PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers wrapped up a miserable 2024-25 season on Sunday with a 122-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls at home. The Sixers ended the season at 24-58 and now head into the offseason in need of a retool as they look to move back into championship contention.
The Sixers dealt with a ton of injuries from the jump. Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey--the star trio they built their team around--were limited to 18 games on the floor. They only finished 15 of those games and the rest of the supporting cast was unable to step up and produce in their absence.
As the Sixers move forward, and they hinted at this at the deadline, they have to get a bit younger and more athletic. President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey made moves at the deadline to bring in Quentin Grimes (24) and Jared Butler (24) as he sent out older players like Caleb Martin (29) and Reggie Jackson (34).
These are moves that are expected to help the Sixers in the future as they continue to keep pushing. Coach Nick Nurse, for example, wants to bring in those younger players to keep up with the rest of the league.
"Well, I think one of the things that—well, it’s hard to look into the stats too much as a whole this year, right?" Nurse started. "I think that when we were close to being somewhat whole if that makes any sense, I think that the game keeps getting faster and faster and more dynamic."
Grimes, especially, was able to produce at a high level for the Sixers. His ability to knock down open 3s at a high rate while also being able to take guys off the dribble and create makes life easier for guys like Embiid and George. While Embiid normally does a lot of the creation for Philadelphia, he now can do a little less while Grimes and Maxey handle more of the heavy lifting.
As the league gets younger and more dynamic, the Sixers will look to keep up and bring in those more dynamic pieces on the floor.
"Just for really basic things," Nurse added. "Defensive transition and defensive rebounding. Like, we just need to be a little bigger, longer, more athletic. Just to get that basic thing under control. I think that’s probably the answer that covers going into other things there. Attacking off the bounce, some of that kind of stuff, but that would kind of be the around, especially, the two, Paul and Joel."
As the Sixers move forward, it will be on Morey and the front office to put the right pieces around the Big 3 heading into a much earlier than expected offseason.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Nick Nurse gives thoughts on what Sixers need to add in the offseason
