What the Sixers' Backup Center Situation Says About Their Identity

Bob Myers' assessment of the Sixers' state was blunt, but sometimes blunt is necessary to enact change.

"We got to find an identity," he told reporters after the Sixers introduced Mike Gansey as the new president of basketball operations.

"We just don't have one. That's maybe a harsh thing to say, but look at the numbers. We were not elite offensively or defensively. If you're going to win at the highest level, you got to be great at something. We have the capabilities, I think. We have the players and some of the talent. But in order to see what we are, we've got to be on the floor. You have to have a consistent product on the floor and you find out. Maybe that's not good enough or maybe it is. But we got to figure out what are we? What can we stand on as a team?"

Myers' edict was simple. The Sixers had to start on one side of the floor and build from there.

"Some teams stand on both. Some teams are great offensively and defensively. But we got to be great at one of them at least and we got to find out which one of those is. And to get there, we got to have guys on the floor," Myers said.

And here the Sixers stand, with one open roster spot remaining.

That spot will go to LeBron James if he chooses Philadelphia. Even if he doesn't choose Philadelphia, it will either go to another player on a veteran minimum contract or remain open to address needs during the season.

The Sixers' current options behind Joel Embiid? Third-year pro Adem Bona, who is making less than the current veteran minimum for a player of his experience and had an uneven second year in the NBA.

The other option? 24-year-old Ariel Hukporti, who has just 511 minutes of NBA experience over two sesaons with the New York Knicks.

Not exactly comforting when the starting big is Embiid.

That is, of course, assuming that the Sixers are leaning toward defense as their identity.

An identity built upon defense would probably start with an interior presence that consistently challenges scoring at the rim. The Sixers weren't doing that at a high level last season with Embiid backed by Bona and Andre Drummond and no real power forward to support.

Read between the lines of their moves thus far this summer. They traded Paul George for Jaylen Brown, a defensive downgrade. They signed Dean Wade, a dirty work defensive forward. They allocated the rest of their mid-level exception to Anfernee Simons, a guard with some defensive tools but otherwise an objectively poor defender.

The total amount of money allocated to the center position? Spotrac estimates $3.4 million, a piece of the bi-annual exception.

The Sixers will have a formidable perimeter defense between Wade, V.J. Edgecombe and Brown. If Embiid recovers further, they may even have a formidable interior defense. But their actions this offseason suggest that offense will be the Sixers' preferred calling card anyway.

They'll have to gang rebound, but do they really need a high-level backup center if their plan is to let the offense win games? Do they need more than a Drummond-esque offensive threat if the ball is going to play through the perimeter anyway?

There is a question of whether letting offense rule your day is a good decision.

The reality is simple.

They can probably more feasibly sustain offense regardless of Embiid's presence.

Brown can't offer the size to draw defenders like a magnet the way Embiid can. But he uses force as a downhill attacker that Embiid cannot. For the first time ever, Tyrese Maxey will have a non-Embiid teammate who can bend defenses with power. That wasn't James Harden by the time he arrived in Philadelphia. It wasn't George.

Brown, for his warts as a playmaker, will do that. He may not rifle the ball to the weak-side corner from the opposite wing. He may miss some simple reads. But Brown will manufacture offense every night.

As long as the Sixers have one or both of their offensive bullies available, they'll be able to forge an identity on offense.

Speaking of George...

He'll be a small part of Sixers history. He played the Celtics' best players evenly in the one playoff series the Sixers won during his time in Phialdelphia. But he'll be remembered for all the time he spent on the bench, which inherently means he'll be remembered for never being able to justify the maximum contract Daryl Morey gave him in the summer of 2024.

George played 41 largely ineffective games in 2024-25. He played 37 regular-season games at a superior level in 2025-26. He would've played many more had he not been suspended 25 games for violating the NBA's drug policy. Perhaps he could've helped the Sixers avoid the New York Knicks' side of the postseason bracket if not for the suspension. Not that it would've mattered all that much.

It was early April of 2026 that George noticed a reporter who was relatively new to the Sixers beat was trying to fight for a question. Other voices were louder and won.

After his postgame availability that night, George pointed to the reporter and asked if they still had a question. Sixers staffers had already given him his out. He could've walked away. But he didn't, instead sparing another minute of his time.

That's the kind of person the Sixers had in their locker room. He wasn't the star Philadelphia needed him to be. He wasn't the running mate Maxey needed him to be when Embiid was out. But George rallied from a mistake as the Sixers were finding their stride in the 2025-26 regular season to redeem himself in the postseason victory that knocked the Boston Celtics down.

The gift that will last the longest in Philadelphia was the time George invested in his teammates behind closed doors. George didn't just run away for vacation when he got suspended. He stayed engaged with his teammates and worked with Edgecombe to develop his offensive game.

By the end of the season, Edgecombe had more than confidence. He had moves and counter moves. His evolution over the course of his rookie season was no mistake.

His time in Philadelphia concluded as the underwhelming price the Sixers paid to get a star in his prime. But he should be remembered as a good citizen in the locker room and a good player on the court, even if he fell well short of the expectations of his contract.

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