I Love This Sixers Team, Actually
MOC on the current state of affairs: It's all good, baby, baby.
One of the many disappointing aspects of The Process was that the Sixers never gave us a certain type of season that ascending teams coming out of a rebuild often do – that is, the “lots of hope with zero expectations” season.
Coming off of a tanking season in 2016-17, the 2017-18 roster was set up perfectly to deliver us that type of year, but the Markelle Fultz weirdness combined with their 16-game win streak that suddenly escalated them into contender status nullified whatever chance we had at those types of vibes. The Sixers went from having the No. 1 pick in the draft to “...wait, are they the favorites to come out of the East?” within nine months. There was no honeymoon phase with a young team before they became saddled with heavy expectations.
The reason I say all of this is because I believe we are somehow finally getting that type of season now. It’s eight years late and clearly out of order – it’s not as if everyone expects a guaranteed leap to contender status next year – but regardless, we now have the type of fun, worry-free season that was promised.
The Sixers are 16-11. If they take care of the Nets on Tuesday, they’ll be 17-11 heading into Christmas. That is a 50 win pace. They are somewhere in between good and really good. They have one of the 10 best players in the league, an absolute stud of a rookie, and a handful of other interesting players under the age of 25. They have a concrete identity and they play hard as hell.
They’ve also got two former superstar veterans on max contracts who, despite playing less than half of their games, have fit in quite nicely to the team’s overall identity and have not cast any major shadow over the team with their repeated absences. We have yet to see the team at full strength, but the flashes we’ve seen from Joel Embiid and Paul George combined with the team’s performance without them could lead a reasonable person to wonder if the Sixers could actually make a deep playoff run, if those two guys somehow manage to stay healthy etc. etc.
Regardless, it’s a delightful combination as a fan – tangible success now, with obvious reasons to daydream about both the short- and long-term future. On any given night, you can find something else to enjoy. One night, you’re watching a throwback Joel Embiid performance. Another night, you’re asking yourself if V.J. Edgecombe is going to make 10 All-Star teams. Other times, you’re left to wonder how many healthy teammates Tyrese Maxey would actually need to carry this team to the Conference Finals. And all the while, you just can’t believe Dominick Barlow is still on a two-way contract.
The other crucial aspect of the Sixers’ enjoyability this season, at least for me personally, is that I genuinely enjoy watching all of these guys play ball. For many years, even if I didn’t outright hate them, there were certain aspects of the Ben Simmons and James Harden experiences that I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy. The sheer insanity of Simmons refusing to shoot plus the monotonous nature of Harden’s style of play just left me mildly annoyed with them at all times, even if the team was awesome while they were on it. Longtime readers will also recall that I absolutely could not stand watching Tobias Harris, and that Al Horford is my least favorite Sixer of all time. It’s hard to overstate what a drag it is as a fan having to tune in to watch players – especially Tobias, given how long he was here and how quickly we soured on him – that you just viscerally cannot stand watching.
And so, having a legitimately good team with a roster full of players I genuinely like is incredibly refreshing for me. I don’t mean to be overdramatic – I have of course enjoyed many Sixers seasons, especially 2018-19 and 2022-23 – but for basically 15 years, the Sixers have either A) been terrible, or B) featured some of my least favorite players of all time.
With this year’s roster, I just love watching every individual player’s game. Embiid, whatever his faults, is still a majestic player with incredible IQ and talent. Paul George, despite being past his prime, is still incredibly smooth and is somehow always in the right place on defense. Andre Drummond’s occasional mishaps are more charming than annoying. Truly, what is the most annoying quality that any 2025-26 Sixer has? Quentin Grimes throws a bad pass every once in a while? Compared to the torture of watching Tobias pass up wide open 3s and play despicably bad off-ball defense, I’ll happily live with Grimes’ brain farts.
Even the guys on the fringe of the rotation have added some real charm to the team. Jabari Walker grabs rebounds with a level of enthusiasm that I haven’t seen in any Sixer since Reggie Evans. Adem Bona blocks shots with such an intensity that each one has the chance to change the momentum of the game. Justin Edwards manages to do next to nothing wrong in his limited minutes. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but even Kyle Lowry has looked pretty good in his short stints. The Sixers are +8.2 per 100 possessions with Uncle Lowry on the floor!
I have no idea how this season will end, or if the good vibes will even last the whole year. There are also some difficult questions that need to be asked in terms of potential trades if Embiid continues to miss tons of games and the team continues to win without him on the floor. They might be good enough to where an Embiid trade at the deadline just makes too much logical sense. It also remains unclear whether McCain and Grimes can or should coexist with the Maxey-Edgecombe backcourt. As much fun as I’m having at the moment, the roster could look very, very different in 12 months.
But for now? I’m just going to soak it all in. The Sixers are both good and fun. I like every single player on the team. They are giving us a season of very competent basketball, with potential to be even more at full health – all with zero weight of expectations. Regardless of what the long term future holds for the team’s veterans, the Sixers have a foundation of Tyrese Maxey, V.J. Edgecombe and plenty of future draft capital. If they play their cards right, they can continue to forge their identity while remaining good enough to be in the mix in the Eastern Conference every year. I’m as bullish on the team’s long term future as I’ve been since the first couple years of the Embiid era, all while thoroughly enjoying the current state of the team. As Harrison Bader would say, what a gift.
Mike O’Connor is the best O’Connor in basketball writing. Previously of The Athletic, you can find Mike on Twitter @MOConnor_NBA. Mike’s writing is brought to you by Body Bio, supplements based on science, focusing on your gut and brain health.
It’s all spot on. I started the season glass more than half empty and now this team has me drinking from a glass way more than half full. And completely agree that the major question is around the longer term fit/need of Grimes and McCain. We need a good run of games where we can see full team strength for a majority of games over Jan and Feb to really understand what we have come April but with Maxey and VJ setting our new high talent high dog identity think we could be dangerous come playoffs.