Have Philadelphia 76ers gained ground in NBA’s Atlantic Division?

The Philadelphia 76ers had entered the off-season as the fourth of five teams in the NBA Atlantic Division. But has the team improved enough to gain ground, or fallen back to the basement?

The Philadelphia 76ers are one of five NBA team which comprise the NBA Atlantic Division. The other teams are the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks, and Brooklyn Nets. Normally, the Sixers have been focused upon improving the team and have ignored the comings and goings of the competition. But this year, the team feels competitive. But in comparison, are they?

It’s time to up our game as the Philadelphia 76ers up theirs. So lets do some Atlantic Conference analysis, shall we?

Of course, it starts with the head to head match-ups.  Surprisingly, the Philadelphia 76ers were 7-9 against Atlantic Division opponents. They were 1-3 vs Toronto, 1-3 vs Boston, 3-1 vs Brooklyn, and 2-2 vs New York Knicks.   Despite the sub-.500 performance, it was a solid showing with the background of a 76ers team playing with as many as four starters injured.

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New players huge improvement

Now, the team is hoping for better health.  But whether the team avoids the injury bug this season or not, the Philadelphia 76ers start a new season with more optimism than ever before.   And why not? The team added J.J. Redick, Amir Johnson, Furkan Kormaz, and of course Markelle Fultz.  They will replace Gerald Henderson, Shawn Long, Sergio Rodriguez, and Alex Poythress.

So in that comparison alone, the team is much stronger than the 20 win 30 loss 2017 season.  Now, if the team can keep Jerryd Bayless, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid healthy, the team is better than even money to end up in the playoffs. But to win, the Sixers will need to defeat other teams.  How will they fave against the competition?

Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets are a team so down on their luck that they literally have nowhere to go but up. The trade of Brook Lopez to the Los Angeles Lakers for Timofey Mozgov and D’Angelo Russell also cost the Nets a coveted first round pick at 27.

Russell will likely pair up with Jeremy Lin. While that will help the team’s back court, the Nets really need help up front.  Timofey Mozgov will play no better for the Nets than he did for the Lakers, which means the Nets will likely try to rush getting Jarrett Allen onto the basketball court.

The Brooklyn Nets added some nice pieces.  In fact, they have agreed to take on Toronto Raptors small forward  DeMarre Carroll for two draft picks. But they need help up front now, and help is not arriving.

New York Knicks

The New York Knicks have had a bad off-season so far. On one hand, they dumped president Phil Jackson. On the other hand, they stained the relationship with Kristaps Porzingis. In fact, they even allowed Derrick Rose to walk in free agency. And to top all, they have talked to Carmello Anthony about waiving his no trade clause. And they have a lot of salary tied up in players who won’t carry them into the playoffs.

The team picked point guard Frank Ntilikina in the NBA Draft, and by all accounts will likely run the team through him.  Now, I like his upside. But the Knicks are far to heavy salary wise to be in full rebuild, and to vested in getting younger to challenge for post season.   They will regress this year.

Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors needed to re-sign Kyle Lowry and did so. The team also needed to re-sign Serge Ibaka. So far the team is two for two.  But the team did not add any pieces yet, and are salary strapped to add any significant pieces now.

Then the team began to deal.

They did push DeMarre Carroll‘s $30.2 million salary to the Nets for two draft picks. In return, they have landed a center in Justin Hamilton.  But that will place another hole in the roster and not improve the team.  To fill that hole, the Raptors agreed to a sign and trade of C.J. Mills of the Indiana Pacers for point guard Cory Joseph.

In the end, these move likely filled roster needs.  But while they try to close the gap with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Philadelphia 76ers have gained ground on them.

Boston Celtics

In the end, have the Boston Celtics improved? They have certainly been active. From a team with the first pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, the Celtics have had to choose a path for today, or tomorrow. In the end, they have committed to neither.

The Celtics have lost six players to free agency.  Right now, the Celtics are working frantically to free up salary cap space to sign intending to sign free agent Gordan Hayward.  To do that, the team traded away Avery Bradley.  In return, the Celtics get former Pistons forward Marcus Morris.  But now Sports Illustrated reports that Morris is facing legal difficulties which could result in an NBA suspension.

So how will the Celtics fill the roster? They have a number of draft and stashed players who will see playing time this year.  President Danny Ainge is banking on the young players improving by the team post season rolls around.  That’s a significant risk to take.

Sixers close the gap

After reviewing the moves of all Atlantic division teams, there is plenty of reason to believe these 76ers have improved far more rapidly than other teams in the division.  The team’s addition of Johnson, Redick, Korkmaz, and Fultz add depth, fill the roster, and improve the starting lineup dramatically.

Next: Philadelphia 76ers: Who is J.J. Redick’s backup

The 76ers will not only surprise some teams, they will play hard. The NBA teams are in an arms race now, and the best teams are grabbing the best talent. That leaves teams little options to add via free agency nor via trade.

But the Philadelphia 76ers have drafted well enough to believe they have merely to stay healthy and develop young players to compete in the playoffs.  Once they do that, they will join the ranks of the best teams in the NBA.