Season begins with grand expectations
CAMDEN, N.J. >> There was Trust the Process. There was Together We Build. There was This Starts Now.
There was, because of course there was, Welcome to the Moment.
There was Together, Passionate, Proud. There was some other nonsense, long forgotten. But mostly, and for too long around the 76ers, there was just babble and noise and promises, some kept, most broken. Yet every one of those T-shirt ideas and marketing pushes led to what Brett Brown concluded Wednesday, at the effective end of his seventh offseason as their coach. They’re ready.
“The baseline of the group that Elton Brand has given to me is the best group that we’ve had here in Philadelphia,” he said, after the final full preseason practice. “And I’m excited to take this journey with them.”
An interesting journey it should be, with the Sixers believing they will represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals, with the managing partner placing his hands on his hips, with the biggest team in the league and expectations to match.
With Joel Embiid having mentioned 60 wins and Brown having established the championship playoff round as the goal, with new players and a more manageable conference and the fans convinced that 37 years is long enough to wait for another parade, the Sixers will open their regularseason Wednesday night at 7:30 against the visiting Boston Celtics.
The moment, indeed.
“We’re bigger,” Mike Scott was saying after the workout. “We added another leader, in Al Horford. I feel that we’re deeper. So now we have to put it all together.”
They thought they had it together last season, when they twice remade the roster and rolled into the tournament with 51 wins and what was felt to be the kind of fourstar lineup necessary for NBA title contention with Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler. But they lost in the second round to the eventual champion Toronto Raptors when Kawhi Leonard’s series-winning shot bounced once, twice, thrice, four times on the rim before falling.
Butler, who rarely feels comfortable anywhere, took a free-agent exit to Miami. J.J. Redick, his shooting critical to the 103 regular-season victories over the last two years, skidded to New Orleans. And Brand, ever aggressive, went to work, trading for rising star Josh Richardson and signing Horford, who had been so critical to recent Celtics success.
Though the Sixers lost some vital outside shooting in those exchanges, they literally grew into a team that can dominate inside, rebound with authority and use their length to create fast breaks and offense from the defensive end. For the opener, and with the intent to keep it that way for as long as possible, Brown will start the 7-0 Embiid, the 6-10 Simmons, Horford at 6-9, the 6-5 Richardson and the 6-8 Harris. With that, the seventhyear coach has promised “smash mouth” offense and “bully ball” defense, with his team using that size to overwhelm opponents and overcome the outside shots lost in the Redick and Butler departures.
“A lot of talent,” Horford said. “A very, very talented group.”
Having added six new players to their 15-man roster since the end of last season, it is a much different group. Aware that it may take a while to settle on a comfortable rotation, Brown’s first plan is to maximize versatility. Besides being the starting fourman, Horford will also be the backup five. Richardson, who will start on the perimeter, will also be the first point guard behind Simmons.
Scott will figure heavily in the scheme with his ability to shoot from distance and defend. Solid veteran Kyle O’Quinn adds depth at center. James Ennis and Furkan Korkmaz are back to contribute on the wing. For backcourt depth, Brand added free-agent veterans Trey Burke and Raul Neto. Matisse Thybulle, a first-round draft choice, used his seven-foot wingspan to thrive defensively in the preseason and win immediate opportunities. Recent draft choices Zhaire Smith, Shake Milton and Jonah Bolden will fill in where needed.
None of that will work, however, without the continued rise of Embiid and Simmons to NBA stardom. Simmons has warmed to the idea of occasionally attempting an outside shot, which would be helpful in the regular season and mandatory in the playoffs. If he can remain healthy, Embiid can be an MVP candidate and, in something that is important to him, build a legacy. He knows, though, what that will require.
“Winning a championship,” he said. “And more. We have the opportunity to do that this year. And it is the team success that matters to me. My whole mindset is winning. We have to win 60 games. And that will put me in a better position for all those other things.”
If the league plays to form, and it rarely does, the Sixers should contend with Milwaukee for Eastern Conference dominance. If they hit that Big Six-O, they could have the No. 1 postseason seed.
“I can give you a rough outline of what I think the season will shake out to be and where I hope we will end up,” Brown said. “In all my Nostradamus years, looking into the crystal ball, rarely does it come out like, ‘I got that right.’”
Yet if so, that wouldn’t be a bad new catch phrase at all.