With the All-Star break officially underway for the Sixers, now is as good of a time as ever to zoom out and reflect on what each player has shown and proven in what has been a disastrous season for the team so far. During All-Star weekend, we will be handing out player grades for each Sixer to start the season with the organization and remain in Philadelphia beyond the trade deadline.

Up first: a group of five young players which represents a mixture of hope and disappointment as things stand now:

Ricky Council IV: C-

Council entered his second NBA season — his first full year on a standard contract — with the goal of improving his reputation as a situational piece, taking things to the next level and establishing himself as someone who Sixers head coach Nick Nurse can trust every night.

If anything, Council feels farther away from earning that status 54 games into his sophomore year. What made Council special as a rookie was his ability to occasionally provide significant energy boosts for the Sixers when they came out flat. His comical foul-drawing rate gave him a floor offensively despite poor three-point shooting indicators (he did make a decent percent of his long-range tries in a very small sample size as a rookie).

The hope this season was that Council could become a defensive playmaker and a force on the glass while maintaining decent efficiency from beyond the arc and limiting mistakes. With his outlier athletic tools, such a combination would make him a no-doubt piece of Nurse's wing rotation.

Unfortunately for the Sixers, just about none of that has happened. Council has regressed significantly as a three-point shooter, his free throw attempts per 100 possessions is less than half of what it was last season. All the while, his questionable decision-making has cost the Sixers on both ends of the floor, making it harder for Nurse and his staff to have any sort of trust in Council.

Despite a massive number of injuries to other wings granting him opportunity after opportunity, Council has been unable to secure a stable role. That in itself is an ominous sign, though the 23-year-old still has more than enough time to prove himself. But there is no doubt that Council's stock has taken a real hit this season.

Jared McCain: A

Perhaps no Sixer has seen their stock soar this season like McCain, who only needed 23 games in his rookie season to catapult from unknown rookie drafted in the second half of the first round last June to a legitimate building block for the organization as it begins thinking about its distant future. The 20-year-old is dynamite on the offensive end of the floor, combining elite three-point shooting accuracy with surprisingly consistent on-ball scoring chops and unfathomable confidence that powers him to greater heights.

McCain was the clear frontrunner to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award before suffering a torn meniscus which was later revealed to be a season-ending injury. He is now comfortably walking under his own power and is back around the team on a regular basis. McCain's terrific positive energy uplifts his teammates, another rare trait for such a young player, whose methods of attack as a scorer showcase remarkable maturity. 

Perhaps the next step for McCain: showing that his flashes of promise as a playmaker for others is a sign of future development. McCain and Tyrese Maxey figure to be the long-term starting backcourt for the Sixers, and McCain would make Maxey's life a lot easier if he also turns into an adequate shot creator for his teammates.

Heading into 2025-26, McCain will at the very least be relied on for his on- and off-ball scoring. He is the team's best bet to knock down a spot-up three and also one of its best options to create a basket on his own. McCain's upper body strength enables him to bump defenders off spots when they do not expect it and his touch is so good that just a bit of daylight gives him an opportunity to fire away and connect. He is more crafty than he is effective as a finisher so far -- if he can continue to acclimate to the speed and strength he now faces at the NBA level and becomes a three-level scorer by improving his ability to score through contact, he will unquestionably be on a star trajectory.

MORE: McCain talks season-ending injury, reflects on shortened rookie year

Adem Bona: B-

Bona's rookie season has gone about how folks should have expected. He has not been a consistent rotation piece (aside from a few weeks when Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond were both sidelined). And when Bona has played, he has demonstrated both the enticing long-term potential that drew the Sixers to him and the warts in his game that make him somewhat of a long-term developmental project.

Maybe the most encouraging aspect of Bona's rookie season has emerged in recent weeks. He has suddenly showed increased comfort as an offensive decision-maker, particularly as a short-roll passer. As someone who will likely spend the next few years setting lots of screens for Maxey and McCain, continued improvement in that respect would do Bona a lot of good.

Whenever Bona is on the floor, his effort is off the charts. His motor and athleticism make for an extremely valuable combination; it has powered strong production as a shot-blocker early in Bona's NBA career:

Bona must eventually learn how to harness his energy in the right way. He has committed 8.5 fouls per 100 possessions; no other player in the entire NBA with at least 400 minutes under their belt this season averages more than 7.9.

Massive foul rates among backup centers are often discarded, as they do not play enough minutes to foul out of games. First of all, Bona has had his minutes reduced during games because of foul trouble several times and fouled out in his lone start of the season. But even if being disqualified is not such a horrid proposition for Bona as it would be for Embiid, those fouls add up. It is a serious issue he will need to remedy to become a quality backup center.

Jeff Dowtin Jr.: C-

Dowtin entered the season with a clear chance of earning an eventual conversion from another two-way contract to his second standard deal with the Sixers. Dowtin has an ardent supporter in Nurse, knows how to keep a team organized and does not have a ton of weaknesses.

Dowtin has yet to prove he can be a quality backup ball-handler against NBA competition. He has very much been leap-frogged on the depth chart by Jared Butler, who earned a conversion over the weekend that certainly muddies Dowtin's long-term outlook in Philadelphia. But Dowtin has certainly proven he can dominate G League competition, torching the opposition whenever he suits up for the Delaware Blue Coats.

On Sunday afternoon, Dowtin will play in the G League "Up Next Game" in San Francisco as part of the league's All-Star festivities.

"Definitely excited for the opportunity," Dowtin told PhillyVoice about his selection on Wednesday night in Brooklyn. "All-Star is definitely a big thing. It just shows work has been paid off. You get rewarded for putting in a lot of work over time, and I'm just excited for the opportunity."

Justin Edwards: A

What a ride the last six weeks have been for Edwards, the hometown kid who had a difficult collegiate season at Kentucky that dropped him from five-star recruit to undrafted free agent.

Six weeks ago, Edwards held court as a locker in the visitor's locker room in the Barclays Center. He had just logged his first NBA appearance with extended action after two brief rotation cameos. On Jan. 4, the 21-year-old then on a two-way deal scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds in 23 minutes.

39 days later, Edwards held court at the very same locker in Brooklyn on Wednesday. But so much had changed: Edwards became a rotation fixture for a depleted version of the Sixers. Then they reached full health and he had still managed to notch a starting job, which he held for nine consecutive games before returning to the bench on Wednesday.

"It's a big difference, honestly," Edwards said on Wednesday. "I've been having a lot more game reps since then, and I feel like I've been progressing. I'm just going to try to continue to do that moving forward."

Edwards has become one of the Sixers' most impactful and versatile perimeter defenders. His quick trigger on spot-up threes — he is shooting a respectable 36.4 percent from beyond the arc — has become a valuable asset to the team's offense, as has his opportunistic scoring capabilities. For a player who is so young with such limited experience playing in the NBA, Edwards' understanding of what he needs to do to help his team win is marvelous.

On Thursday, Edwards returned to Imhotep Charter to see his No. 3 jersey retired. Embiid and Nurse both tagged along to see the rookie wing receive an honor that clearly means a lot to him.

MORE: ‘The sky’s the limit' for Justin Edwards

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