Can the 76ers live up to their own hype?
That’s the main question surrounding the franchise heading into Tuesday night’s season opener against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
On paper, the Sixers are a notch below the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks in Eastern Conference supremacy. The Brooklyn Nets have more skilled players.
Yet anything less than a conference finals appearance would be deemed a failure for the Sixers. And even that might not be enough to avoid a disappointing season.
“If we get this thing together, which I’m more than confident we will,” James Harden said, “it’s no reason why we shouldn’t be the last team standing.”
Being the last team standing is definitely the Sixers’ goal.
That’s why Harden essentially took a $14.4 million pay cut so they could add toughness with free-agent signees P.J. Tucker, Danuel House Jr., and Montrezl Harrell. It’s why the Sixers shipped an injured Danny Green and late first-round draft pick David Roddy to the Memphis Grizzlies for three-and-D guard De’Anthony Melton on draft night.
“We know what I came here for,” Melton said. “My game, it translates. All I care about is winning. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win.
“Everybody here is buying into whatever it takes to win. So I understand that’s what we need right now.”
One can argue that every season is pivotal for the Sixers because of the uncertainty of Joel Embiid’s future health. But this season they will have Harden for a full year along with the roster upgrades.
So this will be an important season that could have repercussions with another second-round exit.
After “The Process” era, the Sixers were known as a fun-to-watch team with a low postseason ceiling. They had 52- and 51-win regular seasons in 2018 and 2019, respectively, only to suffer second-round exits.
So as expected, the organization fired coach Brett Brown and reshaped the front office after going 43-30 and losing in the first round to Boston in a 2020 season that was interrupted by the pandemic and concluded in the bubble.
The Sixers hired Daryl Morey and Doc Rivers after being swept by those Celtics.
Much had been made about Rivers’ new coaching staff and Morey’s new front office following that season.
Folks celebrated the Sixers’ 2020-21 regular-season campaign as they finished with the Eastern Conference’s best record for the first time in 20 years. The team can also boast that Embiid blossomed into a two-time MVP runner-up and last season’s scoring champion. And the Sixers should be commended for selecting Tyrese Maxey, one of the league’s best young players, with the 21st pick in the 2020 draft.
But none of that has translated into the Sixers seeing improvement where it counts.
They followed up their 2021 regular-season title with a Game 7 second-round loss to the Atlanta Hawks. The Sixers went 51-31 last season only to lose in six games to the Miami Heat at the same stage.
That left questions about whether the Sixers’ championship window had closed.
The Sixers admitted that they lacked the mental toughness needed to win an NBA title. They also had a poorly constructed roster and lacked depth.
Not anymore.
This appears to be the deepest team the Sixers have had since Rivers and Morey were hired, and perhaps the deepest in more than a decade.
“Guys have practiced harder than they ever have this week in particular, because we went through the fourth preseason game,” Rivers said. “Everybody does the math. It ain’t that hard.
“So they’ve been looking around like, ‘I’ve got to fight for a second on this floor.’ And you see that manifest itself in practice, which is very good.”
But there are still several daunting questions.
Can they compete while relying on undersized backup centers or without a pure point guard on the roster? Will players remain content with their roles, especially if the Sixers get off to a rough start?
And perhaps most importantly, what can really be expected from Harden? We’ll soon find out if he has regained his explosiveness and shooting touch.
The Sixers boast two bona fide future Hall of Famers and an elite talent younger than 23. They also have a fringe All-Star in Tobias Harris as a fourth option, a former sixth man of the year in Montrezl Harrell, and a slew of three-and-D players.
“I think they all fit in well,” Rivers said of the additions. “Each one of them fills a need in a lot of ways — shooting; P.J., leadership and his toughness; De’Anthony Melton plays dual positions and is a great defensive player with great hands and toughness. I thought we had a targeted summer, and we hit pretty much what we’re looking for.”
With that comes high expectations.
We’ll learn quickly how good the Sixers are with five of their first seven games against the conference’s expected top teams.
But right now, the hype might be too high for a Sixers team marked by uncertainty.
They’re in a no-win situation. If they don’t contend for the conference’s best record or reach the NBA Finals, this season could be deemed a failure.
And if they don’t get out of the second round this season, there’s no telling what will come next.
