The Philadelphia 76ers hope to contend for a title this upcoming season, and they’ll need to rely on young players with upside to fill key roles. The team’s Summer League performance in Las Vegas provided optimism about the talent in the team’s pipeline.
One second-year player appears to have taken a major leap forward, and Philly’s first-round draft pick showed how he could potentially fit into the 76ers’ rotation this season. Let’s take a closer look at some early overreactions from the young 76ers' performance during Summer League play.
Ricky Council IV may be making the leap
Ricky Council IV has shown signs of growth, and he might be taking a Tyrese Maxey-level step forward. This would be terrific news for the 76ers. The team needs all the cheap talent that they can get, and if Council IV can carve out a role for himself as a legitimate piece off the bench, it would go a long way toward lengthening the team’s bench unit.
The only downside to signing Paul George to a max contract is that the deal effectively kneecapped the team's ability to add additional depth going forward.
Even during last year’s pre-draft process, Council IV was always recognized as a physically, gifted player with incredible upside. The problem was that he didn’t have a lot of basketball skills, and there were question marks about his ability to put it all together. It would have been very easy for Council IV to have washed out of the NBA already, but he hasn’t. That itself is a testament to his hard work and his dedication to improving.
The young undrafted free agent has been harnessing his athletic skills and developing himself from an athlete into a basketball player. One area where he’s shown significant improvement is hitting shots from beyond the arc. He’s shown more willingness to let it fly from downtown when he is open, and he’s taking and making spot-up threes with regularity during Summer League. He’s also noticeably improved his ability to create space through stepbacks, sidesteps and other advanced dribbling moves, and he’s been draining tightly contested shots.
This is incredibly high praise, but Council IV’s performance so far this summer is reminiscent of Maxey’s performance in 2021. Of course, Maxey parlayed his breakout Summer League into a breakout season. What the former Wichita State wing is doing is eerily reminiscent of what Maxey did, especially his growth as an outside shooter. He maxi head, ashes of shooting ability, Azurá, turkey, showcased, advanced shop, making during Summer League. Heading into a sophomore year.
Jared McCain is more than just a shooter
McCain struggled with his shot in the team's first Summer League game, but he quickly showed that his reputation as shooter was earned. However, the 76ers already knew he could shoot the ball. That part of his game was never really a question. The question is how impactful would he be outside of shooting the ball? It’s a small sample size, but McCain gave 76ers fans reason for hope and optimism during this year's Summer League.
McCain is the player who's most likely to see significant playing time this year. If he's able to provide productive minutes off the bench, the 76ers' organization will benefit tremendously. With the team in a tight financial situation after signing George, any young player who can step up and keep the team from having to commit significant money to an outside free agent will be incredibly valuable.
McCain showed off playmaking chops in Vegas, with a couple of flashy no-look passes, some creative efforts at deception and misdirection, and a consistent ability to make the right decision with the ball. He'd rarely force passes that weren't there, and picked his spots to take calculated gambles.
The ability to balance gambling for the big play and protecting against turnovers is something that even many veteran players struggle with, and McCain's performance in that regard indicates a maturity beyond his years.
He also showed defensive instincts that could help him develop into a contributor on that end of the court. He might never be a shutdown defender due to his size limitations, but if he can be disruptive and force turnovers hat would give him a chance to make an impact on that end of the court.
Justin Edwards has potential, but didn’t get a chance to show it
Justin Edwards has talent, that much is for certain. The question is, what are his stand-out skills, and how does he fit on an NBA roster? Edwards has a beautiful shot, but he needs to be more effective on limited volume. The problem with Edwards is that he seems to be a rhythm shooter. That means he gets some momentum once he sees a few go through the net and can seemingly make any shot he takes.
The problem for Edwards at the NBA level, though, is that this approach requires getting enough open looks to develop that rhythm. If he only has a few infrequent shot attempts per game, he won’t have many opportunities to find that rhythm. Without being able to see shots go through the net, it will be very easy for Edwards to find himself battling extended slumps.
Edwards is a physical player, but he sometimes struggles to utilize his burst and speed to get past defenders. One thing he needs to work on is improving his handles and creativity. You don’t always need to blow by defenders with speed the way past stars such as Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook used to do or players like De’Aaron Fox and Edwards’ own teammate, Tyrese Maxey, do now.
The threat of pulling up for a jump shot or combining creative dribbling moves and lower body strength can be just as effective. If you don’t believe that, just ask James Harden.
Edwards has incredible lower body strength, and Harden is certainly the type of player that he should look to emulate at the offensive end of the court.
Still, though, Summer League is a time when guard play reigns supreme. Unfortunately for Edwards, he’s a wing. This means that he doesn’t typically have the ball in his hands to initiate the offense.
With Edwards forced to rely on others and finding himself with limited opportunities, Summer League just isn’t the best place for him to show off his skills. It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to make a better impression, but he’ll have time to find his way in the G-League.
Adem Bona could be special in the future
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves: It’s unlikely that Bona will be a significant contributor to the big league team this season. It’s important to preface this by saying that, and not let the hopes for what Bona could become get too high and overshadow what he is now. However, if he’s willing to put in the work to get to where he wants to go, Bona could become a special player down the road.
Bona has already demonstrated raw athleticism this early in his career that could see him getting some court time and making a little impact. He's already elite defensively and has shown an ability to clean up messes on the offensive end through thunderous put-back dunks. He's also good at setting screens and rolling to the rim for easy layups or dunks.
However, he’ll have to learn how to translate his athletic skills into basketball skills to become a standout player. It will take a few years, but the reward would definitely be worth it, both for Bona and the 76ers.
Bona has the makings of a legitimate rotation player and, if he reaches his ceiling, he could even make an All-Star team or two one day. 76ers fans should be excited about the prospect of having a legitimate player backing up Joel Embiid.
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