CAMDEN, N.J. — A 10-year journey that has taken them to a dangerous NBA crossroad will continue for the 76ers Thursday in Milwaukee, where they once again will try to profit from a process, a player and a plan.
Most recently caught failing at competitive basketball in the second round of the last postseason, the Sixers will bounce out of an offseason that left them with no draft picks, marginal free-agency gains and a new coach in championship-proven Nick Nurse.
While James Harden has and continues to disrupt growth with name-calling and personal issues that have left him unprepared for the season, the Sixers do have the sitting NBA MVP in Joel Embiid. With that, at least in the regular season, they should not be out of place in any game or basketball fantasy. So the 41st attempt to win a championship since 1983 shall begin against the Bucks at 7:30.
Maybe this time?
“Well, I think that we’ve got a long way to go,” Nurse said Wednesday, after practice at the training complex. “But I really like the pieces that we have. I think that there needs to be some growth there. I love what we have right now. Give me 20 games or so and get back to me with that question. But I certainly think it’s a viable one to ask.”
Even with their issues, some newness and the ever-looming questions about Embiid’s endurance, that is about where the Sixers are 82 games from the playoffs. They are at a spot where it is reasonable to sprinkle in a little championship talk but nowhere near as much as had been thrown around for the past five years.
Though Harden, who signed a $35.7 million deal to serve as a point guard for one year and immediately moped when he wasn’t traded, will not make the Milwaukee trip and is unlikely to play Saturday in Toronto or in the Sunday night home opener against Portland, Nurse’s team is built to compete. At 29, Embiid has led the NBA in scoring for the past two seasons, is healthy by his standards and realizes he is in the heart of his career. He will be surrounded by veterans in Tobias Harris and P.J. Tucker, boosted by quietly interesting free-agent pickups in Patrick Beverley and Kelly Oubre Jr., and supplemented at center by newly arrived Mo Bamba and ever-improving Paul Reed. Then, there is Tyrese Maxey, who, if he can thrive at the point, will enter the gates of NBA stardom.
De’Anthony Melton is still around for two-way backcourt depth. Danny Green is back to provide the bench shooting lost with the departure of Georges Niang to free agency. Furkan Korkmaz should benefit from the coaching change. Danuel House Jr. knows how to play. If 2021 first-round pick Jaden Springer is ever going to be a player, this is the time. And there is always the longshot chance of Harden contributing at least enough to boost his value in what is certain to be a trade.
The Sixers are in the top 10 on the Vegas NBA championship futures board. As Brett Brown could remind, there have been worse teams.
“It’s all about winning a championship,” Embiid said at the crack of training camp. “I’ve got to be honest, if we win a championship, it would be fun to see for the fans. They deserve it after going through the process years and disappointments. I don’t think anybody wants to go back to that era of basketball. But when you have good players on a basketball team, anything can happen.”
The Sixers did win 55 times in the last regular season and reached the seventh game of the second round before falling to Boston. By then, fairly or not, they were ready to separate from Doc Rivers, with Harden making that formal when he chose not to endorse the likely Hall of Fame coach at the end of the season.
Nurse, who coached the Raptors to the 2019 championship, is known to be a little more aggressive than Rivers in his approach to the game, and had the players’ attention through camp.
“In camp, I think the biggest strides we made were in paying attention to detail, especially on defense, like making sure to get back on defense, building the wall, showing our hands on defense,” Reed said. “It’s just like the little things and little details that I feel like will make us a better team this season.”
While Rivers was known as one of the most prepared coaches in the game, Reed – for one – insists such detail upgrades have been linked to the coaching re-boot.
“It’s a direct link to the coaching change,” he said, “to be sure.”
Rivers did it his way and things plateaued. Nurse will have his chance, but it won’t be easy. Already, Embiid’s name is being dragged into trade fantasies, mostly in the New York press. Harden is spreading stress. Maxey needs to take one more step to greatness. There is not much proven outside shooting. The draft didn’t help.
But the Sixers are 0-0, are talented, should be coached well and are neither too old nor young to rule out contention. It’s the best they can offer in late October.
“Let us show you,” Daryl Morey said. “Let us show you in the regular season. Let us show you in the playoffs. I would ask for that.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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