About a month ago, I wrote about whether the Philadelphia 76ers could climb atop the Philly sport hierarchy. With the Sixers’ regular season starting next week, that possibility is looking increasingly realistic.
The Phillies exited the playoffs with a whimper yet again, the Eagles’ season is circling the drain, and the Flyers may never win a game. Sports fans in the city are beginning to view the Sixers as a lifeline to pull them out of this morass of disappointment. Counting on the Sixers for happiness?
Now that’s a dangerous game.
But vibes have been sky-high through training camp and the preseason. Team chemistry seems off the charts and everyone is saying the right things about sacrifice and achieving greater goals together. The only bummer thus far has been Ariel Hukporti’s season-ending Achilles tear. So I don’t relish the idea of bringing this up, but I feel like it bears mentioning: the Sixers could get off to a slow start.
Let’s start with the schedule. In their first 10 games, the Sixers play the Knicks, Cavaliers and Pistons twice each, with two back-to-backs. Those were three of the top four seeds in the Eastern Conference last season. It’s not the easiest way to kick off a new campaign.
We should also remember that this starting group has played exactly one half of basketball together thus far, the first 24 minutes against Brooklyn in which Philadelphia entered halftime ahead by just two points. The offense looked dynamite, a choose-your-own adventure of despair for the opposition. However, the defense might take some time to gel, as all the new pieces hone their on-court communication and Joel Embiid (hopefully) gradually knocks the rust off in live game action. With the glaring acknowledgment that “It’s Just Preseason,” and the reality of many regulars being rested liberally in these games, we should still note that the Sixers are 1-2, and got smoked by Boston and lost a close one to Brooklyn.
So yes, the Sixers won’t be playing Rayan Rupert and Duke Miles on opening night at the Garden, but is it realistic to expect everything to come together in an instant for the main group against the defending champs on their banner ceremony? Or could there be a bit of a learning curve and some bumps along the road as these guys feel each other out? When Embiid is sitting out a back-to-back and Adem Bona gets in early foul trouble and the Sixers are forced to play 30-plus minutes with small lineups of Dean Wade or Jabari Walker at the five, the hoopla of this past offseason might feel a long way away.
If there is a slow start, though, my advice would be not to panic. To paraphrase LeBron James, he didn’t leave his family to lose in the second round, but he also didn’t leave his family to make sure the Sixers go 8-2 in their first 10 games. This season will be a marathon, not a sprint. What’s of paramount importance is keeping everyone healthy and experimenting with lineup combinations and building chemistry so that this group is peaking in the spring, not early November. So I know with everything else happening in Philly sports right now, a lot of hopes are being piled on the Sixers at the moment. No matter what happens, stay the course, and don’t let those hopes be dashed in just a couple weeks’ time.
