CLEVELAND – Tyrese Maxey stood against the back wall of the visitor's locker room at Rocket Arena on Friday night, after the Sixers were thoroughly outplayed by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and exhaled.

"I mean, we’re doing a good job. We’ve done a good job. I mean, we’re 8-2. I don’t want to dwell on it too bad, you know what I’m saying? We’re going to get better every single day," Maxey said. "I think we’ve been getting better. We took a step back today, of course... I mean, that happens sometimes, I think."

It may not have seemed that way after the Sixers' blistering 8-1 start to the season which includes a perfect 7-0 record in clutch games, but yes, even teams with a star-studded cast of characters like this one have bad losses. The Sixers earned the right to shrug off Friday's stinker and move right on to Sunday afternoon's bounce-back opportunity against the Chicago Bulls.

"Yeah, we’ve just got to be better," LeBron James said after his homecoming became his worst game in a Sixers uniform. "We’ve just got to simply be better. Tonight was not our shot, not our greatest of shots. But listen, if you would have told me our team, through [the] first 10 games of the season, would be 8-2, I'd take it. That’s for sure."

With a 10-game sample size officially registered, 10 opinions I hold about the 2026-27 Sixers:

Nick Nurse should try not staggering LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse has settled into sensible staggers when his five starters have all been available. Maxey and Jaylen Brown have played together a lot, with James, Joel Embiid and typically VJ Edgecombe anchoring other lineups before the starters reunite for the start and end of each half.

The only issue: the Maxey-Brown lineups have not actually performed well so far. Those lineups have a -1.5 Net Rating without Embiid and James on the floor; that figure goes to a ghastly -19.9 if Edgecombe is removed, too.

The thinking behind Nurse's staggers is rather simple: Maxey and James are this team's best offensive initiators and Brown and Embiid are its highest-volume self-created scorers. Embiid and James are developing a very important rapport. But James and Maxey represent an incredibly synergistic pairing, one that has already won the Sixers games with its ability to put defenses in binds.

Back in August, I wrote about Nurse's eventual decisions with staggers in a mailbag. My argument then remains the same as it is now: Nurse must try every combination and permutation of these five players as he can so that, when the Sixers play true must-win games, he knows what his optimal rotation actually looks like.

"At the end of the day, I believe the only thing Nurse must do is enter the playoffs with a strong sense of which combinations of his stars perform the best," I wrote in August. "That will require plenty of experimentation and on-the-fly changes, even when things are going well, which in itself requires a lot of discipline."

So even if the Maxey-Brown lineups were not underwhelming in this small early sample, I would advocate for changes simply for the sake of collecting more information. Time will tell how long it takes Nurse to make an adjustment there – if he does at all.

Despite encouraging start, Joel Embiid has more room for improvement defensively

Over the last two seasons, the Sixers have logged plenty of strong defensive possessions – for about 20 seconds, until Embiid ran out of times he could muster a change of direction. Embiid would run out of gas and the Sixers would cede an easy basket at the end of the shot clock.

The most significant difference in Embiid's defensive capability this season is that he has one or two more rotations in him. He has shown an ability to step up and contain a ball-handler probing into the paint, force a dump-off pass inside and then recover to the rim for a block. These plays once represented the hallmark of Embiid's defensive dominance, and over the last two-plus years they became fleeting:

Even last season, when the Sixers were able to keep Embiid parked at the rim he was an extremely effective stalwart there. He is too strong and too smart not to be. But on his feet, he was a total liability; there were times the Sixers were a better team without Embiid just because opponents had such an easy time exploiting him on the perimeter.

Right now, Embiid is not that easy to take advantage of – and his rim protection has continually improved – but his defensive mobility is still an obvious weakness, and perhaps the most important one on this entire roster right now. The Sixers are (and should be) extremely encouraged by the way Embiid has defended early in the season, but there is more work ahead.

MORE: Embiid reflects on the 10th anniversary of NBA debut

Jaylen Brown's offensive role still looks murky

Part of the reason Brown is such a particularly interesting fit on this star-laden team is that, unlike his teammates, he has no track record of driving notable offensive value as an off-ball player.

The easiest way to start doing that: making spot-up threes. Brown's spot-up volume was extremely limited last year given the enormity of his on-ball duties for the Boston Celtics, and he is a slow-paced, methodical player by nature. In a way not entirely dissimilar to Tobias Harris during his Sixers tenure, the team must instruct Brown to occasionally shed his habit of catching the ball and immediately surveying the floor. When he gets the ball in the corner without a defender prepared to get a strong contest in, he should shoot.

So far in 2026-27, Brown has made exactly 40 percent of his three-point tries – he is 18-for-45 from long range in nine games – and his shot diet is starting to normalize a bit after the unusual circumstances which empowered his gargantuan mid-range volume last season.

Brown will get chances to play on the ball more whenever one or two of his star teammates are sidelined, but he predictably looks like a player still fleshing out how he fits on this team, perhaps more than any other player.

Jabari Walker should be closing in on taking Adem Bona's backup center job

Filling in for the injured (and struggling) Adem Bona at backup center, Jabari Walker was one of the Sixers' lone bright spots on Friday in Cleveland. Postgame, I had the following back-and-forth with Nurse, whose common sentiment about Walker is that he "never plays bad."

Q: What did you think of Jabari?

A: Played good. Same. He just goes out there, plays hard, plays well, and has an impact. He just seems to play well every time he hits the floor.

Q: Are you at the point where even when Bona is available, you might think about Jabari as your backup center?

A: I'm not at that point yet, no.

Nurse indicated earlier this week that Bona's athletic profile and rim protection – both far superior to Walker's – enable him to mix up his defensive coverages more, and do so in a way that will translate to the Sixers forcing more turnovers. Even if he is right, there is something to be said for reliability.

In nearly every appearance this season, Bona has made multiple, critical unforced errors. His minutes have largely been disastrous. Meanwhile, Walker constantly asserts himself as a dominant offensive rebounder, provides a pick-and-pop threat that Bona does not and is far more trustworthy with the ball in the middle of the floor. Bona will always be erratic by nature, but right now he has been more reckless than anything else. It must change soon, or Walker should become the Sixers' new short-term solution behind Embiid at the five.

MORE: How (quickly) can Sixers resolve backup center issues?

VJ Edgecombe's new role will positively impact his long-term development

One of the common refrains in skepticism of this Sixers team: putting four decorated stars together would prevent Edgecombe from becoming one himself. He would be “lost in the shuffle.”

Many of the pieces of pessimism surrounding these Sixers entering the season were ones I found to at least be credible, if not correct. But this was one that never computed.

Is it crazy to argue that Edgecombe has been the most fun player to watch on this team? He is 21 years old, coming off a rookie season in which he surpassed 3,000 minutes between the regular season and playoffs, has already shattered expectations for what he can be as an on-ball player, and all he has done this season is pour everything he has into mastering the art of being a role player.

After Edgecombe’s first 20-point game of the season last week, Edgecombe gave the quote of the season so far:

Edgecombe is in the midst of a high-level course on doing the little things. His long-term development as an on-ball player is simply being slowed down for now. When it does accelerate again, Edgecombe will have more than enough time and touches to maximize his abilities with the ball in his hands. All of the work, on and off the ball, will coalesce in a favorable way.

Labaron Philon Jr. must play basketball soon

The Sixers are extremely excited about their rookie guard, but with Maxey, Edgecombe and Anfernee Simons all on board it is hard for Nurse to find minutes for Philon.

I asked Philon last week how he has managed being on the fringes of a rotation for the first time in his life.

"I'd say just learning, being a sponge," Philon told me. "Being a young guy, really taking notes off all the guys that we have, really, and the guys that are above me right now. [Jaylen Brown], Tyrese [Maxey], all those guys, being able to give me great information every day.”

Philon not being in Nurse’s rotation is understandable, even if frustrating to some fans. But what cannot happen is Philon going most of the season without playing. He needs reps, even if not at the NBA level.

A related note: the Delaware Blue Coats were supposed to begin the 2026-27 G League season on Friday night, but the game was postponed because of a leak from the roof. Their season will start on Saturday evening. Perhaps Philon will eventually make an appearance at the Chase Fieldhouse.

MORE: Why doesn't Philon have a consistent role yet?

The ups and downs of Anfernee Simons will have to be navigated 

On six occasions this season, Anfernee Simons has struggled. Four times, he has been so prolific that it swung the game in the Sixers’ favor.

This is probably what life will be like for Simons on this team — one that does not offer nearly as many chances to play with the ball as the others he has been on in his career.

On a night Simons cannot find an offensive rhythm, will Nurse pull his weakest defensive link in hopes of at least putting his team in better positions to get stops?

The easy answer to that may be yes, especially with a trusted veteran like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope available. But Simons was playing very poorly for two-plus quarters on opening night at Madison Square Garden and then suddenly erupted for three third-quarter triples. The Sixers would not have spoiled the New York Knicks’ ring night without that.

Nurse has acknowledged that Simons’ track record gives him a long runway, and my guess is the veteran sharpshooter will remain locked into rather heavy bench minutes for a long while. Can the Sixers withstand his rough nights? Will Nurse eventually tighten his leash?

Dean Wade has been everything advertised – for better or worse

The Sixers love having Dean Wade around.

“He’s great. He’s great, man. He’s been great, though," Maxey said. "He’s in the position where some nights he’ll start, some nights he won’t start, some nights he’ll play five, some nights he’ll guard Jalen Brunson, he’ll guard [Karl-Anthony Towns]. He’s – I love Dean Wade."

Wade’s defensive versatility is unmatched on this roster and very rarely matched around the league. He is a legitimate option to guard any player in the NBA, and with that optionality comes a much easier time for Nurse forming a sound plan for any individual game. 

The flip side of the coin: Wade’s usage rate, 6.5 percent, is easily the lowest in the entire NBA — and Caldwell-Pope (9.4 percent) is the second-lowest.

That Wade can impact winning without playing on the ball is an asset. But the extent to which he at times appears allergic to shooting the ball puts a pretty significant cap on his upside.

MORE: How Mike Gansey aced first test with Sixers by signing Wade and Simons

Dominick Barlow should not be forgotten

Dominick Barlow started 59 games for last year’s Sixers, going from two-way contract find to full-blown rotation-caliber big. He remains without a firm timetable to make his season debut, now more than a month into dealing with a back injury, but Barlow is getting closer.

Given how significantly the Sixers have struggled in their backup center spot, there should be no question that Barlow gets a chance to slide up to the five.

Last season, Nurse did not test out Barlow as a small-ball center enough during the regular season. Predictably, he was forced to use it during the playoffs as veteran Andre Drummond was taken advantage of as a poor mover. Barlow did his job:

Barlow should and will be in the mix at backup center whenever he returns, but he also has a terrific on-court rapport with Embiid. Playing Barlow and Embiid together always netted strong results for the Sixers a season ago, and even with a much deeper group of options at power forward, Barlow should be a piece of the puzzle at the four, too. 

Nick Nurse deserves credit for Sixers' blistering start

Nurse rarely received credit in his first three years as Sixers head coach, and even Nurse himself would acknowledge that his tenure has been disappointing so far — to some degree for reasons out of his control.

When he arrived in Philadelphia, Nurse helped Embiid reach a new level as a passer; it made Embiid the best player in the world before his infamous meniscus injury in Jan. 2024 and remains a vital part of the Sixers’ offense. He has empowered Maxey and Edgecombe to play as much and with as much freedom as possible, boosting each player’s development.

Yet the Sixers have often looked uncreative strategically and uninspired generally under Nurse — an alarming trend given his reputation as an unorthodox tactician.

Credit where it is due: Nurse has his team playing with tremendous buy-in and effort, and Friday’s loss notwithstanding, this group is improving at a rapid pace. No coach in the league entered this season under more pressure than Nurse. His initial response has been impressive.

MORE: My predictions for 2026-27 Sixers season