The NBA is a serious business. The Philadelphia 76ers are a serious franchise. I am a serious person. So trust me when I say that I am being completely serious in declaring totally, 100% seriously that the 76ers are maybe-sorta-kinda the favorites in the Eastern Conference next year.
When you take things seriously (like I am), you have to try to cut out the fluff that could make one under or overestimate teams’ chances relative to the field. Past performance? Irrelevant. Proof of concept? Who cares. Hypothetical injuries? Don’t make me laugh. So long as we ignore these three highly-unserious issues, the 76ers have a pretty airtight case to be the favorites to win the conference.
Let’s take an honest look at their roster next season. Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain looked like the makings of an elite young backcourt before injuries and tanking ended last season early. Paul George had by far the worst season of his career last year, but it was so bad — his scoring dropped six whole points — that it felt more like an aberration than something that could torpedo this whole franchise. Add in VJ Edgecombe, who might be Dwayne Wade in like half a year, and you have a remarkably solid group with tons of room to grow.
Maxey is ready to lead a great, not good team. He’s got a burst and shooting ability that few can measure up to, and the 76ers have enough size across the board to compensate for his defensive shortcomings. And he’s not nearly as bad a defender as his skinny-legend point guard compatriots like Tyrese Haliburton or Darius Garland. He fights, and has great ball skills to hang around on defense.
The pieces around the edges aren’t bad either. Oshae Brissett and Quinten Grimes (should Philadelphia retain him) are professional basketball players with playoff-capable skillsets. Edgecombe is the real wildcard; I loved him at Baylor, and he was clearly the single-most NBA-ready athlete not named Cooper Flagg coming out of the draft. He and McCain have limitless upside in a conference where team building looks more like my baby cousin’s crayon drawings than the Mona Lisa.
The Boston Celtics are selling assets like it’s a Saturday flea market, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are always five bad minutes away from blowing their whole team up. Sure, the Orlando Magic traded the farm for Desmond Bane (cool), and sure, the Atlanta Hawks are putting something moderately interesting together (but they’re still the Atlanta Hawks). Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are firing their head coach to maybe hire… Mike Brown? … and signing Guerschon Yabusele (nice). The Indiana Pacers are in absolute shambles… because the Milwaukee Bucks are out here CUTTING Damian Lillard to finance a Myles Turner deal. Like… what is going on here?
All I see is a conference that is finally ready for the 76ers to shine. Exciting young players mixed with an infrastructure that is due to pop for once. In past years, there were insurmountable obstacles like a Celtics death lineup, Kawhi Leonard using the force, or LeBron James. But these days, there’s nothing to be afraid of.
Ok, fine. They also have Joel Embiid. And as funny as it’s been discussing them contending without mentioning him, maybe this is the good karma/exorcism season Philadelphia has been waiting for. Embiid and the 76ers have always been on the wrong side of the tide in the Eastern Conference. But with everyone else imploding, the 76ers may have pre-imploded last year and will now be locked and loaded to be the best around. If Embiid can delay his next implosion until next July, this has a chance to be something special.
And yes, that may sound like a lot of “ifs,” but all championships require a degree of luck, which is why I think we all need to take the Sixers’ odds at contention as seriously as I took this article: very.
