Philadelphia 76ers New Year Resolution Bottoms up

Mar 13, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Nerlens Noel (4) celebrates his score with guard Ish Smith (5) during the second half at Wells Fargo Center. The 76ers won 114-107. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

Bottoms Up Everyone! The Philadelphia 76er new year has begun, and the team has begun to win some games. Can they retain their winning ways?

For weeks we had heard that the Philadelphia 76ers were tanking on purpose, nothing more than a developmental team in the NBA circuit: an easy win for every other team in the NBA. The defeat of the Los Angeles Lakers was attributable to their efforts to tank as well. The defeat of the Phoenix Suns was attributed to a team’s head coach losing control of the team. The defeat of the Sacramento Kings was attributed to bad play of the Sacramento Kings. 2016 Is something special for this NBA franchise. It’s the Philadelphia 76ers new year, a team that has hit rock bottom, and is now clawing it’s way back. The missing ingredient? Mike D’Antoni? Point guard Ish Smith? Nerlens Noel starting at center?

Here’s my theory. The Philadelphia 76ers now have a taste of winning, and they like it. This is a young group, a very motivated and professional group, a cast of players who are getting to know one another on the fly – in their minutes on an NBA basketball court together. Head coach and mentor of the young and daring players, Brett Brown, is deliberate and dedicated. He wants to give this team success, but he needs to grow the team in maturity, experience, and teamwork. The greatest way to build a team is to place them into a “circle the wagons” mode. Losing tends to do that.

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But over the Christmas holiday, something changed on the team. A minor deal, a trade of two second round picks (the 2016 second round pick obtained from Denver, and the 2017 second round pick) for New Orleans Pelican’s part time point guard Ish Smith. But in that moment, something else happened. A team which had been accumulating assets in terms of trade picks and future options had suddenly reversed polarity, picked up a point guard, and has proceeded to be competitive.

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So competitive in the past three games that they have outscored their opponents 312 to 304. In three games where they faced the Phoenix Suns, the Utah Jazz, and the Sacramento Kings, they have improved their offense to 104 point average per game. Similarly, their defense has shown signs of improvement. They are not there yet. They lost an obvious “win by losing” game to the Los Angeles Lakers, and then faded rapidly against the Los Angeles Clippers 130-99. But they’ve tasted success now. They know it can be done. They next face the Minnesota Timberwolves, a team which certainly appears beatable by the current Sixers roster. That wasn’t the case when the season began.

The Philadelphia 76ers new year starts now. Lets see if they can make the most of it.