The so-called “process” has finally come to fruition to some extent as it pertains to professional basketball in the City of Brotherly Love.
According to NBC Sports, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA franchise is gearing up for a much-anticipated return to the postseason and “look dangerous” when one looks at the adjustments in player rotations, which could be used in upcoming playoff games. The recent report by NBC Sports also gave the Sixers certain ratings that were derived from NBAWowy.com.
For the first time in six years, the Philadelphia 76ers are returning to the NBA Playoffs. During the months when the 2017-18 basketball season started, a lot of hype was made about the Sixers finally having the potential needed to be contenders. Focus from the media was fixed on the team’s young core group of players led by Ben Simmons.
Joel Embiid, the 7’0″ Sixers center, is a vital member of this core group as well. He averaged a double-double at various points throughout this past regular season and he is among the league’s best when it comes to blocked shots per game. Some credible sports analysts and pundits have called Embiid the best big man in the game playing today.
What the Sixers also have is a group of veterans on the team who have previous championship and postseason experience. These type of players provide the leadership needed for a young team to play with poise. J.J. Reddick and Amir Johnson are two players on the Sixers who have provided veteran leadership.
Brett Brown, the team’s head coach is another element of progress, which has helped the team get where it is today. Brown believed in his team and added to the team’s culture of winning, which was missing in Philadelphia for so long. The 52-30 regular season record the Sixers racked up this year is very respectable.
This team will enter the 2018 Eastern Conference Playoffs as a number three seed and face off in the first round against Dwayne Wade and the sixth-seeded Miami Heat. However, some sports opinion writers have said that the Heat are not your typical sixth-seeded team and might pose some problems for the Sixers.
But the way Philadelphia uses Ben Simmons to anchor the team’s offense and Joel Embiid to anchor the defense makes them a formidable foe against any NBA team when the Sixers play mistake-free basketball. Let the competitive contests begin.
