The Sixers are at the one-month point of their 2024-25 regular season schedule. The first chapter of their journey has been... unpleasant. For this week's Sunday stats , let's take a look at some of the numbers which have defined the team's 3-12 opening to a season it entered with championship aspirations: 21 The Sixers have issues across their entire roster — this will be explored momentarily — and none of their three All-Stars have been close to their best selves when on the floor. But, ultimately, Embiid, George and Maxey's collective lack of consistent availability has been the largest hinderance preventing the team from winning games. Going all-in on a "Big 3" of stars in today's NBA means sacrificing depth to an extreme degree — therefore creating additional pressure on those stars to carry the load. Recent Sixers injury updates Joel Embiid | Paul George 29.0 percent Martin and Oubre were slated to be the two defensive aces on the wing starting in between the Sixers' trio of ball-dominant stars. Martin came off the bench during the team's first game, but has started every game since. Oubre recently moved to the bench, but quickly returned to the starting five when George went down again. For any role player surrounding high-profile talents — especially a wing — being accurate as a three-point shooter is more important than anything else on offense. Martin (31.1 percent on 3.0 three-point attempts per game) and Oubre (27.7 percent on 4.3 three-point attempts per game) have been the opposite of that. If Eric Gordon is added to the mix, this figure goes down even further, which is even more alarming because long-range shooting is Gordon's lone reliable skill at this stage of his career. Martin will always provide tenacious defense across multiple positions, Oubre will always be a reliable option on that end of the floor while also being able to apply pressure on the rim. Then there is Gordon, whose physical limitations prevent him from consistently creating separation off the dribble. The veteran sharpshooter's 24.3 three-point percentage is abysmal; the Sixers need it to skyrocket in order for him to be a viable rotation player moving forward. 42.5 percent Two players on this team have outperformed expectations through 15 games, and they have each done so by enormous amounts. Yabusele was the last player the Sixers signed to a standard contract during the offseason. He was thought to be an interesting change-of-pace option at power forward, with a chance to be a fringe rotation piece in certain matchups if the improvements he made as a three-point shooter overseas carried over to his NBA return. After a month, Yabusele has still not played many minutes at the four — but he looks like the Sixers' best option at center when Embiid is sidelined. His jumper is as real as it gets: Yabusele has made 42.4 percent of his long-range tries on the season, attempting nearly four triples per game despite averaging 21.8 minutes per contest. The confidence Yabusele holds in his refined shooting stroke is palpable, and he has adhered to the advice of his coaches to stay ready to fire away at all times. It has all coalesced to pay dividends in a major way. Let McCain's 42.7 three-point percentage on 5.9 attempts per game — and his active streak of nine consecutive games with at least three made triples — serve as another example of why outlier shooting numbers in a handful of Summer League games should not be taken seriously. There is a ton to say about McCain — so much that the next section of this very story will be focused solely on the dynamic rookie guard — but it is worth acknowledging that he always profiled as an elite three-point shooter, which figured to give him a reasonable floor as a quality rotation guard. He has somehow shot the ball even better than expected, though, while also flourishing as a scorer in other areas of the floor. If the Sixers can get their stars healthy and playing at the levels they typically perform at — this is, of course, an enormous "if" — McCain's emergence as a plus-starter making a hair over $4 million in the first season of a four-year rookie scale contract completely changes the long-term thinking of this front office as it looks to craft a sustainable winner. MORE : Yabusele talks NBA return, influence of Nico Batum 66.8 percent Even if the torrid stretch McCain is in the midst of has stood out, he is not the first rookie to rattle off a string of gaudy point totals. But make no mistake, this is not a "good stats, bad team" situation, despite the Sixers' record. McCain is not another Michael Carter-Williams, posting strong box score lines on a team that is losing games. This true shooting percentage mark is as good of an indicator of that as you will find. For those unfamiliar, 66.8 true shooting percent is absolutely phenomenal — 57.3 is the league average in 2024-25 as of Saturday. I'll put it this way: as a 20-year-old rookie with the total number of games under his belt as a professional basketball player still in the single-digits, McCain saw three All-Stars go down with injuries, assumed significant scoring responsibilities which quickly became primary ball-handling duties, leading to 18 shot attempts per game — and with all of that working against him, his overall efficiency has been nearly 20 percent better than the average NBA player. There are no words to properly describe or quantify how impressive this run is. The Sixers found gold in the 2020 NBA Draft when they drafted Maxey at No. 21 overall and watched him turn into an All-Star. They say lightning does not strike twice, but the Sixers may have repeated their success by selecting McCain with the No. 16 overall pick last June. MORE : McCain + Maxey developing on- and off-court bonds, powering exciting partnership 1,751 That number makes up 47.9 percent of all minutes played by any Sixers players during the regular season. The Sixers' depth has been challenged in every which way during these first 15 games, and it has failed nearly every test. But again, this is to some degree a byproduct of the team's preferred method of roster construction: assemble a core of stars and figure out how to optimize everything around it afterwards. There is clear upward mobility here: Martin spent three years as a high-quality rotation wing for the Miami Heat, and has made significant steps in the right direction recently (he does still need to figure out whatever is going on with his shooting mechanics, though). Oubre was a positive-impact player for significant chunks of the season for the 2023-24 Sixers. Drummond's minutes have waned; his production on a per-minute basis should trend in the positive direction. Still, this is a truly harrowing figure. It does not reflect well on veterans Gordon and Jackson, nor does it help owners of stock in the development of Council, the second-year fan favorite wing who is dead last among all Sixers in BPM. Sometimes, it's really this simple: the Sixers do not have enough people on their team who have looked like good NBA players to consistently win NBA games. Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoiceIt is an ambitious social experiment of our moment in history — one that experts say could accomplish something that parents, schools and other governments have attempted with varying degrees of success: keeping kids . Australia’s new law, approved by its Parliament last week, is an attempt to swim against many tides of modern life — formidable forces like technology, marketing, globalization and, of course, the iron will of a teenager. And like efforts of the past to protect kids from things that parents believe they’re not ready for, the nation’s move is both ambitious and not exactly simple, particularly in a world where young people are often shaped, defined and judged by the online company they keep. The ban won’t go into effect for another year. But how will Australia be able to enforce it? That’s not clear, nor will it be easy. TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram have become so ingrained in young people’s lives that going cold turkey will be difficult. Other questions loom. Does the ban limit kids’ free expression and — especially for those in vulnerable groups — isolate them and curtail their opportunity to connect with members of their community? And how will social sites verify people’s ages, anyway? Can’t kids just get around such technicalities, as they so often do? This is, after all, the 21st century — an era when social media is the primary communications tool for most of those born in the past 25 years who, in a fragmented world, seek the common cultures of trends, music and memes. What happens when big swaths of that fall away? Is Australia’s initiative a good, long-time-coming development that will protect the vulnerable, or could it become a well-meaning experiment with unintended consequences? The law will make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars for systemic failures to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts. “It’s clear that social media companies have to be held accountable, which is what Australia is trying to do,” said Jim Steyer, president and CEO of the nonprofit Common Sense Media. Leaders and parents in countries around the world are watching Australia’s policy closely as many seek to protect young kids from the internet’s dangerous corners — and, not incidentally, from each other. Most nations have taken different routes, from parental consent requirements to minimum age limits. Many child safety experts, parents and even teens who have waited to get on social media consider Australia’s move a positive step. They say there’s ample reason to ensure that children wait. “What’s most important for kids, just like adults, is real human connection. Less time alone on the screen means more time to connect, not less,” said Julie Scelfo, the founder of Mothers Against Media Addiction, or MAMA, a grassroots group of parents aimed at combatting the harms of social media to children. “I’m confident we can support our kids in interacting in any number of ways aside from sharing the latest meme.” The harms to children from social media have been well documented in the two decades since Facebook’s launch ushered in a new era in how the world communicates. Kids who spend more time on social media, especially as tweens or young teenagers, are more likely to experience depression and anxiety, according to — though it is not yet clear if there is a causal relationship. What’s more, many are exposed to content that is not appropriate for their age, including pornography and violence, as well as . They also face bullying, sexual harassment and unwanted advances from their peers as well as adult strangers. Because their brains are not fully developed, teenagers, especially younger ones the law is focused on, are also more affected by social comparisons than adults, so even happy posts from friends can send them into a negative spiral. What unintended harms could be caused? Many major initiatives, particularly those aimed at social engineering, can produce side effects — often unintended. Could that happen here? What, if anything, do kids stand to lose by separating kids and the networks in which they participate? Paul Taske, associate director of litigation at the tech lobbying group NetChoice, says he considers the ban “one of the most extreme violations of free speech on the world stage today” even as he expressed relief that the First Amendment prevents such law in the United States “These restrictions would create a massive cultural shift,” Taske said. “Not only is the Australian government preventing young people from engaging with issues they’re passionate about, but they’re also doing so even if their parents are OK with them using digital services,” he said. “Parents know their children and their needs the best, and they should be making these decisions for their families — not big government. That kind of forcible control over families inevitably will have downstream cultural impacts.” David Inserra, a fellow for Free Expression and Technology, Cato Institute, called the bill “about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike” in a . While Australia’s law doesn’t require “hard verification” such as an uploaded ID, he said, it calls for effective “age assurance.” He said no verification system can ensure accuracy while also protecting privacy and not impacting adults in the process. Privacy advocates have also raised concerns about the law’s effect on online anonymity, a cornerstone of online communications — and something that can protect teens on social platforms. “Whether it be religious minorities and dissidents, LGBTQ youth, those in abusive situations, whistleblowers, or countless other speakers in tricky situations, anonymous speech is a critical tool to safely challenge authority and express controversial opinions,” Inserra said. A spot check of kids at one mall in the Australian city of Brisbane on Wednesday didn’t turn up a great deal of worry, though. “Social media is still important because you get to talk to people, but I think it’s still good that they’re like limiting it,” said Swan Son, a 13-year-old student at Brisbane State High School. She said she has had limited exposure to social media and wouldn’t really miss it for a couple of years. Her parents already enforce a daily one-hour limit. And as for her friends? “I see them at school every day, so I think I’ll be fine.” Conor Negric, 16, said he felt he’d dodged a bullet because of his age. Still, he considers the law reasonable. “I think 16 is fine. Some kids, I know some kids like 10 who’re on Instagram, Snapchat. I only got Instagram when I was 14.” His mom, Sive Negric, who has two teenage sons, said she was happy for her boys to avoid exposure to social media too early: “That aspect of the internet, it’s a bit ‘meanland.’” Other countries are trying to figure it out, too Parents in earlier this year organized on platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram to promise not to buy smartphones for children younger than 12 or 13. This approach costs almost no money and requires no government enforcement. In the United States, some parents are either informally or as part of an organized campaign such as Wait Until 8th, a group that helps parents delay kids’ access to social media and phones. This fall, Norway announced plans to ban kids under 15 from using social media, while a smartphone ban for kids under 15 in a limited number of schools — a policy that could be rolled out nationwide if successful. U.S. lawmakers have held multiple congressional hearings — — on child online safety. Still, the last federal law aimed at protecting children online was enacted in 1998, six years before Facebook’s founding. In July, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation , pushing forward with what would be the first major effort by Congress in decades to hold tech companies more accountable. But the has since stalled in the House. While several states have passed laws requiring age verification, those are stuck in court. Utah became to pass laws regulating children’s social media use in 2023. In September, a against the law, which would have required social media companies to verify the ages of users, apply privacy settings and limit some features. NetChoice has also obtained injunctions temporarily halting similar laws in several other states. And last May, said there is insufficient evidence to show social media is safe for kids. He urged policymakers to treat social media like car seats, baby formula, medication and other products children use. “Why should social media products be any different? Scelfo said. “Parents cannot possibly bear the entire responsibility of keeping children safe online, because the problems are baked into the design of the products.” Associated Press Writers John Pye in Brisbane, Australia and Laurie Kellman in London contributed to this story.Chance of direct attack by Russia ‘remote’, says UK armed forces chief
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