While the Eagles Fall, the Sixers Are Building Something Absurd

PHILADELPHIA — If you need somewhere to put your South Jersey sports heart right now while the Eagles sort themselves out, I have good news. Walk across the stadium lots to the other building. Because what the 76ers have assembled for the season that tips off in a matter of days is, frankly, a little ridiculous — and I mean that as the highest compliment this town knows how to give.

The names on the marquee

Start with the names on the marquee. Joel Embiid, the former MVP center, still the fulcrum. Tyrese Maxey, the heartbeat, as fast and fearless as anyone in the league. VJ Edgecombe, who just gave this franchise one of the great rookie seasons in recent memory — 16 points a night, third in Rookie of the Year voting, 35 minutes of real two-way impact every time he laced them up. That alone would be a playoff team.

Then Mike Gansey, the president of basketball operations, went and traded Paul George to land Jaylen Brown — a five-time All-Star, a Finals MVP, a 29-year-old in his prime wing. And then, because apparently Philadelphia decided subtlety was for other cities, LeBron James signed on to round out the starting five.

Read that lineup again. Embiid, Maxey, Edgecombe, Brown, James. Nick Nurse coaching it. I have watched Sixers basketball my entire life, through the tank, through “The Process,” through more almost-rans than I care to remember, and I have never typed a sentence quite like that one.

The fifth option

Here’s the part that should matter most to a sophomore who was the centerpiece five months ago: Edgecombe now enters year two as, by the math, his team’s fifth option. That’s a demotion on paper and an education in real life. The great ones learn to win inside a loaded room, to take the open fifteen-footer instead of the contested step-back, to guard the other team’s best player because the stars are busy. If VJ embraces it, this works. If egos get in the way — and in this league they so often do — all the talent in the world cannot save a locker room from itself.

That’s the honest caveat. Superteams are not championships; they are auditions for championships, and the NBA graveyard is full of rosters that looked unbeatable in October. Health is the whole ballgame with Embiid. LeBron is extraordinary and he is also not twenty-five. The bar this group has set for itself is a title or a failed season, with nothing in between, and they chose that bar themselves.

Superteams are not championships; they are auditions for championships, and the NBA graveyard is full of rosters that looked unbeatable in October.Samuel Banks

The brightest thing over the Delaware

But I’ll tell you what I know about this region. South Jersey loves a long shot and it loves a sure thing, and it has not had a sure thing in basketball in a very long time. For one fall, with the Eagles wobbling and the Phillies already home, the Sixers get to be the brightest thing in the sky over the Delaware.

Opening night is almost here. Go find a television. This one’s going to be worth your October.

Based on reporting from PhillyVoice, Liberty Ballers, Sports Illustrated, and ClutchPoints.