The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Philadelphia 76ers Hope or Hype?

Apr 10, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown goes over a play with his team during the third quarter of the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Wells Fargo Center. The Milwaukee Bucks won 109-108 in OT. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 10, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown goes over a play with his team during the third quarter of the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Wells Fargo Center. The Milwaukee Bucks won 109-108 in OT. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
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December 30, 2015; Sacramento, CA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown instructs during the third quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena. The 76ers defeated the Kings 110-105. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
December 30, 2015; Sacramento, CA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown instructs during the third quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena. The 76ers defeated the Kings 110-105. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

15 Solid players

From the ashes of the 2015-2016 season, let’s truly consider the quality of the team that had begun the quest into the regular season last year.

With Joel Embiid on rehab, the team was a 14 player roster.  While Brown was trying to teach Noel and Okafor how to play with some version of compatibility, the team started the season with Tony Wroten, Kendall Marshall, Carl Landry, Robert Covington, and Nik Stauskas injured as well.

Undermanned, and outgunned.

While the team rushed Stauskas back into the starting lineup, the season would not begin for the other injured until much later. Covington returned on November 16.  Wroten would not return until December 5th.  Marshall would not return until December 11th. Landry arrived December 23rd.  Point guard Ish Smith would arrive via trade to the 76ers on December 26th. Just as the team began to gel, top scorer Jahlil Okafor would play his last game for the season on February 28th.

While the games played in the 2015-2016 have meaning, I struggle to consider them “career defining” as so many of my colleagues have done. The team was an infirmary, a series of rotating lineups dictated from healthy bodies, not game planning.

But the 2016-2017 season has, for the time being, the expectation of 15 healthy productive NBA players. We had assessed the training camp roster earlier this week.  We had even done a power ranking for the team at a far too early point in time, projecting 32 wins for the improving 76ers. Now lets consider the team as a whole.