Most NBA teams take some time to relax during the offseason, but the Philadelphia 76ers are a team that uses that time to their advantage.
April is here, and the NBA Playoffs are right around the corner as the end of the regular season is this week. This means that all NBA teams are thinking about one of three things.
Some teams are thinking about their playoff berth and planning game strategies for their potential first round matchups. Other teams are grinding hard to make sure they get the final playoff spot, or attempting to bump themselves up in the standings to get better playoff positioning. Finally, there’s the last group of teams, the one the Philadelphia 76ers are categorized under, the teams that know their season is done, and the teams that have already begun looking towards next season rather than the present one.
Some of these teams, who are along the bottom portion of the league, are in races of their own similar to that of the playoff teams, only in reverse. Teams are sitting out their best players in order to attempt to lose more games and get a better shot at a better draft pick.
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The offseason is what follows this final week of the NBA season for these teams. The offseason is an interesting time in the NBA, and if you’re not on a playoff team, you may have four months (or even more) off to do whatever you want as a player. You can go home, visit family, go on a vacation, and really just for once not have your life dictated by the grueling 82 game schedule.
Of course, some players do have other obligations such as the Olympics every four years or FIBA tournaments.
Of course, NBA players can’t completely let themselves go over the months off. A player that stops paying attention to their individual health and development over a few months would spend nearly half of the season getting back into their groove. That said, for most teams, player health, training, and keeping skills up is largely left up to an individual basis, rather than a team basis like it is during the regular season. There aren’t mandatory practices, and the sense of unity is somewhat lost over the summer.
The Sixers, however, have tended to be a bit different in past years. While players didn’t all stick around Philadelphia, and players weren’t expected to be around, some did stay, and some did train with their coaches over the summer rather than going home. Last summer, Ish Smith was around the team, as was T.J. McConnell, when the Sixers brought in prospective rookies to work out.
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Of course, after the draft, Ben Simmons visited the training facility and was with Joel Embiid. A bond was created, and the two being actually in Philadelphia rather than elsewhere seemed to make them grow closer not only as teammates but as friends. This offseason will give them even more time to do just that. Things like that are important.
The Sixers probably aren’t making anyone stay in Philly if they’ve got other plans, but it’s clear they’ve created a culture of togetherness and unity, and have made an appealing location for players to come to and look to grow in, even in their off months. Maybe it’s because the draft has been so important over the last several years, but it feels like there’s no offseason in Philadelphia, which could be a huge positive.
The other reason this offseason is particularly important for the Sixers is that they have a lot of players who have been shut down for the season because of injuries. The team will likely want them to stick around for their recovery. While players could see doctors at home, having team doctors and a consistent face to see for an injury recovery is important.
The most important players that need to be around at least some of this offseason, however, is the rookies. The Sixers could bring in several rookies this year depending on how the ping pong balls fall, and having them in house and working with the team will be incredibly important. Having them around other teammates who stick around Philly for the summer will be important as well.
Offseasons can be a portion of the year that tears a team’s unity apart, if it is not approached correctly. Clearly, however, the culture in Philadelphia promotes year-long unity, and makes players want to stick around, even if they don’t have to.