The Philadelphia 76ers made moves in the offseason to improve the depth around star duo Joel Embiid and James Harden. The Sixers brought in some solid role players, which changed the starting lineup.
Philadelphia’s regular starting lineup of Harden, Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, PJ Tucker and Embiid has played together in six games to begin the season and they’re 2-4 in those games.
With Harden out for a few weeks due to a foot injury, Philadelphia will not be able to use that lineup. However, the Sixers should be able to build with that lineup once he returns.
Bleacher Report ranked all of the starting lineups in the NBA, and the Sixers were ninth:
Early returns on this lineup suggested it had more of a learning curve than anticipated. Harden has looked slightly more intent on getting his own offense, Tyrese Maxey looks ready for a bigger scoring role, and Joel Embiid remains one of the game’s most ball-dominant stars. Figuring out the right balance between those three was going to take time, and this injury prolongs that.
Still, even when things didn’t look perfect, Philly’s first five was comfortably outscoring opponents, which is a pretty good indication of its upside. And a brief absence from Harden might actually give Tobias Harris and PJ Tucker a confidence boost.
Both forwards are getting fewer shots than they did last season (6 per game for Tucker in 2021-22 to 4 this season; 14 to 11.7 for Harris). Without Harden’s 15.9 shots accounted for, they have a chance to dabble with some higher usage now.
The Sixers must rely on Maxey to be both a scorer and a distributor and they need to play with pace for them to have success on the offensive end until Harden returns. The next opportunity for both to happen is Thursday’s matchup with the Atlanta Hawks.
.