76ers 2025-2026 Season: The Rise of Skywalker (Thread 1)

76ciology · Post #2 » by **76ciology** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 2:58 am

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Mik317 · Post #3 » by **Mik317** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 1:52 pm

not going to lie and its probably not a surprise to anyone

but my bitch ass is very negative on this season lol. Not like we had many options but doesn't really feel like we addressed any issues sans getting younger. Still lot of fake shooters (i.e guys who will at least take the shot but won't scare defenses that much). Still no wings/forwards. And the elephant in the room is that we still will rely heavily on a broken man doing it all or most of it in order for us to function let alone win.

just don't see the vision atm. We need VJ to be great from the jump and I am expecting him to be rather bad for most of the season (Ace playing well sure would have people being real normal about it too lol). We need Maxey to take a Dame Lillard level leap...which I love Maxey..its not happening. He is best off ball and if Broken Man remains borked then yeah not happening. McCain is already hurt again. Edwards looks like a fluke. We botched the Grimes contract. And our other addition is also already hurt.

Just not a lot to be hyped about imo...and the worst part is that I don't think we get lottery luck twice lol.

prove me wrong you losers

Negrodamus · Post #4 » by **Negrodamus** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 2:22 pm

Once again, morbidly curious on the season. McCain and Edgecombe can do a lot of heavy lifting on my interest in this team. Sucks that McCain is already injured, but that guard rotation is going to be able to carry non-Embiid offense which is something we haven't been able to say since the Butler days.

PG is the biggest disappointment though. Him not being ready for the season is so bad and the PHLY guys were predicting November as his start date.

At 100% (which we may never see), I'd run a VJ, Maxey, PG, Walker, Embiid starting lineup. VJ and Walker are plus rebounders with Maxey and PG being the guys that stretch the court. That leaves McCain, Grimes, Oubre, Watford, Bona lineup which is also a decent mix of size, ballhandlers, and shooting. Could see some fun mix and match options in that 2 deep. Justin Edwards has to prove to me that he is an actual shooter.

I think this is the first time that we are not expected to trot out some dudes who have absolutely no business being on the floor (Reggie Jackson, Gordon, Lowry, etc) which is a nice changeup.

HotelVitale · Post #5 » by **HotelVitale** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 2:24 pm

Mik317 wrote:not going to lie and its probably not a surprise to anyone

but my bitch ass is very negative on this season lol.

just don't see the vision atm. We need VJ to be great from the jump and I am expecting him to be rather bad for most of the season (Ace playing well sure would have people being real normal about it too lol).

Just not a lot to be hyped about imo...and the worst part is that I don't think we get lottery luck twice lol.

prove me wrong you losers

C'mon, mik, what you talking about? No one thinks we're competing for a title or for anything else this year. There's nothing to 'negative' about here, you're talking like you're out on a limb here by worrying we'll be irrelevant when everyone fully assumes we'll be irrelevant.

That's what's good about this season--we don't 'need' anything to go a certain way, it's a free season with no expectations. VJ could be fun to follow and if so that's great. McCain could build on last season and that could be great. PG and Embiid could be pretty healthy and that could be great, and certainly no one's planning on it. If none of it happens, we'll have a mediocre year like pretty much everyone expects, and we'll at least have a clearer sense of what the plan should be going forward.

Honestly not sure where you get some of these takes. We don't 'need' VJ to play at all, already have 3 solid guards, and a guy like Edwards is basically just gravy. Got him for nothing, gave him a very small contract, won't be a deep part of the team's future no matter what. And being bothered by Ace Bailey is just loser stuff. It's clear now that he wasn't a better prospect than VJ before even getting to his red flags, if he improves and adapts well then it is what it is, same as with every other draft pick. We've won plenty of those things lately too so it's not like we're cursed or whatever.

ExplosionsInDaSky · Post #6 » by **ExplosionsInDaSky** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 3:22 pm

Edgecombe is the main reason for my remaining interest. McCain got hurt so he's out, George is hurt, Embiid is still "ramping" up his rehabilitation process which at this point mirrors Andrew Bynum. IDK man, can we be competitive with Maxey, Edgecombe, and Johnni Broome? Personally, I think it'll be more of what we saw last year. Edgecombe might surprise us tho, and Maxey still has that sunshine glow.

Negrodamus · Post #7 » by **Negrodamus** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 4:00 pm

Isn't McCain out like 4-6 weeks? And it's been like a week and a half? He'll be back maybe 2-3 weeks into the season. Probably before PG comes back.

76ciology · Post #8 » by **76ciology** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 4:11 pm

Nobody’s excited for Baby Wemby?

fkd215 · Post #9 » by **fkd215** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 4:29 pm

I'm approaching this year with the freedom of no expectations. Unless we're deluged with injury like last year, we should be around .500, get into the play-in. There should be some fun moments watching VJ and McCain develop, and tickets will be cheaper bc no one will want to go. Like a process year but we might play a game or two in late April. Easy come, easy go.

fkd215 · Post #10 » by **fkd215** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 4:43 pm

To put it another way, this season will be like having a fling while you're on a 5 day work trip to Cleveland. You're not going to meet your soulmate, but you might have a few laughs.

the_process · Post #11 » by **the_process** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 5:51 pm

We already know, based on their actions, that the team doesn't have very high expectations of itself, regardless of what any particular mouthpiece may say publicly.

Therefore, the only things to root for this season, in order:

-Development of the young guys, primarily but not limited to McCain and Edgecombe.

-Not to give OKC a high lottery pick.

-Hoping the team's two anchor contracts actually perform well enough where they could be tradable,

Jailblazers7 · Post #12 » by **Jailblazers7** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 6:12 pm

I’m a complete neutral on this season. Enough young guys to keep me interested and engaged. Offset by major pessimism regarding Embiid/George. However, I’m keeping open the possibility of being pleasantly surprised by our old, overpaid hospital patients.

Negrodamus · Post #13 » by **Negrodamus** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 6:19 pm

Read on Twitter

Mik317 · Post #14 » by **Mik317** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 6:27 pm

Negrodamus · Post #15 » by **Negrodamus** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 6:36 pm

Read on Twitter

CMB is going to be the guy I fear we missed out on. The two way potential is insane.

Winejk · Post #16 » by **Winejk** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 6:54 pm

Negrodamus wrote:

Read on Twitter

Oh we all know where this leads. It will be later diagnosed as a tumor that has zombie decay which not only ends VJ's career but the turns the rest of the team into zombies.

Post #17 » by **Stanford** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 7:01 pm

Haters will say they knew VJ had greyscale the whole time.

the_process · Post #18 » by **the_process** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 7:39 pm

fkd215 wrote:To put it another way, this season will be like having a fling while you're on a 5 day work trip to Cleveland. You're not going to meet your soulmate, but you might have a few laughs.

Not sure you want to be flinging in CLE. But to each their own.

the_process · Post #19 » by **the_process** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 7:42 pm

Negrodamus wrote:

Read on Twitter

CMB is going to be the guy I fear we missed out on. The two way potential is insane.

I'll say it. He tops out as a taller Tony Allen.

FlyingArrow · Post #20 » by **FlyingArrow** » Thu Oct 9, 2025 8:25 pm

We could win a championship. All we need is...

* Everyone to be healthy in the playoffs
* Healthy Embiid to show only a 'normal' falloff for his age. If we see that, he's still top 15 in the league - maybe top 10.
* PG to still be a fringe All-Star player when healthy. Or at least shouting distance of that level.
* Out of McCain, Maxey, VJ, and Grimes... see three of them make a noticeable improvement on their game. At their ages, growth is still expected, so expecting growth from 3 out of 4 is not out of the question. The 4th (unless it's Maxey) could actually be injured as long as the other 3 show improvement
* Some luck. All of the above only makes a contender - not even close to being the favorite. We'd still need to have some luck in the playoffs.

None of those are totally out of the question, but many of them are well below 50/50 propositions. We really need to hit on all of them... which even then only makes us a contender, not a favorite. All together, I'd give it a 10-15% chance of the Sixers being the in the conversation come playoff time. Less than 2% chance of actually winning. But not zero.