Meaningless basketball is back in Philadelphia.
Watching the 76ers lose to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night felt like a harkening back to the Process days of yore. With nearly the entire roster injured or suspended, the Sixers rolled out a group against the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons that contained rookie VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes and nine guys who were originally undrafted, on a two-way contract, playing in Europe a month ago, or more or less a coach. Oh yeah, and the Sixers literally
had no centers, ironic for a franchise that we once joked could start an entire lineup of centers.
A debate has broken out in Sixers circles about whether or not the team should tank. Folks, they don’t need to. This broken-down roster will take care of things for itself. They may catch the stray Cam Payne heater here and there to beat a tanking team like Memphis, but the losses are coming.
However, unlike true tanking days when we fans had to wait until the NBA Draft Lottery to see the fruits of the team’s labors, the Play-In Tournament now looms as the next meaningful moment for the franchise. With 16 games remaining, the Sixers are 2.5 games back of the sixth-seeded Heat, and 7.5 games ahead of the 11th-seeded Bucks, so they are almost assuredly Play-In-bound.
The Play-In seems a fitting place for Philadelphia, a nexus of not-quite Playoff Basketball that represents a ‘can’t lose’ proposition for Sixers fans. In one scenario, the Sixers could be defeated in the Play-In Tournament, and everyone can root for the something like four percent chance that the ping pong balls will bounce our way and get this organization back on track after this back half of the season has been completely derailed. That’s very familiar ground, and honestly, probably the best hope for the franchise long-term, even if it’s a long shot.
In another scenario, the Sixers could revert to the team from the first half of the season. Tyrese Maxey’s pinky heals just fine. Joel Embiid finds another pocket period of reasonably good health. Paul George will be back from suspension (which, by the way, I feel like people should have carte blanche to pursue mental health by whatever means necessary while being in the orbit of the Sixers organization). They could very plausibly have the normal roster back, win the necessary game or two in the Play-In Tournament, and once again become the team ‘nobody wants to face’ in the first round. If nothing else, playing against that Pistons group with a full roster would make for a fun two weeks. Imagine all the Tobias Harris jokes we could get off!
So yes, this last month or so of the season will likely be very meaningless. It’s perfectly reasonable to use the time to get outside or reconnect with family rather than grind film from blowout losses to determine whether MarJon Beauchamp deserves a standard NBA contract (and if that’s your thing, that’s cool too!). But unlike prior years when meaningful basketball was at best returning in the fall, we only have to wait until mid-April.
