Philadelphia 76ers basketball is back…kind of! The Sixers will play in NBA Summer League games in both Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. The prospects on the roster will be looking to impress Nick Nurse, who will serve as the head coach in the SLC games, and fight for roster spots and/or a chance to latch on in the G League. Up first on the docket was the Memphis Grizzlies.

Against a Grizzlies, squad highlighted by big, strong players like rookie GG Jackson, second-year players Jake LaRavia and David Roddy and G League Rookie of the Year Kenneth Lofton Jr., the Sixers started terribly, quickly rebounded and controlled the game for a while and then allowed Memphis to come back. Philly lost 94-92 after being outscored 26-15 in the final frame.

Here are five key takeaways from the Sixers' summer-league opener game against the Grizzlies.

5. Louis King and Filip Petrusev are pretty solid

As the two veterans of the summer Sixers, the team will need King and Petrusev to provide stability. They did just that in the opening game.

King ended last season in one of the Sixers' two-way-contract slots and was impressive in the Delaware Blue Coats' championship season. He led the Sixers in rebounds and assists in this one and made good plays regularly. The 6-foot-7 wing stopped a Memphis transition play by sticking with the one-on-one break, snagged offensive rebounds (passing one from the floor to Petrusev for a bucket), made smart passes and defended a wide range of players. With the game tied late, he scored a putback to put Philly ahead. The Sixers would be foolish to not retain him in Delaware.

Petrusev is the age of a typical college senior and it shows. The Serbian center knows how to get vertical on defense, forcing a few bad plays from Memphis and blocking the first shot attempt of the game. But he also still needs to get used to NBA physicality, as his seven personal fouls and the Grizzlies' lead player demonstrated often.

Lofton has punished many a player with his size — a play style that fans of the Grit and Grind Grizzlies surely love — and the skinny Pentrusev was no exception. He got moved around a good bit and was on the wrong end of a few calls that could have gone either way. Still, he also displayed nice shooting touch and had an overall decent debut.

4. Terquavion Smith WILL shoot that ball

Smith has “microwave scorer” written all over him, as shown by his eight-point outburst in the first quarter (which, remember, is just 10 minutes in the summer league). Using his wiry frame and herky-jerky moves, he maneuvered around the Memphis defense and led the Sixers with 18 points.

While Smith is here to score, he's not here to hog the ball, either. He made some nice passes to open teammates, hitting them in stride to keep the offense flowing. Although he didn’t shoot efficiently — 4-10 shooting from deep but just 2-6 otherwise — he provided the connectivity that really benefited the Sixers offense. He's also got some guts. After Memphis tied the game with a three, he pulled up for one of his own to tie it. Then he launched from 30 feet to put Philly back ahead.

Smith spent a good amount of time running things on offense and his backup, D.J. Steward, also had a very solid outing. He shot the ball well from deep and pressured the ball up in the backcourt.

3. Ricky Council IV can do lots of things, but not shoot threes

Council came into his (summer) Sixers debut with concerns about his three-point shot. Those concerns were backed up by multiple instances where he had the space to fire away but passed up the opportunity to fire away. Working through those butterflies is a must for the young wing.

Oddly, Council looked fine shooting pull-up shots from the midrange, even with a defender on him. His athleticism popped early when he tried to dunk over Lofton (but was fouled) and slithered inside the paint and put up a floater in traffic for the Sixers' first bucket. He threw down an emphatic breakaway, tomahawk dunk in the third quarter and scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting.

He moved his feet defensively and guarded some of the Grizzlies' key players, like Roddy. It's clear that he could hang at the NBA level by getting his shot to even a modest level.

2. Jaden Springer's defense is great…

Springer is the Sixers' biggest player to watch for during the Sixers' summer games. It's important for the former first-round pick and the team that he becomes a rotation player this season.

In one early sequence, he picked off a pass, ran the fast break and fed Council inside for the Sixers' first bucket. He blocked a shot attempt from LaRavia when he was in a good position to help on a drive. Shortly thereafter, he came from nearly across the paint to block another one. These are the types of plays that good centers make. Springer, as you may know, is a point guard.

On the ball, Springer was not easy to get by. You never have to worry about him being in a proper stance or not closing out to shooters. He's just about everything one would want out of a young guard prospect with lots of defensive upside.

When the Sixers traded away Matisse Thybulle, they deprived themselves of someone who can fly around the court on defense and get to shots like that. Springer doing stuff like that gives Philly some impressive positional flexibility and someone who can kickstart fast breaks with stellar stops.

1. …but his offense is a massive question mark.

For as good as Springer's defense is, the way he impacts the game on offense is very uncertain. He doesn’t play like a prototypical point guard but is obviously undersized for your everyday wing. Although small wings can (and do) contribute to good teams, it's not an archetype one sees often — especially those that can’t shoot. His 11 points came on 3-11 shooting, including 0-4 from deep, though he was 5-6 on free throws.

Springer's forays into the paint were a mixed bag. There was a layup where he took off from a fast distance and finished beautifully but there were also some forced, ill-advised shot attempts, including a few that were easily blocked. On a few occasions when he got the ball off of cuts, he confidently took it to the basket with grace and patience. But breaking down his defender in space is a work in progress that will hinder his ability to play with the team in the regular season.

Without a great first step or jumper, it will be really, really hard to see where Springer fits into the Sixers' rotation. His handle is not too tight, either, as Memphis defenders nearly poked the ball away from him a few times. Like Thybulle, Springer not being a clean fit in the Sixers' offense will leave him on the fringes of the rotation.

Springer at least showed confidence, just as Smith did. But the rookie gunner showing he can shoot it from downtown makes his brand of confidence more palatable to a playoff team. Springer still has chances to show that his deep shot is improved and he will need them, as his 2023 summer-league opener did not inspire confidence that his shot is much improved.

The Sixers' next game is on Wednesday against the round robin's hosts, the Utah Jazz.