LAS VEGAS — Through the injuries and the drama of last season, through the Philadelphia 76ers sweating out the lottery to hold onto a protected draft pick and through the bad luck and misfortune of losing their two franchise players for most of last year, a franchise that finished near the bottom of its conference held staunchly to a prevailing thought.

We can turn this around quickly.

Throughout February and March, Sixers executive Daryl Morey, his front office and coaching staff never wavered on that opinion. This was before an NBA playoffs that saw the Boston Celtics lose Jayson Tatum and the Indiana Pacers lose Tyrese Haliburton to devastating Achilles injuries. The Sixers never expected an easy rebound from a season as difficult as this one. Morey would be the first to tell you that.

Heading into next season, though, Morey will also be the first to tell you the Eastern Conference is wide open in a way that even Philadelphia couldn’t have predicted. If there is ever a year that a bounce back could be in the proverbial cards, it’s this one.

“I do think it’s open in the East,” Morey said in an extensive interview with select media from the Las Vegas summer league. “I do think that’s a fair characterization. I do, obviously, think that we weren’t the only team that’s unfortunately gone through a lot of tough injuries. That’s opened some things up. But we’re going to have to prove that we’re with those upper-echelon teams in the East. But we do feel like if all things come together, we can be right there, and we’ve given ourselves a lot of flexibility to upgrade the team during the year, if things are going as well as we hope.”

For so much of Joel Embiid’s prime, the 76ers have gone as he has gone, last season included. He’s been such a dominant presence on the floor that it’s been next to impossible for the Sixers to exist without his presence when he has been off the floor, which was far too often and damaging a season ago.

It’s been almost a year and a half since the knee injury he suffered at Golden State derailed him for most of the 2024-25 season, and Morey says Embiid is “on track” to be healthy for training camp, the start of the preseason and the start of the regular season. League sources tell The Athletic that Embiid still hasn’t returned to full on-court basketball activities. He has resumed partial basketball activities, according to the league sources. In light of this, Morey and the front office remain optimistic that Embiid will be on the floor for the season opener.

Philadelphia won’t be able to compete at a championship level if Embiid’s level of health rivals that of last year. He’s truly one of the great centers of this era, and one of the great offensive basketball players of this era, regardless of position. That being said, this might be the one Philadelphia roster that can absorb a prolonged Embiid absence during the regular season, should the big man continue to miss chunks of games.

A Tyrese Maxey-led backcourt could be one of the deepest and most dynamic position groups in the league, if it reaches its ceiling. We are assuming, as Morey has repeatedly said, that the Sixers eventually find a way to come to terms with restricted free agent Quentin Grimes. If Morey is right, Philadelphia will have a backcourt that can rapidly create offense even without Embiid.

The 76ers are essentially done with their roster construction for the summer, outside of Grimes, barring an unexpected trade. What Morey wanted to do was make the lineup younger and more athletic. He did that, outside of re-signing veteran point guard Kyle Lowry, re-signing Eric Gordon and absorbing an accepted player option from Andre Drummond.

Morey wanted to use his No. 3 pick from the draft lottery, and he did by selecting Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe, who will help that athleticism goal. At least, once he’s healthy, too. Edgecombe suffered a left thumb sprain almost immediately after making his summer league debut.

Rookie VJ Edgecombe has missed three summer league games while dealing with a left thumb sprain (Chris Gardner / Getty Images)

Finally, Morey made it a priority to win on the margins of the roster. A verdict that won’t be clear one way or the other until the season starts.

To get here, Morey had to make some difficult decisions. The biggest was essentially choosing between trying to retain Grimes and Guerschon Yabusele, who made a big impact last season off the bench. The latter turned into a valuable role-playing big man at power forward and center, but financial constraints made it obvious that the Sixers couldn’t retain both players.

Yabusele is a good player, and he went on to sign with the New York Knicks. In Philly, he made shots from the perimeter. He was tough on the interior, and he became a crowd favorite at Wells Fargo Center rather quickly.

Grimes is a more dynamic weapon offensively, however. He became the 76ers’ best guard at creating rim pressure off the dribble. His 6-feet-5 size and versatility allow him to play all three perimeter positions. Most importantly, he’s improved at a rapid rate as he’s gotten more reps with the basketball in his hands.

“Yeah, that sucked,” Morey said. “We offered Guerschon the most that we could that wouldn’t limit us and our ability to retain Quentin. That was above the minimum. I’ve seen reports saying that we only offered the minimum, and that wasn’t true. But it was definitely below what he ended up getting. We knew it would create a challenge for us. So we wanted to retain Quentin. We hope to work that out with his representation, and our focus was on making sure that happens. So, that did impact what we could offer Guerschon.”

Is Philadelphia younger and more athletic than the team that started last season? For sure. Are the 76ers capable, at least on paper, of competing at the top of what appears to be a rudderless Eastern Conference? Yes, they are certainly capable. On paper, in July, that means about as much as the paper it’s printed on, though. That’s why Philadelphia knows the right things need to align if it is to put the horrors of yesteryear behind it.

“I think we’re optimistic where things are at with Joel, and we are looking forward to next season,” Morey said. “I think we went in with the big goal of being more athletic among the group that we think will likely be on the floor. I think we have done that as well.”

The variable is health, and that doesn’t pertain to just Embiid. Rising second-year guard Jared McCain was on his way to becoming a frontrunner for the NBA’s Rookie of the Year when he suffered a knee injury and missed the remainder of the season. What stood out for many was McCain’s ability to move without the basketball. That skill meshed well with Maxey, George and Embiid when they were on the floor.

Philadelphia also needs a good season out of George, who regressed significantly last year from his All-Star and All-NBA form. At his best, he’s one of the most skilled forwards of this era, but he appeared to lose a lot of pop athletically and a lot of explosion off the dribble. He’s an example of just how much of a house of cards Philadelphia’s roster has been in the past. When the Sixers were whole, they were a significantly talented team. They were a team capable of going into Boston and beating the Celtics on Christmas Day.

When they missed two of the big three, though, the Sixers were decidedly ineffective. By the time they shut all three of Maxey, Embiid and George down, it set Philadelphia’s lottery destiny for the season in stone.

It makes this upcoming year an important one for the Sixers as a whole. It’s somewhat fair to write the disaster of last season as a one-off, but the door would be open to significant change within the organization if Philadelphia doesn’t make strides from said disaster. The state of the Eastern Conference provides an opportunity for this roster to make a move, but it also closes the window for grace.

As of July, it’s hard to deny how talented this roster has a chance of being. Now, the roster has to turn talent into results.

(Top photo of Daryl Morey: Bill Streicher / Imagn Images)