Four Sixers Observations At The Season Quarter Mark

With various injuries keeping James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid out of the lineup for stretches, the Sixers have survived reasonably well, posting a 12-11 record despite having rarely been fully healthy.

Mike O’Connor is the best O’Connor in basketball writing. Previously of The Athletic, you can find Mike on Twitter @MOConnor_NBA. Mike’s writing is brought to you by Body Bio, supplements based on science, focusing on your gut and brain health. Get 20% off E-Lyte, Gut+, and all Body Bio products with promo code RTRS20 at Body Bio’s website.

---

Before the season started, it was often said that this was the deepest roster the Sixers have had in recent memory. Through the quarter way mark of the season, that assertion has been tested to its limits, and I would argue that it has proven to be true. With various injuries keeping James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid out of the lineup for stretches, the Sixers have survived reasonably well, posting a 12-11 record despite having rarely been fully healthy.

The emergences of Shake Milton and De’Anthony Melton have been key factors in keeping the team afloat, so that seems like a perfect place to start as I share four of my biggest takeaways from the first quarter of the Sixers’ season.

De’Anthony Melton should start over P.J. Tucker in many matchups when the Sixers are fully healthy

When it comes to making key decisions pertaining to your starting lineups or rotation, I always default to the belief that you should give the edge to the better player, rather than get cute trying to create the perfect fit. And in the case of Melton and Tucker, there is an obvious edge there for Melton, especially on the offensive end of the floor.

This has less to do with being disappointed in Tucker – though I do think the fact that teams are starting to completely ignore his shooting is worrisome – and more to do with Melton’s impressive start to the season. Defensively, the aggregate impact of these two players is about equal, with Tucker obviously being better suited to guard big wings. But offensively, there is a world of difference here, and that dynamic is only going to become more important come playoff time.

There are obvious instances where you need Tucker’s individual defense in the starting lineup to match up against superstar wings; Boston and Miami are prime examples there. But against teams without a Jayson Tatum or Jimmy Butler type? There’s no question Melton should start.

The Sixers’ previous three games against Atlanta, Cleveland, and Memphis are prime examples. Against Atlanta, Melton could’ve started in the backcourt next to Maxey and guarded Trae Young, while Harden guarded De’Andre Hunter. The same goes for Cleveland, where Melton would guard Donovan Mitchell, and Harden would shift to the 3 to guard Mamadi Diakite. Same with Memphis, where Melton could match up with Ja Morant as Harden floats around guarding John Konchar.

Again, this won’t work in every matchup, but the point is that when the Sixers can do it, they should do it. Melton is simply a better basketball player than Tucker at this stage, and any matchup that allows them to start him is a win for the Sixers. Oh, and one other benefit: starting Melton and deploying him as a bit more of a wing would open the door for more Shake Milton minutes once the Sixers are healthy again.

What is the deal with Joel Embiid’s flat emotional state?

I thought AU’s piece a couple weeks back about Embiid’s mopey start to the season was excellent. It reminded me of the very first piece I ever wrote for the Ricky, where I arrived at the conclusion that the biggest reason the 2019-20 Sixers were so miserable was that Embiid was miserable.

Back then, there was good reason for Embiid to be miserable – the team had gotten rid of his closest on and off-court friends, and had saddled him with a bunch of non-shooting, non-dribbling teammates that weighed his game down.

This year, though, I struggle to find any reason that Embiid could feel as miserable as he looks. The team had an excellent offseason, James Harden got himself in shape, Tyrese Maxey took another leap, Tobias Harris has further adapted his game, and there was no massive off-court drama, as there was last year with Ben Simmons. And yet, even when Embiid is playing unbelievably well, he looks like he is not having the slightest bit of fun.

Embiid’s malaise, regardless of the cause, is extremely concerning when you consider the fact that this is a team and a player who came into the season with a whole lot to prove. Embiid has simply not earned the right to be bored and disinterested with the regular season. After yet another playoff disappointment, the hope was that Embiid and the Sixers would come out with a certain level of motivation that they have not yet shown.

With Embiid’s flat demeanor, this is a team with zero identity. I have made the argument a million times over that in the NBA, your team’s culture and identity always takes on the personality of your best player. And right now, the Sixers’ best player has no personality. Sure, P.J. Tucker can yell at everyone, but your culture is never going to be set by a 37-year-old who is in his first year with the team and averages 3.5 points per game.

Embiid is likely never going to be a vocal leader, giving motivational speeches in the huddle and using psychological tricks to try and get the most out of the 9th man. But the least he could do is regain some of the joy that he had earlier in his career. Back then, even though Embiid wasn’t a tone-setter within his own locker room, at least he was an asshole to the other team during the games. He at least had a propensity to stir up some fireworks that the team could rally around.

Nowadays, he’s just flat. He’s just sort of there, going through the motions, carving teams up while not saying a word like a depressed Tim Duncan. 

We can debate how much of a detriment it is to their championship odds that Embiid isn’t a big rah-rah guy in the locker room. But what isn’t debatable is that the team stands absolutely no shot if the big fella continues to play with a completely flat emotional state. 

Give B-ball Paul some run at the four

This goes back to my original point about Melton that you should always default to playing your best players more minutes. And right now, Paul Reed is absolutely one of the Sixers’ eight best players. 

Not only that, but the Sixers have a desperate need for the things that Reed brings – deflections, rebounds, hustle plays, etc. He brings an element of physicality and chaos that your other options at the four (namely Harris and Niang) do not bring. The Embiid-Reed front court is one that I would deploy for five or so minutes per game when the team looks flat, or is getting out-hustled. 

Sure, there is reasonable concern about the spacing aspect of things, but allow me to remind you that we spent five years talking ourselves into Embiid being able to play next to a complete non-shooter in Simmons. The Sixers can survive for a handful of minutes per game with Embiid having a slightly less luxurious amount of space for his post-ups.

It is safe to say we are at the point where Reed is too good to only play 10-12 minutes in key matchups; they need to find a way to have him on the floor a bit more often when it counts, and giving him some minutes next to Embiid is the only way to do that.

Shake Milton’s emergence leaves more questions than answers

While the Shake Milton (re) emergence has been a joy to watch, it still leaves me a bit confused on multiple levels. Where was this player for the past 1.5 years? Is this new version of Shake – or something approaching this level – here to stay? And even if this is his new norm, would he be worth more to the Sixers on the roster, or in a trade?

Remember, this is not the first time we have seen Shake explode for an extended stretch. In a 3-week stretch from late February to mid-March of 2020, he averaged 17.8 points per game on 57 percent shooting. While he was solid in the bubble and had a respectable first half of the 2020-21 season, we haven’t seen him play at that level for any extended period of time since. 

The point being, how could anyone know whether or not this could continue? I don’t feel as if Shake has added anything in particular to his game; he’s just playing with a bit more poise, and the jump shots are going in. That may sound simplistic, but those two things have always been the difference between him being a no-brainer rotation player and a break-in-case-of-emergency ninth man.

With Harden and Maxey returning soon, and Melton having solidified himself as a high-end rotation player, one wonders if this all ends with Milton being sent out in a trade. I don’t see his value being sky-high, especially given that he’s on an expiring contract, but perhaps he ends up being the chip that gets them over the top in a Matisse Thybulle and/or Furkan Korkmaz trade. Some sort of package involving those three players in exchange for a quality veteran wing (Jae Crowder, anyone?) would seem to make a lot of sense.

I would love to see Milton continue this level of play and stick around for the long run in a Sixers uniform; he is, believe it or not, the third-longest tenured Sixers player, and it would be cool to see him succeed for a long time here. But the most likely scenario here is that his play tails off a bit, his minutes take a major hit once Maxey and Harden return, and he eventually gets thrown into a trade.