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How Does LeBron James Actually Fit on the Sixers?
By Sean Barnard
Published:
LeBron James is a lot of things. He’s a 22-time All-Star, a four-time NBA champion, a four-time MVP, a four-time Finals MVP, a former scoring champion, a six-time member of the All-Defensive team, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and the newest member of the Philadelphia 76ers.
While the immediate joyous reactions are warranted, championships are not won on paper. Nick Nurse will have a challenge on his hands of juggling multiple players who are accustomed to being in the driver’s seat of their respective offenses, and sacrifice will be required across the board. Having too much talent is a far better problem than not enough, and the Sixers have fallen into the second category as their downfall in quite a few recent seasons. James has won a championship at all three previous destinations, four in total, and has made it clear his sights are set on becoming the first player to win a championship with four different organizations. The future Hall of Famer would not have come to Philadelphia if he did not believe there was a true chance at reaching these sky-high aspirations, and here is a look at how he fits into this star-studded lineup.
Where LeBron James Fills the Sixers’ Needs
James has played in a variety of roles in his career and is one of the few unicorns who can truly play 1 through 5. He will join Tyrese Maxey, V.J. Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, and Joel Embiid in this lineup. While these numbers will obviously shift now that they are playing together, this collection of four players combined for 99.9 points per game last season. Scoring should not be a problem based on the caliber of talent, but generating the most efficient looks is something that was a legitimate concern with each of these players having some shortcomings in their playmaking.
Enter James, who can fill a lead playmaker role. He averages 7.4 assists per game in his career, has tallied as many as 10.2 per game across a season, ranks fourth all-time in assists in NBA history, and tallied 7.2 per game last year even while taking a backseat to Luka Doncic for the bulk of these on-ball opportunities. Maxey has certainly improved as a playmaker throughout his career, and posted a career-high 6.6 assists per game last season. But the more his career has gone on, the more obvious it has felt that he is a score-first player in nature and the Sixers should function with this in mind. Edgecombe is a fine connective passer, but hasn’t displayed an advanced feel for the game with the ball in his hands at this point in his young career. Both Embiid and Brown have flashes of both impressive and head-scratching decisions as passers, and each is a bit more prone to turnovers than you would prefer.
James posted a career-low in usage rate and attempted the fewest shots from the field of any season of his career last with the Lakers. But he did average 11.8 potential assists per game and processes the game at a level that very few ever have. There are some exciting and creative things that can be done in the offense by putting the ball in James’ hands and having him hit Maxey coming off pin downs or throwing alley-oops for Edgecombe on the baseline. Maxey in particular is especially effective off-ball, but has not been granted this luxury in recent seasons with the on-ball need for him so significant. Embiid’s growth in getting to his spots on the floor with the ball in his hands deserves credit, but has also been partially an effect of the Sixers being unable to get him the ball in favorable spots. Think back to how easy he made it look during his pair of scoring titles playing alongside James Harden. Embiid built a real chemistry in the pick-and-roll with Harden, and the two-time assist champion was able to free him up on entry passes for easier finishes than Embiid has ever received. Expect James to function similarly in the offense.
In addition to playmaking, rebounding has been a major concern for this Sixers team for several years. Even at his peak, Embiid was never an elite rebounder. But as his body has gradually broken down due to the unfortunate laundry list of issues he’s battled, rebounding has increasingly become a bigger issue. Embiid averaged a career-low 7.7 rebounds per game last season, with the 76ers ranking 17th in rebounds per game and 22nd in opponent rebounds allowed.
Standing 6-foot-9 with a chiseled frame, James is an archetype of player that should help make up for some of these shortcomings. While he pulled in just 6.1 rebounds per game last year, the third-lowest of his career, this was at least partially schematic with Doncic operating in similar areas of the floor and Deandre Ayton leading the team on the glass. But James has tallied as many as 8.6 per game over a season and is averaging 7.5 rebounds per contest in his career. Even with this not being the peak version of James, he is a far more effective rebounder than players like Kelly Oubre Jr. and Dominick Barlow, who were tasked with this type of responsibility last season.
Another legitimate concern on this current Sixers’ roster was the backup center position. This has been true for the duration of Embiid’s career, but the equation has changed for what type of player is the ideal counterpart. In the early years, the Sixers were just looking to steal a few minutes where the production did not fall off a cliff at the big man spot. Now, it is more important than ever to have a big man who can be a part-time starter, given the amount of time the Sixers must prepare for Embiid to miss. Adem Bona still has his head-scratching low basketball IQ moments and foul trouble. The Sixers brought in former Knicks big man Ariel Hukporti, but he’s started just six total games in his career and never averaged more than 9.2 minutes. You can squint and see the vision for what each player could grow into, but it feels ambitious for these to be the only true center options. Having James as an option to play a small-ball center role is more than a luxury, and will likely be a lineup that the Sixers will need to lean on at a regular rate.
X’s and O’s to the side, there is a level of expectation that comes with having James on the roster. This is a Sixers organization that has not made it past the second round of the playoffs since 2001, and there is some truth to the critique of the roster not knowing how to properly win. Both James and Brown are culture-setting stars who know what it takes to win at the highest level. There have been whispers and reports for years about Embiid being late for team activities and not carrying himself quite the way you would hope a franchise star does. Expect the days of this going unchecked by the biggest voices in the organization to be a thing of the past, and for the standard across the board to be raised.
Where the Fit Could be Tricky
The most legitimate questions about the outlook for this Sixers team fall on the defensive end. During the early stages of Embiid’s career, it was true that the Sixers had an elite defense regardless of the four players around him. The 2020-21 76ers had Seth Curry as the primary starting shooting guard and still managed to finish the year ranked sixth in opponents’ points per game and second in defensive rating. But as Embiid has declined physically, this has not been the case. This is especially evident given that Embiid has not been available at a regular rate, playing 39 or fewer games over the past three seasons.
Similar to Embiid, James’ level of defensive impact has slipped a bit in the twilight years of his career. However, both guys still have flashes where they can look like the best version of themselves in small doses. This is especially interesting as the new President of Basketball Operations, and current most popular man in town, Mike Gansey has publicly challenged Embiid on a few occasions about improving his defensive level. It is to be determined how possible this is and if taking some offensive responsibility off of the two-time scoring champion’s plate would make it possible for Embiid to scale up on this end of the floor. It’s difficult to ever truly gauge what level of health Embiid is at. It feels fair to assess that the defensive slip has been a mixture of him conserving himself and slowing down physically, but only Embiid can truly gauge this.
However, having both Embiid and James fight this type of battle isn’t quite ideal. It will also be fascinating to see how the Sixers handle the load management equation for each respective aging star. Ensuring James and Embiid are both at their healthiest in the postseason will remain the goal. But threading the needle of playing enough together to build proper chemistry while resting enough to ensure that they are at full strength is not a balance the organization has found a way to strike just yet.
Both Brown and Edgecombe are widely regarded as impressive perimeter defenders who are eager to take on the challenge of guarding opposing teams’ best players on a nightly basis. But Nick Nurse has leaned on a defensive system that largely discourages leaving players in one-on-one situations, with the thought process being that forcing passes increases the potential for turnovers and this swarming style of defense can generate some real havoc when the entire unit is connected. This has brought out the best in quick-footed and active players like Maxey, but is not as clean of a fit for players like James or Embiid. If there ever was a time to make some schematic changes, this feels like a roster that would make this acceptable, but Nurse has been pretty stubborn on these principles even when the roster hasn’t fully fit it in the past. This was especially evident when he first came to the Sixers before the roster has gradually been converted into players more aligned with this vision.
Perhaps the biggest X-factor when the team is at full strength is Jaylen Brown. James knows exactly what he walked into and willingly joined this Sixers roster as currently constructed. This is not true of Brown’s arrival in Philadelphia. Even with finances as the publicly stated reason for the trade by the Celtics, there have been plenty of whispers about his desire to have his own team. While Brown gets a fresh start that he has publicly talked through his feelings about, he is not getting a roster built around him the way he may desire. However, this is largely speculation about a guy who is more public about his thoughts than most athletes and probably unfair to paint him with this brush.
The bigger point about there being too many mouths to feed in this offense also feels overblown. There will be some turbulence in the path to this team reaching its peak together, but having too much talent on the roster is not a problem anyone should be losing sleep over. James has historically subscribed to the thought process that talent is more important than fit, and it is tough to argue with the results across his career. Time will tell if the Sixers are the final chapter in his story he desires, but the work starts now for James and this new-look Sixers squad.
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.