The Philadelphia 76ers are not where they—and many others—thought they would be at the All-Star break.
Yes, the 76ers have entered the hiatus winners of three straight, and yes, they have a solid 34-21 record, but they are just fifth in the Eastern Conference and have been a model of inconsistency all season.
Going into the 2019-20 campaign, many liked Philadelphia to represent the East in the finals due to its talent-laden starting lineup that included Joel Embiid, Al Horford, Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons.
The thing is, all of the potential problems that could have existed with that group have manifested, as the Sixers lack spacing and quickness and have been experiencing some locker-room issues as a result.
Brett Brown tried to tinker with the lineup recently, moving Horford to the bench in Philly's recent win over the Los Angeles Clippers, and while it worked that night, who knows how it will play out as the final couple of months unfold.
In an Eastern Conference that includes the Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, the 76ers are finding themselves in one heck of a fight for supremacy, and as of right now, they are on the losing end of it.
Sure, they may have the most raw talent (although that is debatable), but the question is, can Philadelphia overcome all of its obvious flaws and can it shake off the internal issues that plainly exist?
Here is the problem with the Sixers: they don't have much of a history to draw from. This team has never made it past the second round of the playoffs, so it's not like they have built up the intestinal fortitude needed to whether these types of storms, and the maturity level of Embiid and Simmons as leaders is obviously a major question mark.
If Philly is doing to dig out of this hole, it is going to have to manufacture grit that has simply not existed there before, and that is never easy, especially when there appears to be a disconnect between the players and the coach.
Not only that, but the 76ers' roster in general is flawed.
Everyone lauded the Horford signing over the summer but did not pay enough attention to the losses of Jimmy Butler and JJ Redick. Butler served as a rock for the club last year, and the departure of Redick in particular has flown under the radar because his ability to space the floor and move without the basketball opened up the team's entire offense the last couple of seasons. Plus, Redick was a fine leader in his own right.
It's not like Elton Brand did much to address those losses during the offseason, either, only picking up Josh Richardson and filling out the rest of the roster with journeymen. Philadelphia did just acquire Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III at the trade deadline, but while they do provide the squad with a couple of decent perimeter threats, neither of them will move the needle all that much.
The idea of playing Horford at the 4 was always a bad one, too, considering that Horford has been a center for most of his career and, at the age of 33, no longer has the quickness to consistently guard power forwards.
It's not wonder why Horford is having arguably the worst season of his NBA tenure.
Going even deeper, health is also a major question mark in Philly. Embiid has missed considerable time due to various injury issues throughout the year, and those knees of his are always going to be an area of concern. Who is to say that Embiid will even be 100 percent come playoff time?
For all of the talent that this 76ers team has, it also has a number of flaws that make it incredibly vulnerable. There is a reason why they are just 9-19 away from home, which is the same road record as the New York Knicks. And guess what? With the way Philadelphia is playing thus far, it may not have home-court advantage at any point during the postseason.
Do the Sixers still have time to turn this thing around? Yes, but at this point, we have a large enough sample size to see who they really are, and again, it's not like this is a veteran team that is coasting through the regular season.
I don't think we need to look any further than last year's Celtics to be able to tell when something is seriously wrong with an insanely talented team, and for what it's worth, last season's Celtics were more talented top-to-bottom than this year's 76ers, not to mention much more experienced.
The ominous signs in Philly are clear as day, and based on what we have seen thus far, there is little reason to believe that the Sixers can pull themselves out of this and make a championship run.
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