SixersAdam Vs. Andrew Unterberger: Is This Team Screwed?

AU battles Adam for Ricky writer supremacy.

[photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images]

Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He has been legally banned from covering the team in person, but that ban will be lifted in March of 2020. He is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.

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With the entire sports universe at a standstill, RTRS decided that it was time to hold another Normal Column-meets-If Not Pick Will Convey as Two Second Rounders crossover summit. This week, SixersAdam and AU debate what this Sixers season has meant, what we’re going to miss the most and least about it, and how likely we are to see basketball of any kind again before next year. 

On a scale from 1-10, how much do you fault the Sixers for playing the game against Detroit last Wednesday when coronavirus panic was already in the air?

SA: I don’t hold them responsible for playing the game, as that was (probably?) out of their hands, but I think they should be held responsible for their complete disregard of the need for social distancing. On that front, I’ll give them a 9/10 -- they did issue a press release politely requesting that fans who were experiencing symptoms stay home. But that was just about the least they could do to be proactive in this situation.

AU: I agree, though I’m only at around a 6 on the social distancing, just because I sympathize with how difficult it is to be the first (or even one of the first) to make the call on decisions like that when everyone’s still kind of looking at each other going, “Well, what, are you guys gonna enforce it? Well, if you’re not gonna enforce it, I guess we’re not gonna enforce it either.” In hindsight it seems obvious, and at the moment maybe it should have too, but few have the fortitude (and the security) to make a call like that until they absolutely have to. 

That said, they probably still should’ve done it. But I’m hardly shocked they didn’t.

NBC Sports Philadelphia has been replaying a number of Sixers games this week, starting on Monday with the season opener against the Celtics. What single Sixers game of the post-Iverson era do you think would get the biggest rating if they rebroadcast it this month? 

SA: This is a tough one. How about April 6, 2018 at home against LeBron and the Cavs? This game has all of the elements of one you’d want to rewatch: incredible individual performances (44-11-11 from LeBron, 27-15-13 from Ben Simmons), lots of dunks, a massive comeback, and suspenseful crunch time action. Deep down, though, we will all be sad, remembering what it felt like to be an ascending power in the NBA.

AU: First instincts are to say either Game Three against the Raptors -- the Joel windmill dunk game -- or your recent No. 1 The ____ Game of The Process, the ‘13-’14-season-starting Michael Carter-Williams game. But the former probably is tied to too many bad memories with the way that series ended, and the latter probably doesn’t have enough of the Sixers that fans still have positive memories about. (After all, MCW still gets booed sometimes, for reasons no one has ever bothered to explain.) 

So instead, I propose last March’s home win over the Celtics. You know the one -- because there only was one last year, natch -- with the big late push that ended with Joel Embiid blocking Kyrie Irivng, and then Jimmy Butler hitting the game-sealing jumper that inspired a million Twitter videos at the other end. Yeah, folks don’t love Jimmy so much these days, but they probably still don’t hate Jimmy as much as they hate the Celtics, and that was such a fun and cathartic win after losing the first three of the season against Boston. Plus, getting to root against a losing Al Horford as a bonus!

What positive or encouraging trend of recent Sixers play -- either individual or collective -- are you maddest not to get to see the team build on in the waning moments of the season? 

SA: I think the only answer here is Shake Milton. Shake went from out of the rotation to legitimately very good in a two-week span, and it’s a shame we won’t get to see (for now) whether or not he could sustain this success, especially in the playoffs. In a season full of downs, stumbling into a valuable contributor on year one of an inexpensive four-year deal is a huge win that should be celebrated.

AU: Shake’s the top answer on the board here, for sure, but -- for the first time since at least November -- I also wanted to see more of Al Horford. He looked as good on offense as he has all season the past three games, and even though the defense was still putrid, I was really wanted to see if he could settle into a productive starting frontcourt with Embiid -- which worked pretty well against Detroit, and seemed a sustainable possibility for as long as Ben was out. 

Really, I was just kinda excited to not hate Horf on both ends of the court all of the time -- maybe even talking myself into there being a trade market this summer. It could’ve happened!

SA: Horford averaged 16-9.4-5.6 in five games during the month of March, and genuinely seemed to have turned some kind of a corner in his quest to not be a complete disaster. Him not being able to rehabilitate his value at all would be a tough blow.

Which part of the Sixers experience are you most grateful to have out of your life for the foreseeable future? 

SA: Tobias Harris. 

AU: Ben Simmons, sadly. Worrying about his progress -- when he was coming back, if he was coming back, what he would be like if and when he came back -- was going to drape a gigantic wet towel over the rest of the season no matter how well it went. That stuff’s not going away with the suspended season, but at least we don’t have to stress over it on a daily basis anymore. 

The commonly expressed sentiment among Sixers fans following the season's shutdown has been "Thank God we don't have to watch this team anymore." From 1-10, how much did you agree with that when the season was initially suspended, and how much do you agree with that now after a week with no basketball?

SA: I was at a 10 last week when the league was suspended. I am now firmly at a 1. I have absolutely no clue what to do with myself! I now spend my days tweeting about things that are universally loved but I have arbitrarily decided to hate. I’m supposed to be a week away from being a credentialed NBA media member who has Phillies season tickets. I am now sitting in bed, writing about my own misery, while staring down this AP Government textbook I’m about to have to dig into. Things are not going well over here, AU.

AU: Didn’t you already get into college? How much textbook digging could there possibly be left to do? Is Senioritis not a thing anymore?

Anyway, I was at a 1 and now I’m at a 0. There has never been a Sixers game that I didn’t look forward to planning my night around watching and as turbulent as it’s been, this season has certainly not been an exception. Give me Al Horford claps and Furkan Korkmaz out-of-bounds turnovers and Tobias Harris contract reminders for two and a half hours three times a week forever over no Sixers at all. 

Also, c’mon man. Do you need me to give you my Spotify and Netflix account info? Take a break from pretending to hate things and try listening to and watching cool things for a little while. No excuse for being bored in the year 2020.  

SA: I’m studious and hard-working, AU! Give me a break!

What percent chance do you give the season or post-season coming back in any form this year? If so, when would you predict it happens?

AU: I think we can all agree at this point that it’s pretty close to 100% that the regular season’s toast. By nearly all accounts the season is still months away at a minimum from returning -- and maybe more like 3 or 4 than 1 or 2 -- at which point the priority will have to be catching up with the postseason time we’ve already missed and not totally fucking up next year in the process. 

Is even that likely at this point? Hard to say, though the way news is currently unfolding -- with us still finding out about the myriad players and staffers around the league who have tested positive -- it doesn’t feel like things are exactly trending in the right direction. Currently I’d say it’s about 40% that we’re gonna see basketball again before next season. 

SA: I’d say somewhere around 30%, for the reasons you just explained. This stuff is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better -- and once next season’s prospects are jeopardized, I think the league takes their ball and goes home.

Let's say everything breaks right for the Sixers with this layover -- the regular season ends with matchups locked in and we draw the Celtics in round one, and the playoffs start with Ben Simmons having had enough time to recover to full health (and no one else having gotten sick/injured in the meantime). How far do you think they get? 

AU: Probably just the optimism that comes with not having to actually watch this team, but man I like their chances of getting to the conference finals. Rest for Embiid and Horford, time for Simmons to get back on track, a first-round matchup against the Celtics… I really like their chances in that series. The Raptors would be tougher in Toronto afterwards, but I just don’t see Embiid being held at bay as consistently as he was in the series last year. Don’t love giving Brad Stevens and Nick Nurse about three months to gameplan against us, but I feel good about us having the best player in both series, and I think we find our way out of both. 

Against the Bucks? Stranger things have happened, but I have to imagine they’re a pretty considerable underdog, and I bet I start having Khris Middleton nightmares after Game Two. 

SA: I would be more optimistic about a hypothetical playoff run than most, but I can’t get quite there just yet. I’d pick the Sixers to beat the Celtics because of the advantageous matchups there, but I just can’t talk myself into them beating the Raptors. How can we trust this team to win big games on the road when they just don’t do it?

If the NBA doesn't come back in time to finish the 2019-2020 season or playoffs, what do you think the ultimate legacy of this Sixers season will be? 

AU: The scary answer here is the possibility of this being known as the season that Ben Simmons hurt his back and was never totally right afterwards. Back injuries are about as terrifying a sports injury as exists, and even if he can miraculously play again this season, I’d wonder how long it’d take for him to get close to the level of confidence and finesse he was playing with before he got hurt. Will he still be as aggressive, as explosive, as flexible? Have we already seen the best of Ben Simmons? 

Terrifying, right? Compared to that, being the season where they dumped their remaining cap space on unruly contracts for Tobias Harris and Al Horford -- or being the season when the center could no longer hold for Brett Brown --  doesn’t seem so bad. 

SA: The season where we all realized this team was screwed. Let’s just be honest about this. They have $280 million tied up in Al Horford and Tobias Harris. The front office continues to mismanage resources and injuries. Brett Brown’s influence seems to have waned. Embiid and Simmons have not improved as much as they’ve been asked to. I think we’re going to look back at this year as the beginning of the end.

AU: History may bear you out on this, but I still don’t believe the team is screwed as long as they have Simmons and Embiid healthy and in (or near) their prime. That’s a fragile thing that could disappear around them -- maybe already has -- but we have those two guys, I don’t think we’re out of chances to build a proper supporting cast around them. It might not take as much as we think it will. 

If the NBA doesn't come back in time to finish the 2019-2020 season... how are you feeling about the prospects for the 2020-2021 Sixers? 

AU: Again, it feels dependent on how things end up with Simmons. If he can get right by the start of next season and everyone insists that he’s back to 100%, then it almost doesn’t matter to me what we do with Horford in the offseason -- Ben and Joel healthy, with smarter spacing around them, and they’re a top four team in the East. Throw in growth from Matisse, Furkan and Shake, a smarter role for Horford, maybe another extra piece or two using our mid-level and the OKC 1st as assets… they won’t be the favorites anymore, but they could work their way into the top two or three discussion. 

Will be curious to see who’s coaching the team, though. Is there any chance that it’s still Brett? 

SA: I can’t imagine it’ll still be Brett. This front office has always wanted to hire their own coach, and it’s hard to imagine them not using this disappointment of a year as an avenue to justify finally doing so. 

I would guess we’ll have much more clarity as to what this team is next year (very good, probably not real contenders), instead of the hellish cycle of ups and downs that has been prevalent this year.

Recommend one wholesome activity -- sports-related or no -- for Process Trusters to fill the hours with while quarantined. 

AU: I say find a checklist of media to consume. Can be anything from an AFI movies list to a Vulture TV list to New Yorker books list to a Pitchfork albums list. And then just start knocking off a couple entries a day (or week, depending on the list) that you haven’t experienced before. It’s the best of all worlds: You get to consume cool shit, you get to learn about things you don’t already know, and you get to feel like you’re doing something productive and working towards an achievable goal in the process. Practically the entire history of recorded media is out there and accessible in one way or another, find a constructive way to take advantage. 

SA: This is tough for me, because my entire bit is not liking anything. This isn’t necessarily wholesome, but writing for the Ricky is the only job that gives me a platform to talk with people who might appreciate me recommending it: a 47-minute documentary about the Toronto Raptors 2011 Draft process, starring… Bryan Colangelo. It is truly incredible. Watch it now, thank me later.