As the team that demolished the Sixers out of the 2026 playoffs continues playing for a championship, Philadelphia’s new brass is under no delusions on how far they are from contending for one.
In his introductory press conference, president of basketball operations Mike Gansey gave a frank assessment on where he thinks his new team is, one that Bob Myers would agree with in a media availability an hour later.
“They got swept in the second round, so it’s not a championship-caliber team right now,”
he said, “but we’re going to work on that.”
Gansey went on to explain that getting the core four of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Joel Embiid and Paul George on the court will be central to that. The presence of those last two has become quite the topic of debate amongst the fanbase. The current CBA already makes it hard to fill out a roster built around maxing out stars, but Embiid and George only being able to get on the court for about half the games makes it a Herculean task.
Gansey had to field multiple questions about balancing the potential long term of Edgecombe and Maxey while having the veterans Embiid and George under contract.
“I don’t look at it as a timeline, I just look at it like, we have those four and we have to maximize those four,” Gansey said. “Obviously, Tyrese and VJ are younger, but Paul and Joel can still play at a high level.”
He went on to cite the 24-14 record the team had when Embiid played this season, as well as their first-round series comeback win over the Boston Celtics. The commitment Gansey showed in his presser to the top four players on this roster could be seen as a contradiction to the organization’s view that this team is not ready for true contention.
As awesome as their success was against Boston, they were worn down by the time they reached the second round. The bench being too thin combined with a front office that was too stingy to provide any sort of reinforcements led to an ugly sweep.
For at least the very beginning of Gansey’s Sixers tenure, he has no choice but to present confidence. Whether it’s best for VJ Maxx to dump Embiid and George as quickly as possible or see what kind of support they can give the backcourt as they play out their contracts is a debate worth having several times over this offseason. Regardless of which path Gansey thinks is right, it’s in his best interest to show belief in this core as it currently stands.
“They’re our four guys, they’re under contract. We got to do the best to get them to their best self,” Gansey said, “because I think every night at 7 p.m., we got to get them to their best to help us win.”
That’s true whether Gansey has a deal to trade Embiid or PG tomorrow or not. Whether it’s hoping to turn those guys into a bunch of medium-sized contracts, or waiting until Edgecombe hits his prime as their contracts expire, this is a large ship that Gansey has to turn around.
The re-tool, re-vamp, whatever it is, is not going to be as straightforward as hoping to land a star at the top of the draft as Sam Hinkie’s capital P process was. A difference in Gansey’s favor though is that he certainly inherits more building blocks to start out. It’s clear Gansey values some pieces that are here.
Now it’s time to see just how much exactly.
