After enjoying a week off to rest and recuperate, teams around the NBA are gearing up for the final weeks of the regular season. One group the basketball community will be watching intently moving forward is the Philadelphia 76ers. When they take the floor in Minnesota Friday night, their lineup might look much different. The Sixers decided to weigh on the side of caution and use the All-Star break to their advantage. Instead of rolling out new addition James Harden last week, they opted to give him added time to recover from a hamstring injury he'd suffered before the trade.
Following a semi-cryptic tweet from Daryl Morey, it appears the former MVP is ready to take the floor for his new team.
When the mega-deal between the Sixers and Brooklyn Nets was announced, it created a seismic shift in the Eastern Conference. More importantly, it thrust Philly into the conversation of possible teams to compete for a championship this season.
On paper, the Sixers have the talent in place to represent the Eastern Conference in the finals, but there are other factors in play. While they might have one of the top offensive combinations in the league in Harden and Joel Embiid, the pairing has to figure out how to co-exist on the fly to be ready for the postseason. The Sixers have a lot of things going for them right now, but time is not one of them.
Along with the added hype around the Sixers has come loft expectations. Many feel that with the addition of the All-Star guard to pair with Embiid, it's now championship or bust for Philly. With the initial hysteria of the trade dying down some, it's time to set some realistic expectations for the Sixers.
Morey made this deal with the pursuit of a championship in mind, but for that to be the make or break in year one seems a bit unrealistic. This group has yet to even take the floor together, and who knows how long it might take for them to mesh. Harden is the type of player the Sixers need and should fit easily, but things like this still take time. Not to mention they are a step behind their top competitors, who have had all season to come together as a unit.
A more realistic goal or expectation for the Sixers this season would be reaching the conference finals. This core has failed to get out of the second round on multiple occasions. To go from that to reaching the finals is a bit of an extreme jump. They might be capable of doing so, but putting together a finals-ready team in roughly six weeks is an extremely tall task.
This year, the Eastern Conference is as stacked as it's been in a long time. No matter how the seeding plays out, it could be hard-fought battles in every round on that side of the bracket. If the Sixers can reach the conference finals, the season should be considered a success given the circumstances.
The Sixers acquired Harden with the intent to make a run at a title multiple times, not just this season. Given how fast everything must come together, reaching the conference finals is a much more realistic expectation than going all the way in year one.
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