Fantasy Review For 2018/19 Season:
They have made a quick transition from a rebuilding team based on internal developement to the win now mode with several agressive moves. First they traded Robert Covington and Dario Saric for Jimmy Butler, then aquired Tobias Harris from Clippers and finally gave up Markelle Fultz to Magic… probably just for the sake of getting rid of him. Unfortunately both Butler and Harris were on an expiring contracts, so they had another decisions to make in the summer. Also, they were on the wrong side of one of the most miraculous shots in recent NBA history and got elimnated in East semi final by Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors.
Changes in the offseason
Lost = Jim Butler, JJ Redick, TJ McConnell,
Added = Al Horford, Josh Richardson, Matisse Thybulle, Raul Neto, Trey Burke
Projected Depth Chart:
| PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
| Ben Simmons | Josh Richardson | Tobias Harris | Al Horford | Joel Embiid |
| Trey Burke | Matisse Thybulle | James Ennis | Mike Scott | Kyle O’Quinn |
| Raul Neto | Shake Milton | Zhaire Smith | Furkan Korkmaz | Jonah Bolden |
Positional Battles: None
Their starting five is going to be the most used lineup in a league and it shouldn’t be even close. All of the starters are going to play heavy minutes capped not by roster competition but only by a load management issues. It looks like the only positional battles that happened on a bench are also already solved with Trey Burke winning backup PG role and Matisse Thybulle outplaying Zhaire Smith and James Ennis for the sixth man role on this roster.
Fantasy Relevant in leagues with 12- to 15-teams:
He is a per minute beast and maybe the single most important player in the NBA right now. If he manages to make further progress, raise his percentages and defensive contributions, he may not only be a fantasty stud, but also be a real life DPOY, MVP and Finals MVP candidate. Healthy Embiid at a top of his athletic ability in May and June could mean nothing less but a championship rings for that team.
However what is good for Philly, ain’t good for fantasty owners. To keep him on court in best possible shape, Sixers will probably not only stagger his minutes with Al Horford, but doing so, they will workload of both of them with a lot of load management and probably a minute cap on each of them around that 31 minute mark. Joel is good enough to still be a top8 fantasy contributor on a per game basis in that limited time, but the real question is in how many games would he be load managed? We all know he doesn’t want to rest to much, but we also know that he wants the championship more. He is a very risky (but judged) pick inside top10.
One of the players that are far better in head to head / punt setups than a roto format. He is an absolute elite in combination of points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks and field goal (top8 player in those categories, top4 when counting out also points), and a single worst player (by a wide margin) in the league in combination of the other three stats (3, FT, TO). Therefore he is extremely hard to judge – no matter where you draft him, you will probably have to punt at least one of those three categories. On a positive side – he will probably shoot… and make some threes this season, finally.
Probably the best scorer on the team other than Joel Embiid. His upside is limited because this team is extremely packed, especially limiting his rebound and assist opportunities, but keep in mind that until know, he was always, literally, making a huge progress in his second year with his new team. It happened in Orlando, it happened in Detroit, it happened in Los Angeles and there is no reason not to believe that it happens also in Philadelphia.
The role of Miami offensive leader was too much for him, but now, freed from offensive workload, he may come back to being his older self: a scrappy defender, efficient shooter, reliable fourth-fifth option on a team, occasional ballhandler and backup PG. Personally I expect huge season from him with an upside of 3 threes, 2 steals, 1 block per game, in fact a top50 roto player, again.
He is simply an extremely solid player… in fact a definition of one, to the point that he has an outside chance of being positive in all 9 categories, what is almost unheard of – he might be the only player in the league able to achieve that goal in this upcoming season. Keep in mind that he is going to be load managed an that he is capped in minutes in that 30-31 min per game range.
I have never in my life seen a guy going that hard after steals and blocks. He looks like a mad collectioner of hustle and defensive stats and that feature alone should make him a standard league guy. Also if there is any injury happening to anybody from starting five he may get path to 30+ minutes, and with that opportunity and mindset he might be able of performing some amazing stat lines in the mold of 5 FGA, 7 steals, 5 blocks. Very exciting player in fantasy world.
Could be useful with trades/injuries [or in deeper leagues than 15 teams]:
Zhaire Smith, Trey Burke, Kyle O’Quinn, Jonah Bolden, Furkan Korkmaz,
Just don’t bother with:
James Ennis, Raul Neto
Don’t forget to check the rest of the Philadelphia 76ers fantasy basketball projections..
Posted in Teams preview