For a pleasant change, the Philadelphia 76ers entered training camp this year without any major distractions. No mercurial point guards were sulking their way through trade demands. Instead, they were riding the wave of good vibes that came from an active offseason.
The Sixers turned over a majority of their roster this summer -- have fun in Detroit, Tobias! -- but their biggest move by far was signing Paul George in free agency. The nine-time All-Star is already drawing rave reviews from head coach Nick Nurse, who was bubbling over with excitement at media day about his versatile new forward.
"I think he's one of those guys who can do so many things," Nurse said. "I would imagine it's going to be a pretty big menu of things we do with him, from bringing the ball up the floor to posting and everything in between there. With guys like him, you've got to keep him moving around from the mid-post to the elbow to pin-downs to setting screens to coming off back screens -- all those things. I think you give him a big menu of things, again, just to use his talents. His talents are he can score in a variety of ways, he can run pick-and-roll, he can run offense a little bit. I'm just excited to see how it looks."
On paper, George should be a seamless fit between Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. The nine-time All-Star is a nightly 20-point scorer who has quietly developed into one of the best high-volume three-point shooters in the NBA. He has also averaged at least five rebounds, three assists and one steal per game in each of the past nine seasons.
Still, recent NBA history is littered with star duos or Big Threes who struggled to coalesce. They fell into a your-turn, my-turn dynamic instead of learning to complement one another, which hindered their effectiveness and put a clear ceiling on their team's aspirations.
The 2024-25 Sixers are hoping to avoid falling into that same trap.
"We all want each other to be ourselves," George said. "That's the only way this thing is going to work. I've got to be Paul George, Joel's got to be Joel Embiid, Tyrese has got to be Tyrese Maxey for this thing to work and for us to learn and figure out how to play amongst one another."
Embiid might be the biggest concern in that regard. Maxey proved that he can ratchet up his offensive output in the absence of James Harden and Ben Simmons in recent years, but he also willingly took a backseat to both Harden and Embiid following the former's arrival at the 2022 trade deadline. George spent the past half-decade playing alongside Kawhi Leonard on the Los Angeles Clippers, and he had no problem admitting that Leonard was the No. 1 option in L.A.
Embiid, who won the MVP award in 2022-23 and was on pace to repeat last year prior to his meniscus injury, has never been the second banana. He has always been the Sixers' focal point, as evidenced by his comical on/off splits over the years.
But to hear Embiid tell it, that was more a byproduct of the personnel around him.
"My job this year and what I really want to focus on is empowering these guys," Embiid said. "I will do it when I have to. If that means I'm going to have to score some points at some point, then I'm going to do it. But most of the time, I really want to focus on really letting the game come to me.
"I think in previous years, I've had to do it because we didn't necessarily have the manpower for me to kind of take that step back and put us in a position to win. But I feel like this year, with the guys that we added -- Paul, (Maxey) taking another step, Caleb, Guerschon, Eric ... we added a lot of guys. Kyle is back. That's my job this year, and then really fit in when I'm needed."
The Sixers have long lacked a reliable backup center behind Embiid, which perhaps contributed him to playing through injuries during the regular season. Now they have Andre Drummond, who filled in capably for him during the 2021-22 campaign whenever he missed time.
They also have Maxey, an ascendant 23-year-old who made his first of what could be many All-Star Game appearances last year. Based on early reports from training camp, he appears to be taking on more of a vocal leadership role both on and off the court. Another leap might be forthcoming.
"I just don't want to put any thoughts of any ceilings on this guy," Nurse said. "I think he's so good -- his speed, his deep shooting. He's getting more experience. I think he's getting better defensively. He took a step forward that way. We're expecting more of that. I'm expecting him to take another big step this year."
George should be a huge boon for the Sixers, too.
"Paul's great," Maxey said. "He can do a lot of different things. You can kind of just plug and play him, too. That's the crazy part about him. He's been an All-Star, All-NBA player for almost a decade, I think. So he knows how to play. He knows how to play a role if he has to. He knows how to bail you out if he has to. And then, at the end of the day, he can also play defense and guard multiple positions. That's going to really help us a lot as well. I think Nick Nurse is going to do a good job of featuring him and putting him in the right spots to be successful."
Having Maxey and Embiid to shoulder more of the scoring load could help Embiid manage himself more effectively throughout the grind of the 82-game regular season. Keeping him healthy appears to be the Sixers' No. 1 priority heading into the year.
But when the Sixers' Big Three does play together, they're focused on how best to complement one another.
"I think this is the first time I've played with an elite point guard and elite big man all at once," George said. "For us, it's just countering off each other. Nothing's forced for one person to kind of take that load; we can share that responsibility. But I see us flowing. I think all of us can kind of play our game within the game.
"Joel, he's obviously dominant in the paint and on the perimeter. Tyrese is amazing in transition and in a half-court setting as well -- so having the floor spaced around him. And myself, being able to play off a big man and play in transition with Tyrese. I think all three of us can flow and make the game easy for all of us."
No one should expect the new-look Sixers to figure it out right away. Perhaps in part to preempt early-season overreactions, Maxey warned that it'll take time for them to coalesce.
"I don't think it'll be seamless," he said. "I think it'll be difficult, of course. It's a lot of fresh faces. We've got to learn different offenses. We've got to learn each other, where each other likes the ball, what combinations work, what combinations don't work. Once we figure all that out, I think it'll be great."
If they do successfully figure it out, it could result in a long-awaited championship.