Despite not landing a star, Sixers are set up for improvement

By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly Staff 

The 2018 Las Vegas Summer League gets underway this weekend and free agency signings and reported trades can now become official. It is the start of a new league year in the NBA and the Philadelphia 76ers have a good chance to match last year's win total and add to it with the additions they have made.

Let's be real though, first. When Brett Brown mentioned star hunting, everyone got excited. Whether it was LeBron James, Paul George or a trade for Kawhi Leonard, excitement began to build that the organization would add a bonafide star to the young mix of players already on the roster. That dream of bringing one of the those names ended quickly upon the start of free agency. Just shortly after hearing that the Sixers were meeting with LeBron's reps, news broke that he was signing with the Lakers. Paul George was going back to OKC and well Kawhi, he's wanted to go to L.A. all along.

So with the three biggest names out of the question for the most part, what do you do next? Fill out depth and keep cap flexibility.

It's clear by how the Sixers have approached free agency after missing out on LeBron that they don't want to commit to multi-year deals for veteran contributors, and they shouldn't. JJ Redick is returning on a one-year deal. Amir Johnson is back on a one-year deal. Wilson Chandler, acquired from the Nuggets, is on an expiring contract. Nemanja Bjelica signed the room mid-level exception. All in all, next summer, when there is a deeper free agent class, the Sixers are projected to have nearly $42 million to play with and another year of young talent development under their belt.

Now, back to the depth piece. People can bash the play of Ersan Ilyasova and Marco Belinelli in the playoffs, whether it be on the offensive or defensive end. The fact of the matter is that their addition to the team solidified the bench depth, allowing them to go on that long winning streak towards the end of the season and win their first playoff series since 2012. For the majority of 2017, the Sixers had one of the worst bench units in the NBA and those two vets improved that area vastly. The Sixers will not be getting Ilyasova or Belinelli back though, as they've both signed elsewhere. Ersan got a $21 million deal over three years in Milwaukee while Belinelli returned to San Antonio on a two-year, $12 million contract. It's no surprise the Sixers weren't going to offer them multi-year contracts to retain cap flexibility.

Despite losing Ersan and Marco less than a week into free agency, the Sixers have put themselves ahead of where they were to start last season and their depth could potentially be even better than they were when the season ended. Let's take a look at the 2017-18 Opening Night roster and the depth at each position. We won't include Markelle Fultz here because he only played the first four games.

A lot has changed since last season's opener, obviously. Jerryd Bayless, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Justin Anderson gradually fell out of the rotation while Nik Stauskas and Jahlil Okafor were traded. Until Ilyasova and Belinelli were added, there was not a great feeling when the starters subbed out that the back-ups would be able to consistently hold down the fort and they didn't, which resulted in numerous blown leads and could-be wins. 

Looking ahead to this season to start, the roster seems to be shaping out a hell of a lot better. With LeBron out of the East and the Sixers adding some vets while also getting another year of development from Simmons, Embiid, Saric and ideally Fultz, there's no reason they should not win at least 50 games. Again, keep in mind that the Sixers' depth to start last season was pretty awful, so seeing what they have now is like night-and-day despite missing out on a star this summer thus far. Also, don't forget this team will have an entire training camp and offseason together, which should definitely help with the on-court chemistry.

To put things a little deeper into context with regard to the importance of depth, from Opening Night last season to the beginning of February, the Sixers reserves were shooting a combined 30.1 percent from beyond the arc. Following the additions of Ersan and Belinelli, the long-range percentage shot up 6.7 points. Bjelica and Chandler combined were better  than Ersan and Marco last season from beyond and this time around, the Sixers will have them to start the year rather than waiting until after the trade deadline.

Across the board, there's improvement or stability. The starting five of Simmons/Redick/Covington/Saric/Embiid was among the most efficient lineups in the NBA, so that shouldn't change. The Sixers already have more depth shooting-wise, assuming Fultz brings more to the table than he did and Landry Shamet should factor in there too. Also, Wilson Chandler will be a nice guy to have come off the bench for Covington since he is a strong two-way player just one year removed from averaging over 15 points per game. Nemanja Bjelica offers a similar package to Ersan Ilyasova with a better three-point shooting reputation, so having him to start the season rather than being thin with depth behind Dario will be huge. Assuming Jonah Bolden comes over too, he'll add another athletic frame at 6-foot-10 that has shown improvement from long-range and is solid defensively. Amir Johnson should continue to provide solid defense in relief of Joel Embiid too.

It's hard to look at the current roster and be concerned about a whole lot compared to last year, just based on the second unit alone.

To many, the beginning of Sam Hinkie's Process seems like it began a decade ago. The thing to remember about The Process, is that it is just that. A process. Just because the Sixers struck out on stars this summer doesn't mean the offseason is a failure, because star developing is still a gigantic part of how this team performs during the 2018-19 campaign and adding veterans to fill depth needs is key to rounding out the roster. 

Like the wise Joel Embiid once said, the process will never end, and this offseason is no different.