When a team puts together a roster full of new faces like the Sixers did this offseason, the same question is always posed to its head coach: who will your starting five be? For Sixers head coach Nick Nurse, the answer will likely be the returning Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Joel Embiid, along with newcomers Paul George and Caleb Martin.
But every game lasts at least 48 minutes, and coaches need plenty of combinations and permutations of five pieces that can be effective to rack up wins over the course of an 82-game season. That means assembling five-man units not entirely comprised of starting-caliber players who can win their minutes consistently.
In addition to a starting five that Nurse will surely rely on, here are four groupings that could become successful once the season gets underway:
Surviving without Embiid
Maxey, Oubre, George, C. Martin, Andre Drummond
For as long as Embiid is on the Sixers, the team's roster will be built around him. But, as Sixers fans, players, coaches and executives all know far too well, it is imperative for the team to be able to tread water when he is off the floor. Understanding the importance of this, many prior Sixers teams have tried to load up non-Embiid units with as much talent as possible -- and that is the concept the group above represents.
The Sixers signing a nine-time All-Star in George -- a dynamic three-level scorer with an offensive skillset that allows him to easily blend into any context -- figures to significantly raise their floor, particularly as an offensive team, when Embiid is off the floor. Maxey has become such an outstanding player himself that he is capable of handling the primary ball-handling and scoring duties for the team for portions of a game, but being able to rest a former NBA MVP and still have two of the most prolific perimeter scorers in the world on the floor is an enormous luxury for Nurse.
Drummond offers the Sixers some stability in that they will know what they are getting at backup center -- for better or worse -- on a nightly basis. Drummond is going to grab just about every rebound, and while he will not be able to create looks with shot-making or ball-handling, he is going to be the most impactful screen-setter on the team. Drummond can serve as a massive roadblock for perimeter defenders who will also revive Sixers possessions as he crashes the glass.
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Embiid does the heavy lifting
Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, Oubre, KJ Martin, Embiid
Stacking non-Embiid lineups with as many trusted rotation pieces as possible means that Embiid will eventually have to carry some units lacking firepower. The Sixers have long believed this is a worthy trade-off; Embiid is capable of making just about any lineup consistently excellent. Here, he shares the floor with one other starter in Oubre, two trusted bench veterans in Lowry and Gordon and the winner of the backup power forward training camp battle that is expected to take place next month (I went with KJ Martin here, as I believe he is the favorite to receive the first crack at minutes, but Ricky Council IV and Guerschon Yabusele would both fit in this lineup as well).
Oubre might be the most interesting piece in this lineup. As he displayed throughout a turbulent 2023-24 season, he is capable of scaling his offensive role up or down at any point to help balance out the lineup he is part of. In this unit, he could be afforded some more opportunities to command the attention of defenses as a playmaker. Whereas Oubre may focus on being a timely cutter and willing spot-up three-point shooter in the team's starting lineup -- as well as ones featuring both Maxey and George -- a unit like this allows him to branch out as a scorer. Oubre is able to apply tremendous rim pressure.
In the backcourt, Gordon has a chance to be a particularly valuable piece next to Embiid because he is perfectly happy to launch threes from anywhere beyond the arc in any situation. The Sixers have not had a spot-up shooter with Gordon's comfort since JJ Redick left town, and using him as a floor spacer around Embiid will do the team a lot of good.
Lowry, meanwhile, overcomes aging and lost explosion with sheer smarts. He will see to it that this unit remains organized, and perhaps most importantly, ensure that Embiid gets the ball in the right spots.
Going small
Maxey, Lowry, Gordon, George, Embiid
Because of the obvious limitations that would be imposed upon this grouping, it could only be used in short spurts against specific lineups that lack multiple dangerous perimeter scoring threats and a bruising power forward. But if Nurse finds a spot where these five players can share the floor without being exploited defensively, the team's offense will flourish.
These are the five best three-point shooters expected to be in the Sixers' rotation at the start of the year. Surrounding one of the most dominant interior forces on offense in league history in Embiid with this kind of spacing would be incredible: one of the best wing shooters of a generation in George, one of the most versatile shooters in the league today in Maxey, one of the most accomplished sharpshooters of his era in Gordon and a borderline elite long-range sniper in Lowry. There would be no way to stop the Sixers from creating quality looks on nearly every single possession.
In addition to all of that shooting, it has four players in Maxey, Lowry, George and Embiid who can initiate any possession and another in Gordon who can do so in a pinch. Nurse is very fond of putting out lineups with multiple quality ball-handlers. Units with both Maxey and Lowry will continue to appeal to him.
Switching (almost) everything
Lowry, Oubre, George, C. Martin, Embiid
If the Sixers need one stop to finish off a game, their best five-man unit would probably have KJ Martin included over Lowry. But if Lowry slides into it, this suddenly becomes a lineup that can be not just passable on offense, but high-quality. With Maxey sidelined, they would still have one of the two best scorers in the world in Embiid, another perennial 20-plus points per game player in George and more than enough tertiary offensive juice to get by.
On defense, though, this unit would cause all sorts of problems. Lowry, Oubre, George and Caleb Martin can all defend at least three positions; for some of them it might be more accurate to suggest they can guard across four positions. Having zero weak links defensively -- only players with the ability to positively impact games on that end of the floor -- with a rim protector as feared as Embiid on the back-line is every defensive coach's dream.
Maxey does not miss games very often, but if he does, the Sixers should be just fine with a unit like this one that has more than enough offensive skill while buying into an identity of defensive versatility.
MORE: Projecting Nick Nurse's rotation for the 2024-25 Sixers
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