Sixers Playing An Enjoyable Style, While Winning
Six games into an NBA season is way too early to proclaim a team is back, but one thing that can be stated about the 76ers, they are a lot better and more exciting than last year’s 24-58 edition.
The Sixers improved to 5-1 following Sunday’s win over a Brooklyn Nets team that will struggle to match the Sixers win total of a year ago. Another win came over Washington.
In fact, that 5-1 start came against teams that began this week with a losing record.
Yet, remember the Sixers were one of those teams a year ago—so no, they shouldn’t give back any of these early-season victories.
For years, the Sixers have depended heavily on Joel Embiid and that could still be the case in the future, but they aren’t operating early in the season as if winning depends on Embiid resembling his seven-time all-star self.
He is far from his peak form following off-season knee surgery, but can still be effective. Embiid played four of the first six games and he is on a minutes restriction.
The most he has played is 25:04 during last week’s 109-108 home loss to the Boston Celtics. In two of the four games he averaged at least a point per minute.
Yet he is more of a lumbering center than the one who was among most athletic players for his size prior to his knee injury.
It has to be a bonus to have him playing and contributing this early, even if it is a secondary role.
As well as the Sixers are playing now, they will need Embiid in the playoffs.
As for this current team, at least last year’s disappointment when the Sixers were accused of tanking to keep their draft pick (which was top six protected), provided some value.
They did better in the lottery than anybody could have expected, earning the third pick in the draft. The Sixers selected wisely, choosing 6-4 Baylor freshman V.J. Edgecombe.
The 20-year-old Edgecombe hasn’t entered the NBA quietly. Edgecombe scored 34 points in his NBA debut during a 117-116 win at Boston.
The NBA is filled with some of the best athletes around, but that said, Edgecombe is among the top athletes in the league.
He is a strong defender, can leap out of the building and has shot the ball from a distance better than anybody could have expected.
Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey might be the fastest backcourt in the NBA. It is also one of the best.
Maxey has been explosive, twice scoring 40 or more points in the first six games.
He is a one-time All-Star, who will make it two if he continues to play in this fashion. Twice in the first six games, he scored more than 40 points.
Even with Embiid on the court, the Sixers look like a relay team with Maxey and Edgecombe on the break.
Plus Quentin Grimes and Kelly Oubre Jr. are instant-offense type players who have thrived in the transition game, taking advantage of open looks.
This team is enjoyable to watch. In a depleted Eastern Conference, where due to injuries, Boston and Indiana, two of the better teams from last year, are a shell of themselves.
The Sixers we have seen in the early going has played like a top-four team in the East.
Whether this can be sustained is the big question.
For now, this is a team that has earned the admiration of its fan base, and after last year, that is a major start in the right direction.
Photo: Sixers V.J. Edgecombe/Courtesy 76ers Twitter/X
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Author: Marc Narducci
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