Sixers Quiet The Noise, Fans Shouldn’t Be Worried

By Josh Wilson | Oct 19, 2015

The Philadelphia 76ers preseason has been fairly anticlimactic on the basketball side of things, but as far as drama goes, well, it’s been something like an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. While there have been much bigger, more notable stories (Lamar Odom‘s tragic life threatening hospital visit is one that comes to mind), to Sixers fans, the SI article that was released last week really shook up their world.

This article painted the Sixers as a team that was disgruntled, and painted the management as out of sync, especially when dealing with big-ticket players like Joel Embiid who are worth a lot of money.

Within the article Sixers CEO Scott O’Neill denied the allegations that he was caught off guard with some of general manager Sam Hinkie’s moves (through Michael Preston, the Sixers PR manager) and following the release of the article, Brett Brown denied just about everything in the article and claimed that a lot of it was exaggerated.

More from Sixers News

Brett Brown also addressed it, making the situation seem not so bad.

Just as Brown says, the team is treating this situation as “noise,” just as it should be treated. How else could you approach it? Approaching it any other way would only draw more attention and bring up more issues.

The reality is that these were well documented issues that are (mostly), with the possible exception of the Las Vegas incident, dated and old news. There was little reason to bring them back up.

The reality with this situation is that this happens all of the time. In a world where the media is free, and allowed to report what they want, stories like this are inevitable, for almost any team. It’s how teams as a whole, as well individually (this includes executives and players) handle it that makes the difference.

Game Recap: Sixers Fall Short To Nets 92-91

Fans count too, though, and how they handle it can very well shape how the media approaches these issues, and how teams respond. In this situation, some fans panicked, some were skeptical, but most sat back and waited for Brown to address the issue and to see if this article was actually something worth getting worked up about. The verdict? It wasn’t. Just another offseason article, really summing up a lot of what fans already knew, in a bit more of a dramatic fashion.

The reality is that these articles come out all the time, but the Sixers are an easy target. Since they’re going through an unconventional rebuilding process, there is bound to be controversy. There will always be debate, and always be doubters, until the Sixers win, and one of their weak spots (literally) is Embiid with his injury.

Don’t take it too personally. Nothing is out of sync with the Sixers, especially on the management side. They have one of the best CEOs, one of the best owners, one of the best GMs, and one of the most stand-up, genuine coaches. It’s not time to panic, not at all.

Next: How Does The D-League Expansion Impact The Sixers

More from The Sixer Sense