Injuries mean 76ers are facing a season of small ball

Paul George had knee surgery to address an injury he suffered during a summer workout, and won't be evaluated to return until training camp. Guerschon Yabusele left the Sixers for the New York Knicks. Coupled with center Joel Embiid's uncertain health — he's still only engaging in "partial basketball activities" — the 76ers have a serious issue with size.

While he's mostly been a wing player during his career, the 6-foot-8 George played power forward most of the time for the 76ers last season, spending an estimated 89 percent of his minutes at the four. Even with George missing 41 games, he and Yabusele accounted for over 43 percent of the team's power forward minutes.

Who's going to fill those gaps? The Sixers will likely use 6-foot-8 small forward Kelly Oubre quite a bit at the four, along with free-agent signing Trendon Watford. Watford averaged 10.2 points and 2.6 assists for the Brooklyn Nets last season, but only 3.6 rebounds. His offense is solid, but Watford's defense is lacking. Philly also drafted Johni Broome, who averaged 18.6 points and 10.8 rebounds for Auburn last year as a fifth-year senior.

It's still up in the air when George or Embiid will be available. Embiid had surgery on his left knee in April, the same knee which had been giving him trouble even before an ugly injury nearly 18 months ago. That means the 76ers are likely to be playing small at center and power forward for the start of the season.

The situation parallels the 2018 musical "Small Ball," in which a normal-sized man named Michael Jordan (but not the Michael Jordan) joins a basketball team in Lilliput where the other players are only six inches tall. The show had a revival in Philadelphia in June, but the spirit will likely continue in the regular season with the Sixers.

The plan for the 76ers seems to be to rely on the offense from their array of guards — All-Star Tyrese Maxey, second-year guard Jared McCain and No. 3 pick V.J. Edgecombe along with restricted free agent Quentin Grimes, assuming he returns. In an Eastern Conference weakened by injuries to many contenders, perhaps a scoring barrage can compensate for defensive and rebounding disadvantages.

But the Sixers are in a tough position. If their stars can't get healthy or the team can't find more size, the last act of the George-Embiid partnership might turn into a tragedy.