Philadelphia 76ers: Hopes for the Preseason in 2016

The Philadelphia 76ers aren’t winning the championship this year but there are definitely things to hope for, even throughout the preseason.

Every die hard fan hopes their team wins the championship at the end of the season.

Now, let’s be honest, only one team will earn a ring in the end and only a few teams will even be in the conversation. The Philadelphia 76ers will not be in that conversation this upcoming season. But there are some reasonable things 76ers fans can hope to see from some of the key guys on the team this pre-season that will help win rings in the long run. Let’s start with the 2016 No. 1 overall pick:

What I Hope To See From Ben Simmons

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There are two things that I really hope to see from Simmons once pre-season starts and those two things are left handed finishes at the rim, and plenty of jump-shot attempts. As we all know, preseason doesn’t mean much, and is not the end-all be all to predicting what will happen in the regular season.

Time and time again we’ve seen teams do great in the preseason just to flop in the regular season, and we’ve also seen many teams do terrible in preseason while later on making a nice push in the playoffs. Preseason is just a time for players to whip back in to five on five game-playing NBA basketball. It’s a time for coaches to tweak lineups, minutes, and plays and a time for players to do things in-game they normally wouldn’t to see how it would work.

Now that that’s said, you know where I’m going when talking about Simmons’ finishes at the rim and jump-shot attempts. Simmons rarely takes jump-shots and has a bad habit of finishing with his right hand on the left side of the rim even though he is left-handed. If he was truly as ambidextrous as some claim, why would he use a much more difficult way to convert over the best players in the world? Yes he has shown that he is ambidextrous to an extent, but based on the way he decides to finish at the rim, it could obviously get much better.

The summer and preseason are times when players should be working on the things they are uncomfortable with and aren’t as good at. I hope and want to see Ben Simmons take at least five combined 3-point and mid-range jump-shots per preseason game this year. For every five times Simmons drives to the left, I want and hope for him to use his left hand four out of those five times. I don’t care how many layups or jump-shots he misses, I just want him to get the in-game reps in.

What I Hope To See From Joel Embiid

There has been many reports that Joel Embiid is on track to play during pre-season this year. He has missed two seasons, and the anticipation from 76ers fans is at an all-time high. Many people would even argue he has a higher ultimate ceiling than Ben Simmons. Even with all of that, I’m not expecting too much from Embiid in preseason.

He hasn’t played in two years, so he is sure to be rusty. He is also playing a level of talent he has never faced off against before. Don’t expect Embiid to go out there busting out dream shakes just yet. Knowing his personality, he might try to, but I wouldn’t bet on it being too effective just yet against NBA competitors.

All I really hope to see from Embiid is that he can run hard without hesitation, move quick laterally, and jump as high as he can without hesitation. He will probably look a little winded but I just hope he doesn’t look like he’s about to faint out there.

I also hope to see him drain a few 3-pointers and/or long 2-pointers. The one thing he’s been able to work on these past two years has been his shooting mechanics so there is no excuse for that. Putting up shots in shoot-around is one thing, but doing it with a hand in your face in a five on five game is another. I really hope his jump-shot turns out to be as smooth as it’s supposed to be.

What I Hope To See From Jahlil Okafor

There are only two things I hope to see from Jahlil Okafor this preseason, and that is a slimmer body, and more explosive movement. Everything else like rebounding, defense, and conditioning will fall into line with a leaner and meaner Okafor. I don’t expect Okafor to come out looking like Dikembe Mutombo on defense or Dennis Rodman on the boards, but I do expect him to be considerably better at those two things with a better body, team, and mindset going forward.

He is 20 years old and nowhere near his prime years so he has a lot of time to improve regardless of his body from an experience and learning standpoint. Okafor was the most controversial player the team has seen since Andre Iguodala, and I’m sure he hears the critics about his weaknesses. Okafor comes off as a guy who loves to prove people wrong so there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s working as hard as he possibly can to become the best basketball player he can be and fix those weaknesses.

What I Hope To See From Nerlens Noel

Nerlens Noel is going into his 3rd NBA season (4th contractual season) so I don’t know if he has the same amount of room for growth as the other guys, but I still hope to see one improvement specifically for Noel at the start of pre-season. Noel is already a defensive savant as most around the league know, but he could be even better with a slightly stronger build.

Noel definitely holds his own down low against the majority of big men but against the heavier/taller big men he tends to get pushed around some. Putting on some more muscle should hep decrease the amount of time this happens when he faces the Andre Drummonds and Demarcus Cousins’ of the world. Based on Noel’s instagram it looks like he’s way ahead of me in terms of coming into pre-season stronger.

Another thing I hope to see from Noel in preseason is good chemistry with his teammates. He has been doing very cryptic things over social media and was nowhere to be seen with the team during Summer League. I did not hear anything about him being around for the team-building exercises either.

It’s reasonable for him to feel angered or betrayed by all of the trade talks from the organization and fans considering he has given Philadelphia his all these past three years. In spite of that, I still want to see him display good vibes come pre-season. What this young team does not need is locker room tension, jealousy, etc.

I would say that I hope to see Noel come in with a smoother and better jump-shot but at this point in time, it looks like the chances of him getting a better jumper decrease by the day. But Noel is an intense competitior so he could very well prove me wrong. We’ll just have to see.

What I Hope To See From Dario Saric

If you watched Dario Saric at the Olympics this summer than you clearly saw the improvements he made from when he was drafted to now. He looked

like the GOAT

stronger and much more explosive than two years ago.

He always had great court-vision and it’s even more refined these days. His jump-shot was very inconsistent two years ago and in the past year he has been shooting around 40 percent from the arc in his games overseas. There’s nothing specifically I’m looking for in Saric’s game come preseason. All I am hoping for is that he looks identical to the player we saw this past year out of Croatia.

Next: Hollis is Important for the Sixers

What I Hope To See From The Team

Like I said before, don’t expect much more from teams than a lot of broken plays and miscommunications come preseason. With a young team like the 76ers you should definitely expect it. The only thing I’m really hoping for the team overall during pre-season is that they share the ball, have fun, and lift each other up. The rest is just icing on the cake.

Hopes For The Philadelphia 76ers Preseason

By Jaylen Young | Aug 30, 2016