2021 Philadelphia Sixers Depth Chart
| # | # | # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard |  Ben Simmons | 25 |  Shake Milton | 18 |  Tyrese Maxey | 0 |
| Shooting Guard |  Seth Curry | 31 |  George Hill | 3 |  Furkan Korkmaz | 30 |
| Small Forward |  Danny Green | 14 |  Matisse Thybulle | 22 | ||
| Power Forward |  Tobias Harris | 33 |  Mike Scott | 1 | ||
| Center |  Joel Embiid | 21 |  Dwight Howard | 39 |  Kyle O'Quinn | 10 |
The Process in Philadelphia was validated last season for the Sixers as they finished 52-30 before losing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Boston Celtics. The Sixers had one of the top offenses in the league last season, ranking 7th with their 109.8 points per game, and their 105.0 defensive rating ranked them fourth out of all 30 teams. They are built around All-Star Joel Embiid who is their defensive stalwart in the paint and a monster on offense and have a ton of length and athleticism with Ben Simmons and Robert Covington on the floor alongside him. Amidst some controversy surrounding former GM Bryan Colangelo and “Twittergate”, the Sixers managed to have a productive offseason in through the draft and free agency. They acquired Mike Muscala from the Hawks, through the Carmelo Anthony and OKC deal, along with Wilson Chandler from the Nuggets. They also picked up Zhaire Smith and Landry Shamet in the first round of the draft and re-signed JJ Redick to a new one-year deal. With LeBron James heading West, the Sixers and their young core are poised to compete for the top of the Eastern Conference this season, assuming they continue the growth and progression they showed last season.
Ben Simmons isn’t your traditional point guard but he did an excellent job leading the offense for the Sixers last season. He averaged 15.8 points, 8.2 assists, and 8.1 rebounds per game in his “rookie” season and was incredibly efficient from the floor, connecting on 54.5 percent of his attempts. He did a fantastic job last season adapting his game to what defense gave him, especially since he struggles with his shot outside of the paint, but will need to grow more if the Sixers want to continue to grow. There was plenty of drama surrounding Markelle Fultz last season but with another offseason under his belt he should be good to go, giving the Sixers exceptional depth at the point guard position. Alongside Simmons and Fultz in the backcourt, veteran shooter JJ Redick leads a pretty deep group of two-guards. Redick was outstanding in all aspects for the Sixers last season and averaged 17.1 points and three assists per game for them. He is still one of the best shooters in the NBA and connected on 42 percent of his three-points attempts last season. T.J. McConnell provides the Sixers with another ball handler off the bench and is a high-energy player that has starter experience. Zhaire Smith may not get a lot of minutes this season but he looks to be the real deal and will eventually contribute on this team.
The Sixers are incredibly deep on the wings this year and that starts with Robert Covington at the small forward position. Covington had an up-and-down year last season but still averaged 12.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game to go along with 1.7 steals. He is a fantastic defender that has the ability to switch on to small players and help out with defensive assignments on guards. Wilson Chandler will play behind Covington and is coming off a down season in Denver. He is still an excellent shooter that has shot 50.1 percent from the floor over his career and shot 36 percent from beyond-the arc last season. Dario Saric leads a deep unit at the power forward position for the Sixers and brings excellent court vision, a very underrated passing ability, and can space the floor. Saric averaged 14.6 points on 45.3 percent shooting and 6.7 rebounds per game last season and was an invaluable asset to the Sixers when Embiid missed games. Mike Muscala will play behind Saric, and share minutes with Wilson Chandler at the position, and brings more veteran experience to the second unit. Joel Embiid is of course the cornerstone of everything that the Sixers do so his health and player development is of utter importance to the team. Embiid was cleared to play over 30 minutes and on back-to-backs last season which was incredibly important to the team’s overall success and the All-Star big man produced some massive numbers. He averaged 22.9 points and 11 rebounds per game and shot almost 53 percent from the floor. He struggled with his three-point shot, connecting on just 30.8 percent of attempts, but shot 36.7 percent in 2016-17 so he should be able to bounce back from a poor season from three. If Embiid were to get injured, the Sixers still have veteran Amir Johnson behind him who brings a veteran presence and defensive ability to the team.