The Sixers Are Better Than They Appear

The Philadelphia 76ers’ season has gotten off to a rough start, to say the least. Besides maybe the Los Angeles Lakers, there has been no team that has disappointed fans more. They started last year 0-17, and fans surely don’t want to see any of that this year. Starting off 0-5 wasn’t great by any means.

Around the league, they’re getting disrespected, and for good reason. There’s not much to be happy about regarding the team when they’re losing this much.

Even in some cases, teams have (maybe inadvertenly) stooped to stealing Sixers’ slogans. “Trust The Process” has never been endorsed by the team on a T-shirt or billboard, but fans still love saying it, and it’s become a common theme for the team. The Portland Trailblazers Twitter overstepped a boundary there, by putting the slogan in their Twitter bio.

I don’t think the disrespect from Sixers fans or fans of other teams is all warranted. The team is much better than they appear on the surface.

Let’s start by looking at what they do have. Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re missing so many pieces, and I could write 700+ words on everything they’re missing, too, but what they do have is nothing to shame.

Jahlil Okafor is good, and is off to one of the best starts of a teenager in NBA history. Yeah, let’s remember that Okafor is the same age as most kids that are currently starting their careers or getting degrees. The way he’s playing for his age is remarkable, to say the very least. He’s averaging over 20 points per game, which, for what it’s worth is higher than what I anticipated for him. I’m not expert, but a lot of the “experts” had him pinned at 12-15 points per game. So if he keeps this pace up, it’s safe to say that he’s done well.

On top of that, he’s fixed everything (at least so far) that we thought he needed to fix before coming to the NBA. He’s shooting well above 50% from the free throw line, and he’s actually leaving his feet on defense. There’s room for improvement on that end, but he looks better and looks to have more effort on defense than he did at Duke University.

Paired with Nerlens Noel, the front court is becoming one of the best in the NBA, very quickly. So far this season together they average 33.6 points, 16.3 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks. They’re quickly becoming one of the most dominant front courts in the NBA.

Besides that, despite injury woes, the Sixers have found some peace in the backcourt, in rookie T.J. McConnell. Most people didn’t believe Sixers analysts that said the Sixers were full of “undiscovered talent” this offseason until just recently.

McConnell has done well all season, and started the last two games. In the Sixers’ third game of the year, he had 12 assists and zero turnovers. He capitalized on that in his first start with 12 more and one turnover. He hasn’t scored a lot, but gives everyone on the team fantastic looks. He moves the ball well.

Lastly, the Sixers aren’t appearing as good as they are simply because of all of their injuries. Although some good did come out of them–they got to sign Phil Pressey because of the league’s hardship waiver since they had so many injuries–they’ve been set back by injuries. Nik Stauskas couldn’t start the first game, and Robert Covington missed a few games, only to come back and injure himself after playing just one game. Of course, Tony Wroten and Kendall Marshall, the backcourts best players, have been and will be out for a while, too.

Next: Sixers: Two Out Of Three Can Still Be Bad

Marshall, Covington, and Wroten are some of the team’s best players. You can’t judge this team acurately until they have a full healthy squad. They’re much better than they appear.