Since I wrote a story on Thursday looking back at the results of our preseason survey — often pointing out the misconceptions our 300-plus respondents had going into the season — it is only fair that I now revisit my own predictions, published on Oct. 23 before the Sixers opened their 2024-25 regular season.
So, let's revisit those predictions, from where I was on the money to calls that totally missed the mark — you are certainly allowed to ignore the former and laugh at the latter if you would like.
MORE: All 15 predictions
What I got right
• After a purportedly impressive training camp and ensuing preseason performance that turned a lot of heads, I bought some stock in Guerschon Yabusele. His three-point stroke looked clean and quick, and he appeared more than happy to fire away time and time again. Additionally, he emerged as a small-ball center option in the absence of Joel Embiid, a position where his shooting became far more valuable — as did his passing chops.
I was part of a significant group of people anticipating Yabusele's emergence as a rotation option for the Sixers, but the overwhelming expectation was that he would help fill the Sixers' apparent hole at power forward. In that sense, I broke off from the masses, predicting he would play the five more than the four due to Embiid's lack of consistent availability:
• I certainly did not expect a 24-58 season for the Sixers in 2024-25, though my record prediction was not exactly rosy given the preseason expectations set for the team:
No matter how many people want to play Monday morning quarterback, they did not see a disaster of this level coming either. But I was at least more alert than some to the potential pitfalls of a top-heavy roster build around injury-prone players, the biggest reason why I predicted the Sixers would not host a playoff series. Clearly, this was not one I even needed to sweat a little bit:
• Part of my calculus was also that the Sixers would not take the regular season as seriously as other teams — something that President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey essentially admitted was the case at his joint exit interview with head coach Nick Nurse last month. In that vein, another prediction that came true:
The only aspect of this one that did not age particularly well was the final sentence. And while I have always been fairly skeptical about the floor and ceiling of a team entirely built around Maxey, the Sixers' fifth-year guard was not as good as I expected him to be this year, even given the circumstances.
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What I got wrong
• It took me about a month to realize how much I had missed the mark on Andre Drummond, who signed a two-year, $10 million contract with a player option to return to the Sixers and stabilize the backup center position behind Joel Embiid. I did not expect Drummond to be an effective option in the playoffs, but was confident he would be as helpful as he was during his first, brief stint with the organization:
It became clear pretty quickly that Drummond had dropped off from his previous standing as a low-end starting-caliber center — not only did he fail to consistently produce, but he was eventually supplanted by Yabusele.
• I was similarly too optimistic about veteran guards Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon — players I had been higher on than many for years before they arrived in Philadelphia. Both missed significant portions of the season and were underwhelming for most of their time on the court. I expected each one to be rotation mainstays for the Sixers:
Frankly, both players had the same issue: as they got older, they finally fell below the requisite threshold of athleticism and mobility to consistently impact winning. It is not that either one needed to be able to rely on their explosion, but they needed enough of it to get by.
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Somewhere in between
I'll go rapid fire here with some calls that were either partially correct or could have turned out to be correct if the season had not gone haywire:
• This prediction about Jared McCain turned out to be true technically speaking, but not at all for the reason I anticipated:
• Caleb Martin came off the bench late in the preseason and in the Sixers' season opener, but I still anticipated he would play heavy minutes and be on the floor in the highest-leverage situations:
This was true during the 29-year-old's 31 games with the Sixers, before the team traded him to the Dallas Mavericks. While I was basically right, I'm not sure this would have remained the case as the season went on with the way Martin was playing.
• I feel strongly that this prediction about KJ Martin was just a few weeks away from looking brilliant when he suffered a stress reaction in his foot on Dec. 23, effectively ending his Sixers tenure:
SIXERS YEAR-IN-REVIEW
Joel Embiid | Guerschon Yabusele | Paul George | Jared McCain | Tyrese Maxey | Andre Drummond | Quentin Grimes | Jared Butler | Kyle Lowry | Kelly Oubre Jr. | Justin Edwards | Ricky Council IV | Eric Gordon | Lonnie Walker IV | Adem Bona
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