Welcome to another edition of 5 Sixers thoughts as another week of Sixers preseason begins. The Sixers will be able to practice all week before playing host to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night in their final exhibition. Then it will be time to prepare for opening night and the Boston Celtics on Oct. 22.
On the agenda today: Joel Embiid's surprise appearance on Sunday, a pair of key Sixers yet to suit up in games or participate in complete practices, a rookie trying to find his footing and a few more notes from the team's Blue X White Scrimmage in Delaware:
Paul George's recovery continues
Thursday felt like a rather significant checkpoint in terms of what the public knows about Paul George in his recovery from an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee in July.
All along, the Sixers have preached patience with the nine-time All-Star, who acknowledged on Media Day that he was a ways away from suiting up in game action. George is 35 years old and owed another $162 million over the next three years; the Sixers do not have much choice but to be patient.
Up until Thursday, George had only been seen doing individual work after practices, not yet cleared to do any sort of live action with contact. But when the end of Thursday's practice was opened up to the media, George was dominating a series of one-on-one matchups against Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Justin Edwards, much to the delight of Embiid.
"He is progressing," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said moments later. "They're still working out some things. He did do some of the stuff early in practice as well for the first time. So that's also a progression."
George was moving very well in those one-on-one sessions late in practice, and when Nurse said George was doing stuff early in practice, that primarily means five-on-zero work. It allows George to create some sense of familiarity and cohesion within the team's starting unit before he can be at full throttle.
Like for Embiid, the Sixers' position on George as of this writing is that there are still "boxes to check" in his recovery before a timeline for a return to game action can be established. Opening night in Boston is only nine days away. Will George be in the lineup against the Celtics?
MORE: Sixers player preview: What should be expected of Paul George?
How would a Joel Embiid/Adem Bona pairing work?
The story out of Sunday afternoon's event in Delaware was that Embiid not only played for most of the Sixers' scrimmage, but that he dominated whenever on the floor. It was the first time Embiid has publicly played in live action since February, when he made his 19th and final appearance of the 2024-25 regular season.
For much of Embiid's time on the floor, he shared the floor with Adem Bona, the sophomore-to-be slated to serve as Embiid's primary backup once the season begins. Bona has had disappointing performances in all three Sixers preseason games, but he was the secondary star of Sunday's scrimmage. Bona's athleticism overwhelmed many of his teammates, and playing alongside Embiid ended up netting him a handful of easy scoring opportunities. Is this a thing?
"That has been my goal since I got here, since I got drafted: at some point, I want to be able to share the floor with Joel," Bona said after the scrimmage. "I've been working towards developing my game to be able to complement his game while I'm on the floor with him."
Moments earlier, Nurse expressed some genuine optimism that an Embiid/Bona frontcourt could be viable. He highlighted high-low passing, rebounding and rim protection as areas where that tandem could take advantage of opposing units, and said that he would view Embiid as the power forward and Bona as the center in those lineups.
That is certainly true on offense, where Bona has little utility outside of screening and play-finishing, while Embiid is one of the better jump-shooters at his size in recent NBA history. On defense, however, Nurse is going to have to get creative for the pairing to work.
For that reason, this should not be viewed as a pairing the Sixers are thinking about relying on, rather one they can turn to if a matchup calls for it. If Embiid and Bona share the floor, expect a lot of pre-switching against ball screens to keep Embiid close to the rim. But that pairing is a better idea when the Sixers are facing double-big lineups or ones featuring a non-shooting perimeter player.
On Sunday, Embiid roamed off two-way forward Jabari Walker, a competent shooter but not a particularly strong one to date. If a player not known for his accuracy as a three-point shooter is on the floor, it will be easier for the Sixers to play their two bigs and dare that suspect shooter to beat them from beyond the arc.
MORE: Takeaways from Embiid's plays first public live action, minutes with Bona
Trendon Watford's missed opportunity
As Trendon Watford sat on the bench for Team White with a practice jersey draped over his hoodie, it was difficult not to wonder about how much ground he could have gained over the last few weeks if not for his ongoing hamstring issue. Part of why the Sixers have experimented with Embiid and Bona sharing the floor is that they have a desperate need to find players who can help piece together 48 minutes at power forward. If the season started today, two-way forward Dominick Barlow would very possibly be starting at that spot.
It could have been Watford's job to grab. The soon-to-be 25-year-old point forward is on a standard contract with the Sixers, an inherent advantage over Barlow and Walker regardless of the positive plays made by both players. Whenever Watford is healthy -- the Sixers have never expected this to be a long-term injury, but it is close to wiping out his entire training camp and preseason -- he will still have a chance to assert himself in a weak power forward mix.
Watford's ball-handling at 6-foot-9 is unique; as Nurse tries to weaponize Tyrese Maxey and his other talented guards as off-ball players there is a clear avenue for Watford to become a key component of the rotation, whether he starts or comes off the bench.
But as Barlow continually gets first-team reps, it is easy to fathom Watford being in that position right now had his hamstring issue not arisen and persisted for longer than the team anticipated.
Johni Broome firing away, to no avail (so far)
The main victims of Embiid's dominance on Sunday were backup bigs Johni Broome and Andre Drummond. Based on what the rookie said on Media Day after a few weeks of unofficial team activities, it was nothing new.
"He practiced the other day and I had to guard him. He kind of... he kind of scored a couple in a row," Broome said. "But that's what you would kind of expect: you play good defense and he has better offense. That's the type of player he is, but I'm glad that I'm going against him in practice and I'm going to have him on my side during the year, because he's a great person to learn from and he's very open to talk to you about things that you need to improve on and things like that. So I think he's a good part of me being a rookie."
Broome, 23, has an uncertain role as a rookie. The Sixers have potential needs for depth at power forward and center, and the team drafted him out of Auburn in part because they believed he could credibly play at either position. But Broome's doubters would argue that he is too small to consistently hold his own against NBA centers and not athletic or skilled enough to survive against modern power forwards.
If Broome wants to stick at either position long-term, he will probably need to develop into a reliable three-point shooter. The Sixers have hope for him on that front despite collegiate shooting numbers which were middling at best. In 50 minutes across the team's three exhibitions, Broome has attempted eight threes -- including five in the final minutes of Friday's game against Orlando. That volume is encouraging. The fact that he has come up empty is not:
"I have a lot of room to improve my jump shot," Broome told PhillyVoice in July at Las Vegas Summer League. "But I think by me putting in the time and putting up the shots, that it will improve."
MORE: Broome lands with Sixers, a partnership two years in the making
More sights and sounds from the Blue X White Scrimmage
• Just as his long road to recovery after a torn meniscus was nearing its end, Jared McCain is now recovering from the torn UCL in his right thumb. McCain will likely have to wait until next month for his chance to return to NBA action, but that clearly has not prevented him from getting shots up however he can:
• The Blue X White Scrimmage was the first chance for Sixers fans to see Quentin Grimes after a long restricted free agency failed to produce a multiyear contract. Grimes has a whole lot riding on this season after accepting the one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer.Grimes' agent told PhillyVoice last month that the 25-year-old guard felt "disrespect" coming from the Sixers as negotiations never got off the ground. But Grimes said all of the right things after his first practice back with the team and has appeared enthused ever since, including in Delaware when he threw a lob to Oubre for a one-handed slam that brought the house down.
• It is hard to find more different bigs than Bona and Broome, and the massive athletic advantage held by Bona was on display when he met Broome at the summit and blocked the rookie's attempt at an alley-oop slam. Bona punctuated the block by staring down his new teammate.
"I've got to let him know," Bona said as he attempted not to erupt with laughter. "I've got to let the rooks know."
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