Ricky Council IV Dazzles in Sixers 1st Summer League Game

Ricky Council IV is currently 1 of just 4 Sixers returning from last season, the other 3 being Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Kelly Oubre Jr. But when you line up all 4 of them, Council clearly sticks out. Not only is he not a projected starter, he doesn’t even have a guarantee for playing time yet.

He played in just 32 games last season, at 9 minutes per game. Despite that limited playing time, he did earn the praise of Sixers fans. Especially with this pass in the 2^nd OT against the Spurs that helped an Embiid-less Sixers team secure the win.

The rookie never saw the floor in the playoffs. But now that he dipped his toes into the NBA waters, he might have more of a chance to stick out in 2024. The start of that is what he can do in the Summer League. 1 game in, Ricky Council IV is already sticking out.

Council wasted no time in making his mark on the Summer League. In the Sixers 1^st game, he dropped 29 points on the Thunder, on 9-18 shooting, including 5 of 10 from deep.

It did not start out that well though. Council was 0 for 4 from deep, likely giving Council flashbacks to his 2023 Summer League performance where he went 1 for 17 from deep. But despite being cold out of the gate, he kept shooting and eventually found his rhythm.

All 5 3s came in the 4^th quarter. He even pulled out a stepback 3 from his bag, showing his game grew a bit to the point he can get off his own shot.

It is important to remember this is just the Summer League. He is not playing against proven pros, he is playing against rookies, and young players in the same situation as himself. Still, he flashed the kind of skills the Sixers could use off the bench. It is a good first step to earning a larger role.

But Ricky Council IV was not the only young Sixers player turning heads. Both Adem Bona and Jared McCain impressed as well in their 1^st Summer League action.

Adem Bona probably had the play of the night. In the 2^nd quarter, McCain threw up a lob in traffic to Bona, who finished it with authority.

Bona finished with 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. More importantly, he showed the motor you want out of a backup center. He was actively boxing out, crashing the boards, playing tough defense, and was running the pick-and-roll well with McCain.

With Drummond on the team, he likely won't see much playing time most nights, if any at all. We know that Embiid is not going to play 82 games though. So on the nights Embiid rests, or misses, Bona will get the chance to backup Drummond. Our 1st glimpse of him gives us good reason to be optimistic about his chances to fit in.

McCain meanwhile struggled a bit with the thing he is most known for, 3-point shooting. He made up for that with everything else he was doing. We already showed you the nice Alley Oop pass to Bona, but all night he was showing his ability to create off the dribble. Not just for others, but for himself.

He might have finished 0 of 6 from 3, but he was 6 of 9 from everywhere else. McCain finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

Like Ricky Council IV, it was also impressive to see him not go away from his 3. After missing 4 straight, it would be reasonable to expect a rookie to lose his confidence. But he kept shooting, which is what you want to see. You don’t want to see them force shots, but you want to see the fearlessness to keep taking open shots even when they are cold.

All in all, it was a good night for the Sixers. Again, it is Summer League, so take everything we saw with a grain of salt. But we saw good signs from the 3 players out there with the best chance to see any minutes this season.

NBA free agency has begun. Well, legal tampering has begun. The most confusing phrase in sports. Teams can begin to "legally tamper" with other team's free agents. Sixers free agency will be as busy as we have ever seen it.

Not just because they are expected to make some big splashes, but also because they need to make a lot of moves. They only have 3 players under contract. We can count Tyrese Maxey in that because we know they will eventually give him a max deal. But even with him, they only have Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Ricky Council IV, and Paul Reed.

Paul Reed is expected to be cut. His money is not guaranteed, and he was a massive disappointment as the backup center last season. So that really leaves the Sixers with 3 players, one of whom is Ricky Council.

Related: You Can’t Blame Daryl Morey For Every Sixers Problem

There have been big rumors around the Sixers, and what they will do with all the cap space Daryl Morey saved up last season. They finally got Tobias Harris off the books, and almost every other player was on an expiring contract.

That was all on purpose. Morey basically punted last season, to try to go all in for this free-agency period. He didn't force any moves that would have limited what they could do this off-season. The trades he did make, were for expiring contracts.

So will that bold strategy pay off? Can Morey land a big fish to get the Sixers closer to competing with the Celtics? Will they make the move that finally gets them past the 2nd round, and maybe even to the NBA Finals? Let's find out.

This deal is interesting. Why would they pay a guy who barely saw the court this much money? Well it has something to do with how complicated the NBA Cap is. To make a trade, you usually need to send money back. The problem is players the Sixers are paying they mostly want to keep. Now they have a movable player they can trade, and make the money work.

For reasons that are hard to explain, and I don't fully understand myself, his contract also allows them to take back more money. They can take back a more expensive player than they would be able to fit into their cap. So expect KJ martin to eventually be traded. The move may be baffling on paper, but it gives them extra flexibility to add another semi expensive player later this off-season. So it is actually a really good move that can allow them to make an even better move down the road.

Grade- A

Kyle Lowry, on a small deal, is a net positive for the team. he brings leadership, and can be the point guard off the bench. But we saw how little he has left in the tank last year. He cant be anything more than a guy with 15 minutes off he bench per game. As long as they don't expect more than that, it is a good deal.

Grade- B

They took several days off from making moves, but after a few days of negotiation, the Sixers landed Caleb Martin. Martin is a proven playoff performer and a top-level defender. He should be the final piece of their starting 5, with it being Maxey, Oubre, Martin, George, and Embiid. But they could still tinker with things and move Oubre or Martin to the bench feasibly.

It's a great move, bringing in another plus defender. Maxey is the only weak link on defense now, and even he has improved.

Grade- A

We knew this was coming, we just had to wait for the Paul George to happen 1st. Maxey has turned into a true star. He is what we call a certified bucket. He is also the 1st player to ever pick up Embiid on a night he struggled in the playoffs.

This is 100% deserved. Maxey has become a top 15 scorer in the NBA. He finished 11th with 25.9 points per game. In the playoffs, he was 5th with 29.8 points per game. Embiid is still the present for the Sixers, but Maxey is the future. He will only be 27 when George's contract expires.

Grade- A

There it is. We knew it was coming. But they waited for us to go to sleep before they made it official. At 3:30 ET the Sixers landed the big fish they were after, Paul George.

George is not the perfect players. For 1, he is 34, and injury prone. But if they were going to keep up with the Celtics, they needed another high-level player, and George was the best option. He still averages over 20 points per game, shoots over 40% from 3, and plays great defense.

We might see this hurt them a few years from now. But for now, it makes them the 2nd best team in the league. If Morey can get creative and fill out the roster the right way, they could get up there with the Celtics too.

Grade- A

Signing Kelly Oubre Jr to a minimum contract last season was a strike of genius. He turned into arguably their 3rd best player. With Paul George now here, that won't be the case again. But having Oubre around should still be a big help. He is a cheapish option, that they know they can count on.

Oubre averaged 15.4 points per game last season. He can slide into one of their starting roles, and now they just need a starting SG, then a bench. He will cost slightly more than the minimum this time, but still is affordable, leaving room for the Sixers to make more moves around the trio of Embiid, Maxey, and George. Great move.

Grade- A

The Clippers took the rare step of thanking a player for their service before he signed elsewhere. This whole time, the gap between the Clippers and George was the guaranteed 4th year. George wants it, Clippers don't want to give it to him. Apparently, that is not going to change. They released this statement confirming they are moving on from Paul George.

With Maxey soon to sign a max deal, the Sixers looking to sign a free agent to another max deal, and embiid already on the Max, Morey will have to get creative to fill out the rest of the roster.

Enter Eric Gordon on a vet minimum deal. The 35-year-old averaged 11 points per game last year with the Suns. Over a 16-year career, he has never failed to average at least 10 points per game. Is Gordon a game-changer? Not, but with everything else the Sixers plan to do, he is a good guy to have around at the cost.

He is still a good shooter, and can still give a team a solid 20 minutes. At such a low cost, it is hard to complain about this one.

Grade: B

Backup big was not the most pressing need, but it was a need. Paul Reed and Mo Bamba did not get it done last year. They need someone to keep the ship steady when Embiid comes off the floor or misses a game. They get that in Andre Drummond.

Drummond is the best backup Embiid ever had. He only lasted half a season here before being packaged in the James Harden deal. Now he returns on a 2-year deal.

It is hard to find any reason to complain about this one. Drummond is an elite rebounder, a solid defender, and is among the best backup bigs in the league. They get him at a more than reasonable price, and ensure they have someone they can trust behind Embiid. Great move.

Grade- A