We know the headliners in Philadelphia: LeBron James, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid. What too often gets overlooked is that Mike Gansey didn’t just recruit stars, he brought in talent around them for a quality bench, guys such as Anfernee Simons, Dean Wade and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
That’s a lot of mouths for coach Nick Nurse to feed. What is the key to making it all work? Caldwell-Pope — who has won two rings — said the key is the chemistry the roster is building now. Here is what he told Kris Rhim of ESPN.
“Our chemistry is gonna be the biggest part for us,” Caldwell-Pope said Monday. “Us liking each other, being able to be around each other and have fun on and off the court…
“We have so much talent from one through 12, or 15, however many guys we’ve got, and it’s talent everywhere,” he said. “So, I think our biggest thing is just communicating with each other, learning each other’s tendencies, and just trying to implement that on and off the court.”
Chemistry takes time. It can start in training camps and with team dinners, but what it really takes is real games with the core guys healthy and playing together — we saw that for one half this preseason, which is about right — and it will take some road trips. Team dinners on the road where LeBron spluges on good wines. Bus trips. Locker room jokes.
Bringing in LeBron changes a team’s culture — he is a brand and culture unto himself. Not in a bad way, but he’s the most famous player in the world, an icon, a guy in the GOAT conversation, and his off-court presence is huge. He’s also still the first guy in the gym and he puts in the work, that’s a big part of his culture, too, and it rubs off on teammates.
It may take some time, but the 76ers culture is going to come together. They are going to figure out how to play best together, Nurse is going to figure out rotations that work. The basketball side of this will come together. Then it just comes back to those core 76ers guys with lengthy injury histories being available when it matters most.
Get a look at the 76ers’ early-season chemistry on opening night, next Tuesday, Oct. 20, when they travel to Madison Square Garden and try to spoil the Knicks’ ring night. Watch that game on NBC and Peacock as part of our opening day triple-header, with the ring ceremony starting at 6:30 Eastern and the game tipping off at 7 p.m.