In the end, the Philadelphia 76ers were what they were

With distance comes perspective.

Sometimes, it takes some time to really sit back and allow the emotions of an event to subside before taking an objective look at something as massive as a project 10 months in the making.

Artists somehow make a bad painting/album because they lose perspective and stop seeing the forest through the trees. The same goes for filmmakers, writers, and authors. No one invests months of their lives and millions of dollars into a work of trash – not even ironically, like Tommy Wiseau would have you believe.

So really, my morning after obituary of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ season doesn’t particularly matter. Neither does that of any write-up, for that matter, as the fogs of war have barely cleared from the hallowed hardwood of the Wells Fargo Center. But what is the plight of a writer but to write – to share their sense of a season filled with massive highs and cavernous lows? While the forthcoming months will surely feature scores of stories wading through the minutia of a season now past – at least until the 2022 offseason officially opens up – why not place a finger on the pulse and see where things stand mere hours later? After all, what good is distance if you lose perspective?

In the end, the Philadelphia 76ers were who they were.

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Morale around the City of Brotherly Love was at an all time low when the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated from the Orlando Bubble in 2020. After wading through what felt like an eternity of passed-around rumors and Association-sanctioned uncertainty, the Sixers saw their All-Star point guard’s season potentially saved, only to watch him suffer a knee injury just before the start of the playoffs.

Philly’s favorite basketball team saw their season prematurely squelched in 0-4 fashion by those dastardly Boston Celtics, and the point of “The Process” became openly mocked by national media members who never paid $3 for a Stubhub ticket on a Wednesday night.

Brett Brown, the man who shepherded the club from 10 win seasons to a bounce away from the Eastern Conference Finals in 2019, was ultimately fired, Elton Brand, the team’s fourth GM in five years, was having his role evaluated, and everything the 76ers

lost

worked for was up in the air.

And then, in a true twist of basketball serendipity that never happens around these parts, everything seemingly fell into place.

The Sixers were able to hire one of the most respected head coaches in the NBA in Doc Rivers – who many believed would be able to earn more respect from the team than his predecessor due to his experience as a player and championship pedigree – and somehow lucked into landing one of the brightest basketball minds in the world in Sam Hinkie’s mentor Daryl Morey, who left the Houston Rockets a few days prior once their situation became untenable.

Morey swiftly reshaped the Sixers in his image, shipping out Brand favorites like Josh Richardson and Al Horford for certified shooters like Seth Curry and Danny Green, but made the controversial decision to keep the team’s Big 3 in place, hoping that a coaching change would be the magic sauce needed to get the joint poppin’.

In just the contest of the regular season, it worked.

Sure, the Sixers flirted with some big-time trades, submitting offers for both James Harden and Kyle Lowry before ultimately holding pat with their main corps, but it’s hard to argue with Morey and Rivers’ decision to take a season to see what they have. The team finished out the regular season with the best record in the East, the third-best record in the NBA as a whole, and had multiple players earn All-Star and All-NBA honors in the process.

*sigh* there’s that word again.

But what happened when the regular season came to an end? What happened when the games slowed down, and rotations began to shrink (at least in theory)?

The Sixers’ flaws showed through.

Almost right away versus the Washington Wizards, it became clear that the 76ers didn’t have a true closer on their roster. Ben Simmons became increasingly shellshocked as a shooter with each passing game, and Tobias Harris‘ unwillingness to pick up where Jimmy Butler left off forced Rivers to ride Joel Embiid a bit heavier than even the MVP runner-up would have liked. Embiid happily accepted the role, mind you, even if he saw his average turnovers tick up at the worst possible times, but it wasn’t an ideal situation.

Had the Sixers continued on with their Games 1-3 form versus Washington in Game 4 and beyond, they’d likely still be playing meaningful team basketball into the next week-plus, but as things often go, disaster struck. Embiid left Game 4 of their initial series with a leg injury that was eventually diagnosed as a right meniscus tear, and his on-court dominance became contingent on a tiny flap inside his knee.

Embiid still played his heart out in Game 5, and throughout the Atlanta Hawks series, this is still very much his team and his city, but at times, watching the giant struggle to move like late-career Andre was tough to watch.

Did the Sixers’ championship window end when Embiid’s meniscus tore? In hindsight, yes, but gosh darn it, every time the team looked down and out, a surprise performer would rise up and give fans that little bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, this was our year after all. Shake Milton had his game, Tyrese Maxey had a few too, including an impressive Game 6 win over the Hawks where he looked like a long-term NBA starting point guard, and even Dwight Howard turned in some solid outings, but they were always fleeting. With Embiid limited, neither Harris nor Simmons stepped up, and the team’s season ended in unspectacular fashion, with a passed-up dunk and a 1-2 trip to the line by Matisse Thybulle.

But hey, don’t just take my word for it; what did Embiid have to say on the topic?

Yeah… same page.

Next. It’s time to put some respect on Seth Curry’s name. dark

So ultimately, was the 2020-21 NBA season a success for the Philadelphia 76ers? … yes? No? I… hmm… I guess it depends on your perspective. On one hand, the Sixers won a lot of games, played some outstanding basketball, and watched players like Seth Curry, Furkan Korkmaz, and Matisse Thybulle “level-up” their games to levels few expected coming into the season. The team also landed a trio of promising rookies who should be fixtures of the team for years to come, four if you count Rayjon Tucker. But those bright spots will largely be lost to time as the individual details of the season meld together. What won’t, however, is the total incompatibility of the team’s Big 3, the front office’s inability to land a game-changing star, and Doc Rivers’ historic late-game blunders. Hopefully, that perspective is just a part of the proc… journey back to the Finals.