These Are the Regular-Season Sixers I Was Hoping For

Andrew Unterberger is a famous writer who invented the nickname 'Sauce Castillo' and writes for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, as part of the 'If Not, Pick Will Convey As Two Second-Rounders' section of the site. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AUGetoffmygold and can also read him at Billboard. 

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Before getting into Our Surprisingly (Not Really That Surprisingly) Fun Sixers, let me make this clear upfront: Despite what Spike is trying to tell you, I am not going back on anything that I said about the Sixers preseason. Nothing about the three games we have seen from them has me thinking any differently about the team, at least as pertains to the one thing I promised not to spend this regular season dwelling on: the postseason. As far as I'm concerned, in that respect, the team still is what it is, and more pressingly, Embiid still is who he is. Perhaps this postseason will change that impression and (more likely) perhaps not, but I remain fully aware that if playoff success beyond the second round is the only goal of consequence this year, we are no closer to it than we were three games ago. Failing some unanticipatably massive roster-upgrading trade, we will also be no closer by the end of Game 82. 

But that wasn't my only goal for the Sixers this year. I also wanted to enjoy a team whose ceiling for enjoyability seemed higher than many folks were giving them credit for. I wanted to appreciate one more high-level season with the best Sixer of my lifetime, and with his rising little-bro point guard who we had every indication would prove a worthy co-star if given the proper opportunity. I wanted to watch a bunch of our amusingly weird young guys be amusing and weird and young. I wanted to see some new Nick Nurse-installed personality quirks on both sides of the ball and overreact to his intuitive genius. I wanted to see the Sixers win a lot of games, and I wanted them to do it without James Harden ever setting his Adidases on the hardwood. And through three games, I have gotten absolutely everything I wanted. 

I knew we'd see this Joel Embiid eventually, though I'll admit I'm surprised it we're getting it quite so soon. Last season it wasn't until about mid-November that it felt like he had totally woken up from his offseason hibernation; with as miserable a summer as the Sixers had, how little he played in the preseason and how groggy he looked in his one preseason game (and then through most of the regular season opener against Milwaukee), I thought it might we might be looking at a December ETA this year. But if he's not totally locked in yet, he's starting to do a damn good job of faking it: 69 points, 24 rebounds, 15 assists, eight blocks and only four turnovers combined in two nights of a road-home back-to-back -- and really only seven quarters total, since he took the fourth off last night against Portland -- certainly looks like turn-the-corner Joel dominance, with the eye test matching the box score in terms of its casual preeminence and inevitability. 

Of course, maybe it's just hard for the big man to get his usual early-season Z's with an over-pepped Tyrese Maxey jumping around the bed, excited to go out and play ASAP. Every day with Young Maximillian has been Mother's Day so far this season, as the starchild has made us beam with each sprawling layup, each over-the-head pass, each nailed three -- 14 of 'em already, off a deadly combination of pull-ups, catch-and-shoots, and off-movement in-betweeners. The two-man game with Jo has been activated like it was just a 2K mode they both had to turn on; I swear Embiid was so disoriented by how open he was on one Maxey-fed look in Toronto that he actually fell down (after making the easy bucket). It's simple and beautiful symbiosis: as one plays better, so does the other, and so do the Sixers as a full unit. I swear I even saw Joel smiling on the bench after Tyrese checked out with the game in hand last night. We knew Maxey had this in him, and a lot of us thought we'd get to see it at some point this season -- but getting this much of it right away is like sitting down to a great dinner and immediately being served free appetizers. 

And the rest of the team? They're doing their thing, undeniably. Tobias Harris so far can best be described as "hilariously efficient," already with two of the most where-did-THAT-come-from 20-plus scoring nights of recent memory. Kelly Oubre Jr. seems overwhelming in a lot of ways, but more of them good than bad so far. Patrick Beverly is (unsurprisingly) annoying but (rather surprisingly) springy at times? Jaden Springer shows up to make one of the best defensive plays you can ever remember seeing and then immediately vanishes for the rest of the game. Paul Reed is messy as fuck but that's fine. P.J. Tucker... well, I made a desperation waiver claim of him in my fantasy league this weekend and you can probably guess how that went, but y'know, he's around, chilling. It's not a championship supporting cast, but it's a good crew. 

Most importantly, James Harden has stayed hoodied on and not in uniform. I was watching some of the Portland broadcast of Sunday's game, and when discussing Harden's return to practice (and, presumably, the starting lineup shortly after), one of their announcers quipped: "So Tyrese Maxey, get up your shots now." They laughed, but to me (and no doubt any other Sixers fans watching), it was a sobering reminder that this current Sixers ecosystem is at threat to be fundamentally disrupted at any point by Harden's presence -- the troublemaking C in Embiid and Maxey's A-and-B conversation. It's frustrating, especially because there is a world where Harden comes back as the sixth man to captain our bench units -- a role that the roster without him is in rather bad need of being filled -- and is actually quite helpful. (Needless to say, the chances of that world being this one are about as small as the chances of either of those bricked BBall Paul threes last night actually going in.) 

But if there is a semi-meaningful part to the Sixers' hot start -- and as fun as it's been, it's still just 2-1, with the two wins coming against likely lottery-bound opponents -- it's that the Sixers now can convincingly tell both James Harden and any teams who might be even slightly interested in trading for him that they really are doing just fine without him. Which, again, is not to say that these Sixers are any closer to being championship contenders merely by removing Harden from the equation; they are pretty clearly still one major player short. But that player is simply not Harden: You could watch this team and think what they're missing most is a knockdown two-guard, or a slashing forward, or a prototypical three-and-D wing, but no one would say what they're missing is a ball-dominating point guard with defensive limitations and diminished athleticism. Maxey isn't yet the playmaker Harden is and likely never will be, but he's given the Sixers all the juice in that area that they really need, and all that Embiid could really ask for. We have no need for an upgrade at his position right now, we really just need a credible backup.

So maybe this all puts the Sixers in a better position to trade Harden, and maybe if they can swing the right deal before the deadline, they're in better shape to take off from there. But I still wouldn't waste a lot of thought on that: In reality, we almost certainly won't trade Harden for The Guy, we'll just get stuff that makes it easier to trade for The Guy later on, possibly not until next summer or next regular season. And by then it might be too late anyway, particularly if another postseason bouncing deflates Embiid to the point where he decides he's sick of waiting around hoping on What Ifs and wants to move to a team with higher ceiling or at least a less-depressing recent track record. The clock is still very much ticking for these Sixers, and there's a very good chance the bomb goes off well before the right guy comes around to disarm it. 

This is all just to say that my original argument still stands: We shouldn't waste this regular season worrying about what's going to happen. When it comes to the Philadelphia 76ers, the past is traumatic and the future is fucked, but the present is actually quite joyous: two homegrown franchise beacons and a new weirdo head coach leading a lovably misshapen roster to what should be another winning-heavy regular season. It's an absolutely jawdropping reversal of vibes, but it turns out that after a crushingly disappointing Phillies finish, three games with this Sixers squad is exactly what the doctor ordered. And if you asked said medical professional for further recommendations, they'd say what I've been saying: Just enjoy it.