Sitting at 3-13 on the season after Sunday night's blowout home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, the Sixers continue to desperately search for answers as a season they entered with so much optimism has turned into a total catastrophe. Predictably, the tenor of Sixers discourse around these parts has taken a turn for the worse.
As we do every Tuesday, let's get to a Sixers mailbag. Once again, questions come from my new followers over at Bluesky. Let's get to it:
From @mmmmbrownlee.bsky.social: I wake up every day expecting Nick Nurse to be fired by the time lunch rolls around. Should I stop assuming this is going to happen any time soon/at all?
For the foreseeable future, my answer would be yes, you should stop assuming this is going to happen. If the Sixers somehow continue to play at a level this poor for several weeks, though, the whispers about Nurse's poor start to the season will turn into screams. And there are very legitimate gripes to have with the job Nurse has done, even while acknowledging that he has operated under incredibly difficult circumstances.
Aside from rookie Jared McCain, who looks every bit like a star in the making, and Guerschon Yabusele, who appears to be a rotation-caliber player on a nightly basis, which players on this team have performed better than expected? In fact, are there any other players to receive significant minutes at any point in the season who have not noticeably disappointed relative to what was anticipated from them?
Caleb Martin and Kelly Oubre Jr. were slated to start in between the Sixers' three All-Stars. Right now, it is unclear if either player is capable of handling that sort of responsibility for a quality team. Eric Gordon started on Opening Night and has continued to see his role wane as his three-point stroke fails to find its typical form. Kyle Lowry could not handle a starter's workload for even a brief stretch. Andre Drummond, thought to be an elite backup center, has struggled in increased minutes. To some degree, all of this reflects poorly on Nurse — though the finger can also be pointed at a front office which may have made serious misevaluations of these players and relied on older pieces to fill out Nurse's rotation.
But what happens if the Sixers actually fire Nurse? Which of his assistant coaches has enough basketball brilliance to step into the lead shot-calling role and enable a group filled with flawed players to begin winning games?
There is no doubt that Nurse's coaching in 2024-25 has left a lot to be desired. But I have trouble imagining any sort of alternative scenario between now and the end of the season that gives the Sixers a better chance than sticking with Nurse, widely-regarded as one of the better coaches in the NBA since he won a championship in his first season at the helm with the Toronto Raptors.
MORE: Sunday stats: Breaking down disastrous first month of season
From @yduker.bsky.social: At what point this season should the team seriously consider a mini-tank to keep its 2025 draft pick? I know it’s not ideal, but this team isn’t built to withstand the barrage of injuries this year.
I believe that as long as Joel Embiid has not been ruled out for the remainder of the season, the Sixers will be doing everything they can to win games. They only need to attain a top-10 seed in the barren Eastern Conference to qualify for postseason play, though if they are the No. 9 or No. 10 seed they will win to need back-to-back do-or-die games in order to reach the actual playoffs.
It can very easily be argued that this is the wrong position to hold, but my inclination is that the Sixers still believe if they can eventually get their entire team healthy at the right time, they have enough talent to knock off any team they face.
However, their first-round pick this season will belong to the Oklahoma City Thunder… unless it falls within the first six selections, at which point the Sixers' obligation to the Thunder would be delayed by a year.
Last week, I did a deep dive into the probabilities surrounding the NBA Draft Lottery as it relates to that top-six protection. From that story, here are the Sixers' chances of keeping their first-rounder based on each theoretical landing spot within the lottery ("1" means worst record in the NBA, "2" means second-worst record, and so on…):
| Lottery position | Sixers' chance of keeping first-rounder |
| 1 | 100.0% |
| 2 | 100.0% |
| 3 | 93.0% |
| 4 | 81.1% |
| 5 | 64.0% |
| 6 | 45.8% |
| 7 | 31.9% |
| 8 | 26.3% |
| 9 | 20.2% |
| 10 | 13.9% |
| 11 | 9.4% |
| 12 | 7.1% |
| 13 | 4.7% |
| 14 | 2.4% |
Given the massive investments of time, money and other resources made by the Sixers into the 2024-25 season, the team needing to shift to focusing on keeping a lightly-protected draft choice would be legitimately humiliating. But that does not mean it is out of the question.
MORE: Diving into Sixers' 2025 protected first-rounder
From @maxknee.com: Is the season really lost? Do you think if Joel Embiid and Paul George stay reasonably healthy there's a chance they can make a run?
This sort of ties into the last question. I have a difficult time imagining this Sixers team making a real playoff run, but they are not exactly in any position to sit on their hands and wait for a dream season. Embiid is 30 years old and his left knee alone seems to be running on fumes already. George will be 35 in May. The Sixers set everything up to maximize their championship window over the next few years, and so again, it is hard to imagine them ever throwing in the towel.
Does that mean the season is "lost?" I'm not sure, in part because I think that means different things for different people.
What is a lost season? Surely, missing the playoffs would be a disappointment of epic proportions. If the Sixers show unity and passion down the stretch of the season and earn a playoff spot while playing at their best, only to crumble in the playoffs again, will that season not be lost?
Some of the people reading this will argue that if this season provides a runway for McCain to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and establish himself as a pillar of the team's future, it will not be a lost season. Other readers believe anything short of a championship parade signals failure. I do not think either of those stances are perfect, though each has validity to some extent.
Given what the Sixers and their fans have been through to this point, though, not even being a serious championship contender would represent failure to me. Time is already running out.
MORE: 5 thoughts: Embiid/George updates nearing, McCain's learning curve, basketball double-headers
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