What we’ve learned about the Sixers nearing the season’s quarter mark, plus three lingering questions

Conventional wisdom is that the first checkpoint of the NBA season occurs at the 20-game mark.

Nick Nurse generally agrees. The 76ers’ coach says that time frame allows teams to play a variety of opponents, and to see if stats hold up over an initial sample size.

The loss on Friday at Boston was Game 19 for the Sixers. But this rare four-day break between games, a product of the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals, provides a reasonable time to assess the state of the team.

The basics: The Sixers entered Sunday in fourth place in the Eastern Conference at 12-7, though with a strange scheduling quirk of already playing the first-place Celtics three times (1-2). The Sixers were second in the league in offensive rating (119.8 points per 100 possessions) and 15th in defensive rating (112.7 points per 100 possessions). With no disrespect to the upstart Orlando Magic (14-6), outsiders are pondering whether the Sixers or Milwaukee Bucks (14-6) are the East’s second-best team behind Boston (15-4).

Beyond those numbers, however, the James Harden saga already feels long over after the trade to the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 1. It has taken time to implement the new players acquired in that deal who did not get training-camp experience with the Sixers, especially with the new coaching staff. And the roster still might be incomplete, given that the assets acquired in the Harden deal could be packaged and used in a variety of ways.

“We’ve learned a lot about our team,” Nurse said recently. “ … You’re kind of forming your identity of who you are and try to start fixing some things.”

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At this point of the season, here are three things we have learned about the Sixers — and three questions that still linger.

The Sixers’ confidence that Tyrese Maxey was primed to thrive as a lead guard was well-placed. He is on pace to make his first All-Star team, averaging 27 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 46.4% from the floor, including 39.6% on three-pointers.

Maxey exploded for his first career 50-point game on Nov. 12 against the Indiana Pacers. He has four double-digit assist games, and only four outings with more than two turnovers. He is initiating an offense that is deliberately upping its pace, ranking fifth in the NBA entering Sunday with 16.8 fast-break points per game. And he is continuing to develop two-man chemistry with reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid, who is arguably Maxey’s biggest advocate in the Sixers’ locker room.

Maxey, though, is also learning what it’s like to be guarded like a superstar, in part leading to a six-game slump following his 50-point outburst. But he broke out of that over the last week, averaging 30.7 points on 48.4% shooting in his last three games before missing Friday’s loss in Boston with an illness.

And Nurse believes Maxey is still far from reaching his potential, meaning we should expect to watch his growth in real time this season and beyond.

Following his MVP season, Embiid said he wanted to focus on two goals in 2023-24. One was contending for defensive player of the year (with Nurse nudging the imposing big man to “take more swings” at blocks). The other was to be more of a playmaker for teammates.

The latter has absolutely already been realized, as he is contributing a career-best 6.6 assist per game. He was coming off a season-high 11 helpers in Monday’s blowout victory over the Lakers before missing the next two games due to illness. That is a product of Embiid’s willingness to read the defense and pass, his ability to see the floor from the mid-post area, and his teammates cutting and moving without the ball as part of Nurse’s offensive system.

Oh, and the still-dominant Embiid entered Sunday leading the NBA in scoring (32 points per game) while also averaging 11.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks for a team that has remained stable after the Harden drama. He looks like he will be battling for MVP honors again (along with many of the other usual suspects).

The Sixers are 0-3 in games Embiid has missed this season. The first two were disastrous, as they shot horribly in a Nov. 22 loss at Minnesota (on the second night of a back-to-back) and allowed the New Orleans Pelicans to shoot nearly 60% from the floor in the first three quarters to build a 29-point advantage.

They showed much more fight Friday in Boston, when they were also missing Maxey and starter Nicolas Batum. They leaned on an aggressive defense that swiped 16 steals, and impressive offensive showings from Patrick Beverley (26 points), De’Anthony Melton (21 points), and Robert Covington (18 points). But they faltered down the stretch of a close game, when they missed their two stars.

How will the wing pecking order shake out?

This has been a question since training camp, and again following the Harden trade.

Batum already feels solidified as a starter, as a do-everything glue guy who can defend multiple positions, facilitate, and shoot with a quick release from outside.

That would move Kelly Oubre Jr. — who could return from a fractured rib as soon as this week — back to an instant-offense, sixth-man role. After Oubre averaged 16.3 points on 50% shooting, along with 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals, through his first eight games, it’s reasonable to wonder if he can immediately recapture that hot start coming off the injury.

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Covington’s defense and outside shot-making also seem to have earned him a rotation spot. After that, though, Marcus Morris, Danuel House, and Jaden Springer have all flashed an ability to contribute. But if that position group is fully healthy, at least a couple of those players are going to get squeezed out (or switched up depending on matchups or in-game situations). It will probably take a bit more experimentation from Nurse to identify the best combinations.

A bonus lineup question: When will we see a two-big man look with Embiid and Paul Reed?

Will the defense reach Nurse’s standards?

Conventional NBA wisdom also says a team needs to be ranked in the top 10 in the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency to be a legitimate title contender. That indicates the Sixers have some work to do.

They have an array of players — Beverley, Melton, Covington, Batum, and more — known for defensive prowess and toughness. They also entered Sunday ranked fifth in the league in both steals (8.7 per game) and blocks (6.2 per game), signs of Nurse’s aggressive style.

But those individuals still need to fit a collective scheme, which requires communication, instincts, and the ability to cover mistakes. Nurse said defensive principles were a focus of last week’s practice in Oklahoma City, and acknowledged it would probably take until after the New Year to reach his desired sharpness. But after the loss to the Pelicans, Nurse said his team did not follow the first-quarter game plan, leading to the initial deficit that the Sixers could never overcome.

One statistical eyesore: Entering Sunday, the Sixers were 28th (out of 30 teams) in fast-break points allowed (16.4 per game). That was an issue last season as well.

What’s the next move?

Outsiders have pondered if the Sixers could be a fit for the splashier names that could become available, such as Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan with the Chicago Bulls or Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby with the Toronto Raptors.

The Sixers have draft picks and expiring contracts to pull off a bigger move, which was president of basketball operations Daryl Morey’s goal in dealing Harden. But if a smaller, around-the-margins move ultimately makes more sense, a dependable backup point guard appeared to be the most obvious need until Beverley caught fire last week.

After missing 19 of his first 22 three-point attempts and never reaching double figures in his first 16 games, Beverley went 8-of-14 from deep and scored at least 11 points in his last three games. He also totaled seven assists against the Pelicans and Celtics. It’s worth monitoring if this is just an exceptional week or if he can sustain this as a steady bench contributor.

Although Dec. 15 is when most players who signed as free agents this past summer become eligible to be traded, the Sixers’ full roster is not available until a couple of weeks after that because of rules pertaining to the players who came back in the Harden trade. The trade deadline is Feb. 8.