, or that the team has endured plenty of other injuries beyond its two veteran stars. No, the 76ers aren’t projected to contend for a top seed in the Eastern Conference, but their respectable 9-8 start heading into Friday’s NBA Cup group stage finale has created newfound optimism about where this franchise is headed.

This week, ESPN spoke with scouts, coaches and executives around the league about Philly’s chances in the wide-open East, the future of its electric guard duo and how much fans should expect from Embiid and George this season.

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The new era has arrived

Earlier this month, as second-year forward Justin Edwards sat at the podium after the 76ers pulled out a victory over the rival Boston Celtics, he was asked a question about Maxey’s performance in the 102-100 win that came without Embiid or George.

“That’s the franchise,” Edwards said of the 25-year-old All-Star guard.

On one hand, it was a throwaway line in a November news conference. But what was most notable about Edwards’ comment, rather than being met with confusion or any raised eyebrows by media members, was that it was accepted as fact:

For the first time in a decade, the 76ers are not solely Embiid’s franchise.

“It just looks like there is more energy,” an East executive said. “They may not be good enough, but it’s not just waiting around for Paul and Joel [to get healthy] like it’s been in the past.”

Philadelphia has traditionally looked lost without Embiid. In seven of his first eight full seasons, the 76ers were more than 10 points per 100 possessions worse with Embiid on the bench.

But to begin this season, coach Nick Nurse has established a clear identity, one that has gone from Philadelphia’s universe revolving around Embiid to instead being centered on Maxey. That shift has led to 32.2 points per game from their point guard, behind only Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic. Maxey’s breakneck speed and shifty scoring tactics have made the 76ers incredibly fun to watch and have allowed them to remain competitive without Embiid in ways they were never able to in the past.

“He’s a legitimate first- or second-team All-NBA player now,” an East scout said of Maxey’s elite first month. “Even with Embiid’s injury issues, they could still be in the conversation for a top-six spot in the East, because Maxey is really that good.”

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Embiid and his health remain major factors

For all the excitement around Philly’s young guards, Embiid will play a key role in how high the 76ers can climb in the East.

With Embiid sidelined, the 76ers — already one of the smaller rosters in the league — have only Andre Drummond as a true big man, and they’ve struggled to wall off the paint defensively over the past couple of weeks with Embiid sidelined by his current bout with right knee soreness.

“They’re not good enough defensively [without him],” a second East scout said. That’s why I have a hard time believing in them.”

While Embiid’s mobility issues have been apparent even when he has played this season, he remains arguably the best shooting big in the league and a focus of opposing defenses. Following an abysmal season debut in Boston — he went 1-for-9 with four points in a win in Boston — Embiid went on to have five consecutive games with at least 20 points, shooting 50% from the field and 37.5% from 3.

“They have to figure out how to maximize Joel,” a second East executive said. “I don’t think he can come back and look like he used to. They have to try to use him in a strategic way, where he can have some value to them, but you can’t build the offense around him.”

Teams clearly still respect Embiid as a scorer. And his gravity and ability to operate in dribble handoff actions with guards Maxey, Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes and Jared McCain will make life easier across the board for Philly’s offense.

The question is whether Embiid’s mobility will improve enough for him to be an effective defender. In the early going, whenever Embiid has ventured outside the paint, he has become a target to attack off the dribble. “He basically runs from one free throw line to the other,” an East assistant coach said.

Embiid’s rebounding is also down, another sign of his lack of explosiveness inside.

Sources I spoke to expressed confidence that Embiid would continue to build trust in his troublesome left knee. But Embiid has now missed more than two weeks with soreness in his right knee. That underscores the fragile state of his body; there’s a reason Nurse and the 76ers have created a style of play that doesn’t depend on Embiid’s availability. It’s simply not clear how regularly he will be on the court.

“You look at where the league is heading, with the pace and the speed the game is being played,” the second East scout said. ‘He was having trouble keeping up with it when he was healthy, let alone now.”

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How does George fit in?

It’s a similar situation for George, who returned last week and has played just three games as he recovers from offseason knee surgery.

George and Embiid playing to their current contracts — they are set to combine for more than $100 million over each of the next three seasons — should no longer be considered. But if both are regularly available and provide quality play, it will give a massive uptick to this team’s chances of making noise in a wide-open conference. Philadelphia took a committee approach at power forward in George’s absence, starting two-way players Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker, along with minimum signing Trendon Watford, across the 12 games George missed.

Each has shown flashes in increased minutes as part of a noticeable infusion of youth and athleticism across the roster, but George’s scoring and floor-spacing will provide the bigger boost to Maxey and the 76ers offense.

“Building around [Maxey and Edgecombe], and having them take that step forward, that will help Paul, too,” the second East executive said, “because he will buy into helping Maxey succeed.”

Hampered by stretches of poor shooting luck, George shot 43% overall and 35% from 3-point range but should again benefit from plenty of clean looks with the amount of offensive firepower around him on this roster. A bounce-back season for the nine-time All-Star would do wonders for a 76ers team that, through 17 games, has been overly reliant on Maxey (40.4 minutes per game) and Edgecombe (37.3).

“He can be a floor-spacing [power forward],” the first East scout said of George’s role in his 16th season. “Better to not have him handling the ball as much anymore. You can run some pick-and-rolls with him as the screener to take advantage of his shooting and ability to attack mismatches.

“Will he accept that role? I’ll be curious to see.”

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Just how good is Edgecombe?

Two separate strokes of luck involving the defending champs helped create this 76ers backcourt tandem. Maxey landed in Philly thanks to Mike Muscala’s game-winning 3 in the NBA bubble in 2020, which ensured Philadelphia would retain its draft pick. Five years later, the 76ers lost enough throughout the 2024-25 season to stop the Thunder from taking the pick.

That latter has translated into an ideal partner for Maxey, as Edgecombe has showcased explosive playmaking skills on offense with several jaw-dropping defensive highlights throughout his first month in the NBA.

“I didn’t think VJ would be as good as he’s been,” the first East scout said. “Yes, there’s imperfections, but if they keep pushing him — because he can do lots of different things — he will be a special player.”

Edgecombe’s start has led to some high-level comparisons from scouts. Two names brought up repeatedly were Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell and former All-Star Victor Oladipo, particularly when he was at his peak with the Indiana Pacers.

“He’s smaller than I thought,” another East scout said, echoing what a few others said about the 6-foot-4 Edgecombe, which is part of the Mitchell (6-2) and Oladipo (6-3) comparisons. “But I think he can be an All-Star-caliber player, and taking that step will come down to him proving he can make shots and being a quality defender.”

Another scout compared Edgecombe’s fit alongside Maxey to the one the Golden State Warriors enjoyed with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. And while they cautioned not to expect the same path as the one blazed by the two future Hall of Famers with four championships together, the idea of an explosive lead scorer next to an elite two-way sidekick is a fun place for the 76ers to start.

“Those guys are pretty good together,” a West scout said. “They work well together because they can both do a bit of everything.”

Given last season’s disaster — even as late as January, team sources were insisting they didn’t see a realistic path for Philadelphia to keep that top-six protected pick — getting a player with that kind of ceiling is an immense change of fortune.

Predictably, Edgecombe has tailed off. He is shooting 35% overall and 32% from 3-point range in November after his blistering first five games, a nod to teams scheming for him and the acclimation process to the rigors of an 82-game season. (He’s also the latest notable player around the league to deal with a calf strain.)

But what’s undeniable is the 76ers seem to have found a keeper in Edgecombe.

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What lies ahead for the rest of this season?

The 76ers came into the 2024-25 season openly talking about load-managing their way to a championship. One year later, Embiid opened media day declaring he didn’t know where his body was going to be on a daily basis, and that he’d simply take things as they come.

So Philadelphia sitting at 9-8 — even after Tuesday’s bludgeoning by the Orlando Magic — with an offense just outside the top 10 and a positive net rating despite Embiid and George combining for nine games, should be considered a successful start. “I’m impressed by what Nick [Nurse] has done,” an East assistant coach said. “He’s getting these guys to play hard.”

Where do things go from here?

What’s obvious is that Philadelphia will not be moving away from its guard-centric offense. Edgecombe has immediately become a fan favorite, and he and Maxey have imbued the franchise with a needed dose of excitement after what the group trudged through last season.

And there’s every reason to think a 76ers team with a healthy Maxey, Embiid and George, plus the guard depth, belongs at the top of the play-in picture, if not a top-six playoff seed.

“The way these guys have been playing together has helped Nick’s case on pushing for [this style of play],” a third East scout said. “People can see the vision. … Everyone loves Maxey, and now everyone is crazy about VJ, you see those guys on the floor and you see the vibes and the fans and they make everybody around them better.”

That ceiling, though, is not where this group expected it to be a year ago when it extended Embiid and signed George.

The team’s overall size is an issue even when everyone is healthy, which will be a season-long question mark. The 76ers have already been involved in 13 clutch-time games (within five points inside the final five minutes), second only to the Dallas Mavericks. Maxey is a fabulous closer, but that many tight games is a sign the 76ers won’t be reeling off many easy wins.

Still, ESPN’s Basketball Power Index currently projects Philadelphia to win 46 games and secure the East’s No. 8 seed. The 76ers would be happy to have a chance to see what a healthy version of this team would look like in the playoffs, particularly after last year’s misery-filled campaign.