Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
Last week, we released the first ever State of the Sixers Ricky Survey. After one week, we received answers from roughly 2,400 listeners and readers. Thank you very much to everyone who participated!
Now it’s time to look at the results, as depressing as they might be. Let’s go:
The James Harden / Daryl Morey saga
As you can imagine, the popularity of Harden and Morey, long-time allies turned bitter exes, has plummeted in recent months. First there was the horrific playoff exit at the hands of the Boston Celtics, in which Harden’s shot just 7-27 from the field with 10 turnovers in Games 6 and 7.
Harden took heat for experiencing yet another playoff collapse, while Morey faced heavy criticism again for a number of reasons, including his belief in Harden came back to bite him and the fact that his lone trade deadline move — flipping Matisse Thybulle for Jalen McDaniels — did not improve the team’s playoff rotation, and McDaniels soon left for the Toronto Raptors.
Question #1: Do you want James Harden to return to the Sixers?
Yes (assuming he rescinds his trade request): 15.4 percent (370 votes)
No: 84.6 percent (2,043 votes)
Question #2: If the Sixers trade James Harden, do you believe the Sixers can get what you consider a ‘good return?
Yes: 23.2 percent (509 votes)
No: 78.8 percent (1,891 votes)
Question #4: “Are you confident in Daryl Morey’s ability to turn the Sixers into a championship team?”
Yes: 43.7 percent (1,046 votes)
No: 56.3 percent (1,349 votes)
Seeing the comfortable majority stating they don’t have faith in Morey signals a noteworthy hit in popularity for the executive who entered to extreme excitement across the fanbase and went on to endear himself to the fans even more by wisely navigating the Ben Simmons situation during the 2020-21 season and landing Harden. But as the Harden situation reaches the pinnacle of messiness, Morey finds his approval rating on the decline.
It’s clear from these results: Harden and Morey’s reputations in Philadelphia are at all-time lows.
Where do people stand on Embiid?
Question #4: Do you believe Joel Embiid can be the best player on a championship team?
Yes: 76.8 percent (1,843 votes)
No: 23.2 percent (558 votes)
Question #11: Do you think Joel Embiid will be the starting center for the Sixers when they open the 2025-26 season?
Yes: 72.4 percent (1,736 votes)
No: 27.6 percent (661 votes)
The vast majority of the fanbase still believes Embiid can be the guy who leads his team to the promised land. But it’s worth noting that if we asked this question before the Celtics series last May, or even just before Game 7 of the series, that belief in Embiid would be nearly unanimous.
Embiid’s poor showing in pivotal playoff moments just days after winning an MVP trophy damaged his national reputation significantly. An MVP and two consecutive scoring titles are remarkable accomplishments, but he does not have much time left before universally being labeled a choke artist -- and he already is by some.
On a different note, concerns about Embiid eventually asking out are at an all-time high due to both the mess that is the Harden situation and the cryptic soundbites Embiid has provided this summer. I did not expect the majority to vote that he will be gone in 2025-26, but I also did not expect the majority of optimists to be quite as large as it is.
Expectations for Nick Nurse
Question #6: Finish this sentence: Going from Doc Rivers to Nick Nurse is…
A major upgrade: 48.8 percent (1,171 votes)
A minor upgrade: 44.8 percent (1,075 votes)
It will not make a difference: 6.3 percent (151 votes)
If you noticed I didn’t list results for Nurse being any level of a downgrade from Rivers, that’s because out of the 2,402 people who answered the question, only five voted for “a major downgrade” or “a minor downgrade.”
This miniscule percentage is not surprising, as Rivers was largely resented by the fanbase and Nurse is one of the more noteworthy head coaches in the NBA over the last half-decade or so.
I would agree with the folks who voted that Nurse is a minor upgrade. He is a good coach, and probably a slightly better one than Rivers. But Rivers, for all of his faults, was not the reason this team came up short.
Team Ricky
Question #15: Which Ricky segment should be done as a regular fixture of the pod?
Relationship Advice: 35.8 percent (847 votes)
Jigsaw: 33.1 percent (782 votes)
None: 31.1 percent (735 votes)
Question #16: If placed on an island with only a hammer and their clothes, which member of Team Ricky would be most likely to survive for 90 months off the land and sea?
Spike: 12.6 percent (297 votes)
Mike: 6.2 percent (146 votes)
CJ: 29.1 percent (685 votes)
Adam: 9.6 percent (226 votes)
AU: 8.1 percent (190 votes)
Abbie: 8.8 percent (207 votes)
MOC: 10.0 percent (236 votes)
Zo: 15.4 percent (363 votes)
Before I get to the island, I have to say I would pick the Jigsaw with zero hesitation. But apparently I’m in the minority!
Okay, now I must address the 226 people who voted for me as the most likely to survive. I just have one question: what evidence could have possibly led you to this conclusion? I am wholly unequipped for this scenario, likely more than any other Team Ricky member. I cannot believe three different people received fewer votes than me. What are you thinking?
I think the electorate here was right that CJ, Zo and Spike are the three most likely to survive. My ballot would be CJ, then Spike, then Zo.
The big question
Question #14: Was this all worth it?
Yes: 63.0 percent (1,508 votes)
No: 37.0 percent (886 votes)
I was pleasantly surprised by these results. It was obviously worth it!
Think about all of the incredible memories, even if they were followed up by nightmarish occurrences. Nobody can take away the joy you felt during Embiid’s windmill dunk or MVP ceremony. The TJ McConnell and Robert Covington game-winners. The lottery parties and live shows. Burnergate. Harden surpassing Ben Simmons on the team’s all-time three-pointers made list in his first game as a Sixer. The MCW Game and the Shake Milton Game. January 2017 and that one week a few years later when Furkan Korkmaz turned into the best scorer on the planet for a pair of games.
It was all worth it.
Your responses
In the survey, we included one open-ended question so you all could vent:
Question #10: What is one thing you want to see happen in the 2023-24 Sixers season?
As far as actual basketball answers go, there were many calls for Paul Reed and Embiid to play together, Furkan Korkmaz returning to the organization, Tyrese Maxey improving as a point guard and Tobias Harris being traded.
Most of the responses, though, we not exactly basketball-related. Here are some of the best ones:
“I’m not watching this iteration of the Sixers until they’re playing in the third round of the NBA playoffs, so I hope to watch them play this year.”
“Somehow regain my happiness in life that they’ve sucked away.”
“A dark limitless void appears over Wells Fargo, and the ghost of Phil E. Moose appears as the harbinger of the cataclysmic and appropriate end of the Sixers organization. There are no survivors.”
“The sun to explode.”
“"It burns to ash and we're all finally free.”
"Corey Brewer spontaneously appears on the court out of thin air and gives James Harden nightmares"
"Ideally I'd like to see Tony T take over the Sixers front ofice using nothing but his unbridled will, a surfside iced tea and vodka, and a four-inch hunting knife so this organization could finally achieve some sense of actual direction for the first time in 5 years, but I guess I'd also settle going 44-38 with a first round exit if it means I never have to suffer through watching another season full of James Harden's bumass-loser energy."
"Trade everyone and go back to the bottom where we belong as a poorly run poverty franchise. "
“Increased valuation of the franchise. hoping the number keeps growing"