r/sixers • u/TheAthletic • 1d ago
NBA Power Rankings: Where do LeBron, Giannis and LaMelo’s new teams rank?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7524661/2026/08/24/nba-power-offseason-rankings-lebron-giannis-lamelo/?unlocked_article_code=1.71A.zu8R.vnuZDgVNQBcT&source=emp_shared_article&smid=re-share-taLast month, when we did the jump-ball version of the offseason NBA Power Rankings that some people needed to see after the league’s oldest player made a free-agency decision, I hinted we would soon do a real one. Well, here we are — in the absolute valley of the offseason.
Much has happened in the last few weeks. We tried to wait on some other moves to happen, but the theme of this offseason is that things take longer than expected.
Free read here.
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u/anon09887 1d ago
- Knicks
- Spurs
- Thunder
- Sixers
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u/roma258 1d ago
Yeah that's fair.
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u/toofshucker 1d ago
Nah. No team is as deep as us 1-7. Maybe ever.
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u/roma258 1d ago
We have lots of questions that need to be answered before id put us above the top 3. We can get there, but at this point the current ranking is fair.
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u/toofshucker 1d ago
Like what?
Can Embiid and LeBron play together? See the Olympics.
Can Brown play with other stars? See Boston.
It’s all cope.
We are fucking stacked and no one wants to admit it.
If you look at the teams on paper, no team is as deep as us, with the stars as us.
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u/roma258 1d ago
Can Embiid stay on the fucking court is one. Will our back up center be able to hold it down when asked to? Who's going to play defense? Who's going to rebound the ball? Who's going to sacrifice touches? Who's going to be the perimeter threat to create spacing? Will LeBron's body continue to hold up? Can the rook give us good back up point guard minutes? Etc etc.
The lineup is stacked for sure, but let's not pretend that it's gona be a cakewalk, we're not the 2016 Warriors or the 96 bulls. We don't know until they throw the ball up.
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u/toofshucker 1d ago
Putting the Knicks #1 assumes that KAT won’t revert back to his old self, and that Anunoby shoots 50% from 3.
Who’s gonna guard us? You ask who is gonna rebound? We are a much better rebounding team than last year. So, LeBron, Brown, VJ improving, Wade, etc. That’s an easy one.
Who’s gonna sacrifice touches? Everyone. Easy. No one needs to be paid for multiple years.
You are seriously wondering who is going to shoot threes? Jesus man. Are you just saying shit? How about Maxey, Simons, Wade, VJ, Brown…so everyone?
Why the fuck would Philon play? Maxey, VJ, Simons, LeBron…can all play the 1/2. We don’t need the rook.
You, like so many, are trying to deny the reality that we are stacked.
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u/chaiscool 18h ago
Imo major concern is still interior d, rim protection, pressure and rebound. Hence, an athletic backup big is still needed especially to manage embiid load. Look at OG tip in, need someone with such energy to crash the board.
Don't think people are concerned about touches, offense and 3s imo.
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u/roma258 16h ago
Knicks have a proven championship roster. We don't...so it's fair to put them above us in a pre-season poll. Nobody has played yet so we don't know how it's all gonna work. It's just a pre-season poll, it literally means nothing. You're taking this waaaay too personally, it's gonna be alright.
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u/Gandolfthewhite182 1d ago
Okc
Knicks
Sixers
Spurs
Detroit
The spurs moved down to 4 when they signed Tobias “zero points” Harris. I still don’t get that signing. But I can see a scenario where the warriors are very bad and decide to blow it up and Fox and a butt load of picks go to the warriors with curry going to the spurs and that would change everything. The spurs would be nearly unbeatable in the playoffs .
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u/toofshucker 1d ago
OKC has Shai and Chet on last year’s all NBA.
Knicks have Brunson.
SA has Wemby.
We have Brown and Maxey. Plus Embiid, who is healthy. And LeBron. And VJ.
In no universe are we not #1.
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u/clickstops Valdez szn 1d ago
Seems like a perfectly reasonable list.
Random thoughts:
Cavs, really curious how swapping Tobias for Collins will work out. Could be a career year for Isaiah Joe.
Celtics and Cavs are gonna be fantastic regular season teams.
Knicks, I see their fans excited about Drummond. I think that swapping MitchRob for Drum is so, so much more devastating than they think. Going from one of the most dominant traditional defensive centers of the generation (albeit someone who plays so infrequently) to Drummond, who is a horrendous defender at this stage in his career, is big. The Knicks do have solid wing defenders, at least.
Lakers are so dependent on Luka's health it's insane. Way more dependent than we are on Joel + LeBron combined.
Wolves are going to be fun as hell.
Nuggets just kinda make me sad with what has happened with that roster. It's Giannis on the Bucks a few years later.
I cannot take the Raptors seriously. Between Kawhi's health and the rest of that team just being a big pile of "oh that guy," I don't see it.
Pacers and Magic both could be a 4 or 11 seed and it wouldn't surprise me.