Sixers favorites in East
Now healthy, team also has good chance to win it all
All the Sixers needed was a little R&R.
Now, Ben Simmons’ back is back. Joel Embiid’s shoulder is sound. Tobias Harris’ right knee and Al Horford’s left knee aren’t quite as needy anymore, and Josh Richardson’s tight hamstrings have had two months to loosen.
The best lineup in the conference is sound. So if the NBA resumes the 2019-20 season, the Sixers should win the East.
They might even win it all.
Thanks to their talented starters, the Sixers entered the season as conference co-favorites along with the Bucks. Thanks to a rash of injuries and an anemic bench, the Sixers swooned, the biggest disappointment in the NBA.
Why? Because, since Game No. 41, the Sixers’ five regular starters have spent more time on training room tables than on the court.
They played together in just three of the last 24 games; in other words, at least one starter missed all or most of 21 of the last 24. At least two starters missed six games. Three starters missed four games.
No team needed a break more than the Sixers. They got it when the coronavirus locked down the sports world and the rest of America on March 12.
If the season resumes — and, by all indications, it will — the Sixers might be the No. 6 seed, but they will be the best possible version of themselves. One restart scenario involves teams resuming play with playoffs only, which means the Sixers would face Boston. That would be a massive advantage for the Sixers — so massive, that they should reclaim their status as favorite to win the East.
With Horford rested, Richardson limber, Harris healed, Embiid fit and Simmons back in the mix, there’s no reason why any team in the East should be favored over the Sixers to reach the NBA Finals.
They beat No. 1 seed Milwaukee on Christmas Day. They lost twice in Milwaukee in February, first without Richardson, then with Simmons playing fewer than five minutes.
As for the Celtics, the Sixers have won three of four games against them, and their only loss came in Boston without Richardson. They’ve beaten the top four teams in the West too: the Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets and Jazz.
Sixers general manager Elton Brand agreed that the layoff could save his club’s season but added this caveat: “If the players use this opportunity to get fully healthy.”
They have.
Simmons, Embiid, and Harris were undergoing treatment for their injuries when NBA teams shuttered their facilities, so that trio was still able to use the 76ers training facility in Camden, New Jersey, for the past seven weeks.
Simmons effectively missed the Sixers’ last 10 games with an impinged nerve in his lower back, but ESPN.com reported last month that the Sixers expected him to be fit for a playoff run when the season resumed. Brand reinforced that Tuesday.
“I’m very optimistic he’ll be ready to play if and when we get the green light to resume,” Brand said.
Brand mentioned that Simmons’ comeback would unfold in increments: one-on-one, three-on-three, then regular scrimmaging. That matters less today than it normally would since the entire league would need a mini-training camp to resume play. Simmons should be ready at the same time as returning healthy players.
Embiid fits the category of “healthy players,” but just barely. He missed five games with a left shoulder sprain and returned March 11, but that was the Sixers’ final game before the lockdown.
Embiid scored 30 points in 26 minutes of a blowout win against Detroit but was clearly not fully himself. He is now.
“Joel Embiid’s been working out,” Brand said. “He’s conditioning, he’s focused. He’s asking when his [personal] trainer can come in, when he can get on the court.
“I wouldn’t bet against him. He’s going to be ready and ramped up.”
Brand mentioned betting against Embiid because the narrative surrounding his whole career involves injury, maintenance and conditioning.
It will be interesting to see what he looks like when he emerges from lockdown. After all, Chick-fil-A has been open the entire time.
Unlike Embiid, no one has ever questioned Harris’ fitness, effort or attitude. He never misses a game — though he probably should have considering the pain he’s suffered in his right knee the past three months.
He almost took time off in late February, but Simmons was out and Richardson was just coming back, so Harris played. He needed rest. Locked down, he finally got it.
So did Richardson, who strained his right hamstring in November, then strained his left hamstring in January. Coupled with a concussion, Richardson has been fully available for just 12 of the 24 games since the midpoint of the season.
Horford has played more than Richardson but has seldom played better: He’s scoring 12 points per game, his lowest average in 11 years, mainly because he’s shooting 44.2%, the worst of his 13-year career. Not coincidentally, the knee tendinitis that plagued him last season with Boston flared repeatedly this season. It cost him a fifth game Jan. 30, then briefly cost him his starting spot six games later.
Horford turns 34 in June. Sore or not, he can use all the rest he can get.
Brand sits on an NBA committee that runs models for the resumption of play. It also considers scenarios in which the season is simply scrapped. There’s no question which way he’s leaning.
“I can tell you, we’re preparing as if the season is coming back,” Brand said. “I hope we do get a chance to play in some way.”
With good reason.