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The East is home to some of the league’s strongest teams this season and among them is the Philadelphia 76ers. For a time in this decade, the Sixers were the laughingstock of the league, having perfected “The Process,” tanking season after season for the sake of obtaining high draft picks and trading away good players for more picks.
Not anymore.
Since last season, the Sixers’ goal has been to win a championship. But to achieve it this year, as in years past, they will have to go through the Golden State Warriors who are poised to make another title run this season. With just over a month left in the regular season, the Warriors are playing at a high level at the right time. They started off slowly mostly due to injuries to key players but are now peaking at the right time.
If the Warriors make it out of the Western Conference and back to the NBA Finals, don’t be surprised if the team they meet there is the Sixers. They made it to the second round of the playoffs last year only two young stars in its lineup. They have since bolstered their chances at making it to the Finals with the addition of Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris. Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are a year older and wiser. The time is ripe for this team to take its place among the league’s best again and elevate Philly to the ranks of champions once more.
Let’s check out three reasons why the Sixers have what it takes to dethrone the Warriors:
3. Size and Length
The Sixers are big. Scratch that. They’re humongous! Philly likely employs the biggest starting lineup in the league with their shortest player, shooting guard J.J. Redick, at 6-foot-4. Their point guard is 6-foot-11 Ben Simmons (listed at 6-foot-10 but he’s closer to 7-feet in reality), their small forward is 6-foot-8 Jimmy Butler, their power forward is 6-foot-10 Tobias Harris and their center is 7-footer Joel Embiid.
They’re big, long and strong. This combination will make it hard for the Warriors to win against them four times in seven games. The Warriors will have to claw their way out of a matchup against this Sixers team. In their first meeting, the Sixers defeated the Warriors with a 113-104 win at Oracle Arena, one of the toughest places to win, without Harris who was still playing for the Clippers back then.
Last weekend, their second and final meeting of the regular season, the Warriors barely escaped in a 120-117 victory. This was without Embiid who hasn’t returned to the lineup since the All-Star break due to injury.
Philly’s size and length is perfect for upsetting the Warriors.
2. Deep Bench
Unlike last season, the Sixers have depth that rivals some of the best teams in the league. The addition of James Ennis from the Houston Rockets for added three-point shooting and Jonathon Simmons from the Orlando Magic for defense and toughness ensured that this roster would have more firepower off the bench.
Ennis is a veteran who can still knock down the three (35.7 percent for the season). Simmons (6.5 points a night) provides the Sixers with a hard-nosed young defensive wing who learned a lot from coach Gregg Popovich during his time with the San Antonio Spurs.
T.J. McConnell (6.6 points, 3.9 assists, 1.9 steals per game) provides the Sixers with a steady point guard behind Ben Simmons, Furkan Korkmaz (5.8 points in 14.2 minutes; currently injured) has good size at 6-foot-7 for a back-up two guard, and Mike Scott is shooting the lights out from three-point territory (41.6 percent from deep this year).
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Jonah Bolden (12 points, 3 rebounds vs. the Warriors) is solid as a reserve power forward/center and Boban Marjanovic is a good center off the bench depending on the matchups (12 points, 10 rebounds vs. New Orleans).
These final weeks heading into the playoffs should give the Sixers enough time to get their rotation set and prepare them for the long playoff grind. The Sixers just need a few minutes of breathing time from their bench and to produce whenever called upon. The starters will take care of the rest of the game from there. Speaking of that starting lineup…
1. Sixers Boast One of the Best Starting Lineups in Team History
Butler (18.6 points, 4.0 assists, 1.9 steals), Embiid (27.3 points, 13.5 rebounds, 1.9 blocks) and Ben Simmons (17.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.3 steals) are All-Stars. Harris (21.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, 39.3 percent 3-pt FGs) was a near-miss as an All-Star and Redick is one of the best shooters in the league (career-high 17.9 points, 38.4 percent 3-pt FGs).
Though it may be premature to compare them to the Sixers’ 1967 (Wilt Chamberlain, Luke Jackson, Chet Walker, Wali Jones and Hal Greer) and 1983 (Moses Malone, Marc Iavaroni, Julius Erving, Andrew Toney and Maurice Cheeks) title teams, it’s hard not to see how historically good this team is compared to the franchise’s best ever lineups.
It’s certainly better than Allen Iverson’s 2000-01 team that went to the Finals that season. That team had Eric Snow, George Lynch, Tyrone Hill and Dikembe Mutombo as the starting five. Other than 2001 MVP Iverson and Mutombo who is a Hall of Famer but was solely a defensive player, the rest of the starters are role players.
At worst, this team is already the third best in franchise history. Only time will tell if it will move higher as Simmons and Embiid are still getting better. Right now, these two franchise players are producing historically great statistics.
As they grow together this season, the Sixers should be one of the top teams in the entire league come playoff time. Once the starters learn how to play off of one another, every team in the league (yes, including the Warriors) should beware. If they meet Golden State in the Finals, chances are, the Dubs will not be as ready for the Sixers as they would think. Philly is already good but still discovering how good they can be, making it harder for the Warriors coach Steve Kerr to come up with a solid scouting report on how to beat them.
Let’s face it. The only thing lacking from this lineup is time and experience. Once they get both especially when they play deep into the playoffs, they’ll have the notoriety that comes with being one of the most historic teams in franchise history.
The Warriors’ time on the throne is almost over and it could well be the Sixers that bring it to an end.
