As it was pointed out to me, using a picture of Joel Embiid with a headline saying “I’m back, baby!” was in poor taste. I guess I still have vacation brain making a choice like that. Sorry for any distress this might have caused any of you.
Anyway, let’s get right into your questions.
Going to combine these two questions, but, for the record, there was a ton of anticipation heading into 2012! The team got to the second round and forced a Game 7 against the Boston Celtics the year prior. Then they went
out and got Andrew Bynum. He’s a punchline now, but, at the time, Bynum was 24, a two-time champ and coming off his first All-Star appearance. There was legit hype around that season. Alas, it went sort of similar to 2024-25 where it turned into a season full of false starts and non-update updates.
The expectations are extremely low from the fan base it seems. Even as some in the national sphere are doing the annual “if they can stay healthy …” exercise, people around here know better. This is probably the least anticipated season since the 2015-16 team that won 10 games and featured rookie Jahlil Okafor as its leading scorer. People seriously contemplated whether Joel Embiid would ever play a game and Sam Hinkie formed a logjam at center by drafting Okafor. That was also the season where the league staged a coup on the team’s front office and foisted the Colangelos upon them. As bleak as it might be now, at least it’s not that.
I’ve written about this a couple times, but I believe there’s room for Sixers fans to enjoy this upcoming season — if you go in expectation free. Accept that Embiid and Paul George will barely play. Focus on the guards and the scrappy young talent surrounding them. They’ll be fun to watch. Hell, they’ll likely even be competitive most nights. Remember, the East looks like a dumpster fire this season. That should help the Sixers bolster their record a bit, no matter the status of their aging and ailing stars.
When I think about Maxey, Jared McCain, Quentin Grimes and VJ Edgecombe (and even guys like Justin Edwards, Adem Bona, Johni Broome and Trendon Watford), I see guys that are all hungry and motivated for one reason or another. They’re going to fight. Will they win? I’m not sure. But they’ll be playing to win every single night. That hasn’t always felt like the case in previous seasons.
The Sixers are playing a league-high 16 back-to-backs in 2025-26. I’m here to tell you this is just an extremely unfortunate coincidence. If you look back over Embiid’s tenure, the number of back-to-backs has fluctuated. The way they make schedules for the NBA makes it near impossible to purposely schedule a team with an unfair amount of back-to-backs. It hurts the Sixers more than most teams because of Embiid and PG, but other teams — the Nuggets, Suns, Hornets and Wizards also play 16 — will still feel the pain of too many back-to-backs.
The bigger issue is teams play too many back-to-backs in general. There are probably too many games. But that situation will never change as long as the NBA stands to lose money over less games being played.
This is an August rumor. I think we can all deduce (as you did here) this is bullshit.
There is no salary match that makes sense. Simons, a player I genuinely like, also makes zero sense from a fit perspective.
As you mentioned, there’s no chance the Celtics would take on George’s contract and the idea of trading Maxey to THE BOSTON CELTICS is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard. This organization already handed them Jayson Tatum and took Ben Simmons over Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. Anyone who would even consider trading Maxey to Boston needs to touch grass. I’m pretty against trading Maxey in general, barring a ridiculous return.
And this is another opportunity for me to remind everyone that Tyrese Maxey is very good basketball. Our memories are way too short. I blame social media.
