Evaluating Philadelphia 76ers free agent signings so far this season

You can't win the NBA Finals in July. Of course, you can improve your team on paper, as the Philadelphia 76ers did this offseason, but a talented, deep roster can only carry you so far. Injury luck, chemistry and effort are just as important as the roster itself.

Philadelphia took care of the roster this summer; signing Paul George, Caleb Martin, Eric Gordon, Guerschon Yabusele, re-signing Kelly Oubre Jr and Kyle Lowry, drafting Jared McCain — the roster looked balanced, deep and talented.

Through 15 games, the Philadelphia 76ers are 3-13, one game ahead of the Washington Wizards and one game behind the Toronto Raptors. Not the company this team thought it would be in. How much do this summer's free agent additions have to do with Philly's slow start?

Spoiler alert; not that much. Joel Embiid effectively retiring from basketball and not telling anyone is the biggest culprit for the Sixers brutal start — but that doesn't fully excuse the new guys from playing poorly.

Subscribe to The Whiteboard, FanSided’s daily email newsletter on everything basketball. If you like The Whiteboard, share it with a friend! If you don’t like The Whiteboard, share it with an enemy!

Paul George has not lived up to his contract

Paul George has not been a 4-year, $210 million man for the Sixers this season. I will preface this by saying George was brought in to be, in essence, a supercharged No. 3 option for the Sixers behind Joel Embiid and alongside Tyrese Maxey. At this point in his career, George isn't a No. 1 option on a contending team, and that's fine! In theory, he wasn't going to be asked to put the Sixers on his back this season, and he's been forced to carry a heavier load than expected this season.

With that being said... he's still been bad. George is averaging 14.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 3.1 turnovers, shooting 38 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from 3-point. George has also only played 8 games and has been dealing with lingering injuries as well.

Things can change, but this is not the version of Paul George that Sixers fans thought they were getting.

Eric Gordon is far past his prime

Added later in the summer for some extra bench scoring, Philadelphia didn't expect Eric Gordon to be the elite sixth man option he was earlier in his career, but Daryl Morey and the front office hoped he could at least remain the reliable shooter he's been for the Clippers and Suns the past few years.

Well, Gordon is struggling to be that right now, too. He's shooting 25 percent from 3-point range, and when Gordon isn't making shots at this point in his career, he's not providing much. He's in danger of falling out of the rotation if this cold streak continues.

Caleb Martin can't find his groove

Thought to be one of the sneaky good signings of the offseason, Martin had some great years with the Heat before getting a solid payday from the Sixers this summer. So far, Martin hasn't quite panned out like Philadelphia hoped he would.

He hasn't been terrible; Martin provides pretty solid defense and is averaging 10 points per game, but his efficiency numbers are ugly and he's too streaky to trust on a nightly basis for Nick Nurse.

Guerschon Yabusele has been a nice surprise

After a few years out of the NBA, Yabusele balled out in the Olympics this summer and earned himself a spot back in the NBA with the Sixers. With Joel Embiid missing most of the season so far, Yabusele has played a bigger role in Philly than expected, acting as a fill-in big body in the frontcourt.

And he's been good in that role! He's hitting over 40 percent of his 3-pointers, and doesn't mind mucking things up in the paint. Yabusele been a nice pickup for this team which might need him to play an expanded role if Embiid just never comes back.

Andre Drummond is doing Andre Drummond things

Those things include getting a lot of rebounds, missing some dunks, making some dunks, thinking he's a point guard every once in a while. Those things.

Drummond has been exactly the same player he's been for about 5 years now, which is fine. You pretty much know what you're going to get from him every year. Sometimes it's ugly, sometimes it's... not as ugly.