Philadelphia @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 24, 2017 ) Washington 112, Philadelphia 120

The Philadelphia 76ers are about to add two No. 1 overall draft picks to a team already flooding with young talent as "the process" continues to move forward. The 76ers are expected to give Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz their NBA debuts when they open the 2017-18 campaign by visiting the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

Philadelphia bottomed out with 10 wins in 2015-16 but started to see the turnaround take shape last season as Joel Embiid finally took the court following two seasons lost to injury and Dario Saric came over from Europe after originally being drafted by the team in 2014. Embiid, Saric and the rest of the young roster are now joined by the 2016 No. 1 overall pick Simmons, who sat out 2016-17 with a broken right foot, and the 2017 No. 1 overall pick Fultz, who will come off the bench to start but could see time on the first unit as a shooting guard while the 6-10 Simmons runs the point. The Wizards are poised to take a leap forward as well after bowing out of the playoffs in the conference semifinals last spring for the third time in four years. Washington brought back its core by signing Otto Porter Jr. to a $106 million extension and locking in star point guard John Wall with a four-year, $170 million extension.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

ABOUT THE 76ERS (2016-17: 28-54): Seeing a team on the verge of making a playoff run with all the young talent, the Philadelphia front office finally went out in the offseason and brought back veterans like shooting guard J.J. Redick and power forward Amir Johnson. "Everybody's gonna see him make 3s and do this," 76ers coach Brett Brown told reporters of Redick. "What I see is an incredible leader in the locker room. I see him being amazingly professional with his work ethic and his detail and his preparation to his body. An incredibly prideful pro." Johnson, 30, signed a one-year deal after spending the last two seasons with the Boston Celtics and will provide toughness in the frontcourt.

ABOUT THE WIZARDS (2016-17: 49-33): Washington made it a point to focus on defense in training camp after finishing 24th in the league in defensive field-goal percentage last season, allowing opponents to shoot 46.6 percent. “I’m sure most teams start off trying to tackle all the fundamentals of the defensive concepts that you’re trying to implement, but we are going through all of them and hopefully we take some pride in it more,” coach Scott Brooks told the Washington Post. “We can score the ball with anybody in the league. ... If we can stay the same offensively, I’ll be extremely happy. But if we stay the same defensively, I don’t think that’s going to be good for us." The Wizards defense will be without one big man to start the season in forward Markieff Morris, who is expected to miss a month recovering from hernia surgery.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Wizards G/F Sheldon Mac could miss the entire season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn left Achilles tendon.

2. Embiid (ankle) will have his minutes monitored to start the season.

3. SG Carrick Felix earned Washington's final roster spot over G Donald Sloan.

PREDICTION: Wizards 121, 76ers 109