Ahead of yet another Sixers back-to-back — they will host the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night without Joel Embiid, Paul George and several others before welcoming the Sacramento Kings to town on Wednesday night — let's get into this week's Sixers mailbag, with questions centered around the team's young depth.
As always, questions came from my followers on Bluesky. Give me a follow there if you have not done so already.
From @augetoffmygold.bsky.social: Now that Adem Bona has really made his case for deserving consistent minutes, if/when Joel Embiid comes back to the lineup, how do you see the backup big rotation working behind him?
If Embiid, Guerschon Yabusele and Andre Drummond are all available, I don't see a path for Bona to see regular action. There are only 48 total center minutes to hand out on a given night. Embiid is going to take most of them whenever he plays. And as impressive as some of Bona's flashes have been, he does not give the Sixers as much of a chance to win Embiid's resting minutes as Yabusele, and likely not Drummond either just yet.
Bona has made real strides offensively of late, but is still rarely a threat to score. His highlight plays on defense are tantalizing and he has the makeup to become an impact player on that end of the floor, but his gargantuan foul rates remain extremely problematic. Ultimately, though, the absolute best thing for Bona's long-term development would be to play each and every night against NBA competition,
And as the NBA's Feb. 6 trade deadline looms, that could become more feasible. With a six-game stretch at home leading up to the deadline hours away from beginning, the Sixers will likely have to build off their last two impressive wins with even more stellar play to convince the front office not to pivot in direction of a focus on next season. Investing any sort of assets into upgrading a team which would likely have to win two do-or-die Play-In Tournament games just to have the right to face the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed would seem imprudent.
If the Sixers do opt to become deadline sellers with a veteran-laden roster, Yabusele and Drummond figure to be two of the more commonly-discussed names in trade talks. Yabusele is a pending free agent who can help just about any contending team, and the Sixers already face a tricky path to re-signing him. There seem to be quite a few teams looking to bolster their center rotations, which also makes Drummond a viable target for some.
Bona still has an uphill battle ahead of him to play consistently if the Sixers reach full health at the center position, but between trade possibilities and the inability of Embiid and Drummond to stay on the floor this year, that reality may never come to be.
MORE: Can the Sixers keep Yabusele long-term? Asking a salary cap expert
From @sixersallie.bsky.social: Do you see Justin Edwards in the rotation once the team is fully healthy?
Conversely, I do see Edwards working his way into a regular rotation role. The undrafted rookie two-way wing has been stellar playing for his hometown team, and can be active for another 25 Sixers games before his deal runs out of NBA days — once that number is dwindling, talks about a conversion to a standard contract should escalate.
To some degree, though, Edwards' playing time is dependent on the team experiencing continued bad injury luck or eventually making trades. After all, there are only 240 minutes to hand out, and Nurse is almost infamous for his heavy use of star players. But it has been abundantly clear dating back to the preseason that Nurse is fond of Edwards, and Edwards has crushed every opportunity which has been presented to him so far. He has given the Sixers strong defense against guards and wings alike while being more than capable offensively thanks to strong feel and an incredibly quick trigger on three-point attempts to go with decent efficiency.
Edwards has already earned the complete trust of his coaches, and not only have his minutes been more productive and more consistent than Bona's, but he is also far easier to slot into lineups from a positional perspective. And the latter fact is what gives me confidence he will continue to play. If Paul George, Caleb Martin, KJ Martin and Kelly Oubre Jr. are all healthy, surely Edwards will not play upwards of 25 minutes every night, but even if he is the last player who makes the cut in Sixers head coach Nick Nurse's rotation, there should be room for such a versatile chess piece with upward mobility.
MORE: Diving into Edwards' impressive season
From @kellenpastore.bsky.social: With Tyrese Maxey playing some of his best basketball as the number one guy recently, it has highlighted how far the drop off is to the backup PGs. Could the Sixers make a move for an improvement over Jeff Dowtin Jr.? And will Jared McCain's emergence impact who they target?
As far as the remainder of this season goes, backup point guard may be the team's most significant need should they elect to pursue a deep playoff run. With McCain out for the year due to his torn meniscus, the team does not have any reliable ball-handlers in their rotation aside from Maxey.
Dowtin has 23 NBA days left on his two-way contract and has not been consistently impactful enough to secure the team's backup point guard spot. Kyle Lowry does not have enough burst to create advantages; he cannot serve as the primary ball-handler for any units and is a background piece offensively. Reggie Jackson has had a few strong moments recently, but has not been nearly good enough as a Sixer to justify consistent run.
But next season, McCain will be back. And in just 23 games as a rookie, the Duke product has shown more than enough on-ball chops that he should be penciled in as the Sixer who handles the ball more often than any player other than Maxey. He could come off the bench or he could start alongside Maxey as the team hopes to build a dangerous backcourt for the future, but McCain will end up with the ball a whole lot.
So, yes, McCain's emergence will impact who the Sixers target if they seek an immediate upgrade at backup point guard. In all likelihood, any reinforcement at the position would be an inexpensive, short-term stopgap which does not prevent McCain from getting as many reps with the ball in his hands as possible next season.
MORE: Embiid ruled out for next two games
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