Sixers updated depth chart:
PG - Maxey / Philon
SG - VJ / Simons
SF - Brown / KCP / Edwards
PF - Lebron / Wade / Barlow
C - Embiid / Bona / Hukporti
Where would you rank them in the league?
There's a lot of reasons to think the 2027 Sixers with LeBron could be most inefficient stacking of offensive talent in NBA history.
It's not just that the usage of the Rittenhouse 5 adds up to 140%. This alone is devastating. You are likely to get an offensive result that is worse than the sum of the parts.
If you look at the worst performing offensive lineups relative to their talent over the last 5 years, the top of the list is littered with such constructions. Several ishbiations of the Durant Suns teams.
Luka/Reaves/Bron lineups. With Ayton. This isn't 2K. You can't just stack high usage players and think you aren't eating diminishing returns. Most players need the ball and shots to exert impact.
It's also combining three heavy transition players and several questionable offball shooters together.
Embiid alone is tough to fit another star around. So is Jaylen. Maxey generates a lot of value from reducing team turnovers, which he'll have less opportunity to provide with the ball less. Maxey has some history of scaling down pretty efficiently with his shooting, which is nice.
If you asked me, where is Jaylen Brown most likely to be less impactful than his salary?
It's exactly on this kind of roster.
Last year, the Celtics roster was a great situation for him as he was surrounded by low-mid usage excellent role players. A substantial part of his value is in soaking up usage, which is what this team doesn't really need. Jaylen Brown has zero 60% TS seasons in his career. We need to see it this year.
The successful version of this year is one where JB cares more about defense than scoring 25 a game. He needs to exert his energy in other phases of the game. Specifically, we need to see improvements in defensive playmaking. A 1.5% steal rate, and nearly zero charges is not going to get it done, and this team could benefit tremendously on offense off those steals with transition talent. This Sixers defense with a 6'6 240 super-athlete playing aggressively and forcing turnovers feels much different than just a guy who can guard his man 1 on 1.
I expect the Sixers best lineups will include Dean Wade. An unheralded 9% usage, rapm maxxing defensive forward is exactly the type of piece that can be completely additive to an overloaded '04 Olympics lineup construction.
And then we get to LeBron.. can he be the brain of this team and get the most out of this group offensively? How cooked is he defensively at this age? Can he turn it on in the playoffs like he did last year?
It's gonna be absolute cinema.