Let Yourself Enjoy This One

Sixers fans haven't gotten many reasons to victory lap lately. Spike explains why it's important we not let this opportunity go to waste.

I know what you’re feeling. The Sixers made a big move that you want to be excited for, but there are too many things telling you that you should reserve judgment. I get it, I’ve been there. 

Let them go. Take the victory lap. Who knows how many more chances we have?

We’ve taken so many victory laps for shit other than winning a significant playoff series over the last decade-plus that it’s hard to remember all of them. Just about every single one of those things ended up being the proverbial step-on-a-rake, Lucy-moves-the-football situation. So many of them have happened that I get the sense that people will soon replace the rake and Lucy with 'Sixers Fans Anticipate Something Good" as their go-to reference for inevitable disappointment.

But that said, I encourage you to feel good about this. Beat your chest a little. Daryl did it, the star chose Philly (even if it wasn’t actually his first or second choice). We got the guy. This is the way we always wanted to feel in the offseason. 

I will not bore you with all of the examples, but let’s just say the entire experience has been more Retweet Armageddon than Championship Parade. Let’s just say I had a cringey “WEEE DID ITTTTTTT” moment long before Jayson Tatum (I screamed this into a microphone at the 2016 Lottery Party when we got the #1 pick, which would become Ben Simmons, which would become, well, you know…)

We are all older and wiser and more damaged now, and it’s incredibly easy to think of all of the ways this might not work. [Jason Kelce Voice] He’s too old! He gets injured too much! He’ll be making $60 million at 38 years old! 

None of these things matter right now. They will likely matter at some point, but they do not matter right now.

I have sensed this feeling throughout this entire offseason process. People were so intent on stopping themselves from being hurt that things like “I’d rather have role players” and “trade for Ingram, he’s younger” became popular sentiments. I understand why you said them. You didn’t want your heart broken. I will say that “give me a collection of worse players rather than the better player” was an interesting way to go. But it was all just the damage talking. 

Is Paul George a Loser? How Much Does It Matter?

It’s incredibly nerdy and very Process to say that signing a 34-year-old to a $200 million contract feels like winning. It must be because we don’t know what winning feels like. But it still feels good, and as we’ve found out in the past, this feeling doesn’t last all that long.

Everyone who told you Daryl was a fraud. Everyone who told you that the cap space plan was a bad one. Everyone who told you nobody wants to play with Embiid. Well, fuck them. I mean yes, they were probably right before, and may still be right in the future. But not today. Today, fuck them. 

We did it? We did itttttttttt!