Bill Streicher
After departing Wednesday's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers with a sore hamstring, Tyrese Maxey was deemed next man down for the Sixers.
He will miss "a couple of weeks" with a right hamstring injury, according to Shams Charania.
It's a significant loss for Philadelphia no matter how you put it. But, if we zoom out for a moment, the sting is sharper because of the team's 1-6 start to the season than because of the injury's impact on the outlook over the course of 82 games.
There are a plethora of reasons to view it through that lens.
A large part of the argument in favor of having three star-level players is that you can tread water when one goes down. You could point to the team's record to start the season and say that that is nonsense. But, we have to look at this 1-6 start as 1-4 with just Maxey available, 0-2 with Maxey and Paul George available, and 0-0 with those two and Joel Embiid available.
Sure, the only thing that counts is that they're 1-6 and already under pressure to accumulate wins. But, the one lynchpin star who warps all of the data makes his season debut next week.
Embiid and George, together, will be able to hold down the fort. The problem is Philadelphia's plan for back-to-backs. Do the Sixers already feel like they need to abandon that to cover some ground? If they do, I would argue that Maxey is the star they can best survive without. If they don't, Maxey's absence looms large. The thing about plans in any walk of life is that they're subject to change. We'll see if the Sixers are singing the same tune about the back-to-backs as the next couple of weeks go by.
But, until Maxey returns, the conservative approach with Embiid and George on back-to-backs is something that deserves re-consideration. The margin for error is getting thin quickly.
Given the erratic play of Caleb Martin and Kelly Oubre Jr. on the wings and Andre Drummond at center, there's a case to be made that the guard positions are where the Sixers are deepest. After all, Kyle Lowry has been, what, one of their five best players thus far this season?
Speaking of Lowry, let's assume he starts in Maxey's stead. An optimist might say that he should be more effective in a slower-paced environment. That is ostensibly how the Sixers will play with Embiid and George on the court. Nico Batum didn't have a ton of juice. But, he was a really important player for the Sixers because he was incredibly intelligent and majored in all of the connective work that his teammates struggled to do. Sometimes, keeping your head up and using your ancillary skills fill needs in their own rights.
(A pessimist would say that Lowry will have to be more physical to survive in a slower-paced environment, which burns an already limited supply of energy for a veteran guard.)
While we're on the topic of Lowry, perhaps starting an experienced point guard proves to be more beneficial to getting the offense moving while Nick Nurse is on his hiatus from running anything creative on that end of the court.
Speaking of Nurse, now would be a good time to extend Jared McCain's leash, defense be damned.
When one member of a big three goes down, we always find ourselves saying "Well, this guy and that guy have to step up". How you go about distributing shots becomes easier when it's two stars. It's very clear who the ball runs through when the options are Embiid or George. And when the Sixers find themselves staggering the two, that there is an unquestioned top option makes chemistry a little easier to come by.
Can never rule that out. Lowry could prove to have no juice at all in a bigger role and the Sixers could crater without their most dynamic perimeter player. The workload taxes Embiid as he plays off some rust, and then he needs some maintenance time when Maxey returns. It's all a big cycle from hell.
If things continue as they've trended over this four-game losing streak, and George stays on a minute restriction, it could get way uglier before the clouds clear. First, it's Anthony Davis - who has played like an MVP candidate early in this season - and the ageless LeBron James guiding the Los Angeles Lakers. Then, it's LaMelo Ball - who has been shot out of a cannon over these first few weeks - and Brandon Miller leading the Charlotte Hornets.
The Sixers got smoked by a middling Clippers team with both Maxey and George available. There are two games left on Embiid's suspension. 1-8 is certainly in play when he makes his debut on Tuesday against the New York Knicks.
