If there would be one word to the describe the 2014-2015 season for the Philadelphia 76ers, it would be “lose”. The Sixers lost 64 games during the season, lost 17 straight games to start the season, lost the NBA Draft Lottery to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves, lost D’Angelo Russell to the Lakers in the draft, and they lost two legends during the offseason. They finished the year at 18-64, fourth in the Atlantic Division and fourteenth in the Eastern Conference, setting them up with the third worst record in basketball.

However, the Sixers have other thoughts on their mind for the 2015-2016 season. The Sixers have some brand new faces they are hoping can turn it around and put them back into contention. The Sixers selected center Jahlil Okafor from Duke with the third overall pick in this past draft. Okafor offers the Sixers hope after 2014 first-round pick Joel Embiid suffered a setback with his foot and is expected to miss the entire 2015-16 season.

The Sixers also traded for shooting guard Nik Stauskas from the Sacramento Kings, which offers them guard depth and a shooting guard who can shoot from the outside and be thrown into the starting role. Aside from Stauskas, the Sixers didn’t make any real moves in the offseason or free agency so there are very little differences from last year’s team.

The biggest question for this season is the Sixers’ mentality going into the year. For the past few seasons, the ideology for the Sixers has been to “tank” (not make winning a priority in hope for a better draft pick to rebuild the team). This season, however, no one is fully sure if the Sixers will resort to their tanking ways again this year, or if they feel they have a team that they can truly contend with. Here is a look at the Sixers projected starting lineup for the 2015-16 season:

PG: Tony Wroten

SG: Nik Stauskas

SF: Robert Covington

PF: Nerlens Noel

C: Jahlil Okafor

When examining that lineup, it is more solid than their lineup from last year and has the chance to compete, not for the NBA title, but to win games. Big things are expected from Okafor at the big man spot, and Noel is most likely going to continue his dominance from his strong rookie performance last season. Covington and Stauskas provide the Sixers shooters from beyond the arc and outside shooting in general. Isaiah Canaan performed well last season with Wroten out and filled in as the focal point for the offense.

As for Wroten, he is the biggest x-factor for the Sixers. In January of last season, Wroten partially tore his ACL in his right knee that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Before Wroten fell to injury, he was putting up 16.9 points, 5.2 assists, and 1.6 steals, all of which were career-high averages. For the Sixers to do well this season, Wroten will need to pick up from where he left off last season and that could put the Sixers into winning form, at least for this season.

As for the season prediction for the Sixers, it could go one of two ways. The Sixers can fall back into their tanking ways and finish in the cellar of the NBA for yet another year. Or, the Sixers can see themselves as a team that can put up more than 18 wins this season with the team they have and find themselves contending for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference and potentially making the playoffs. The most likely scenario is the Sixers finishing the year at 37-45 and finishing 10th in the conference, getting ready to make the next step towards contending next year.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Maxwell Rizer
My name is Maxwell Rizer. I am 17, a senior in high school, currently residing in Pennsylvania. I like to watch sports, along with analyzing the statistics, and write about what I see.