The Philadelphia 76ers blew another lead in London, and the reasoning is pretty simple.
Before we get to the point of the article, it’s worth saying this one, very important, thing: Brett Brown is one heck of a coach. He’s not perfect and there are things he can do better, but asking for his head after every loss is pretty foolish. Just stop.
As for the Philadelphia 76ers‘ struggles, the reasoning is simple. There are several different factors that play into each individual loss, but the overarching theme is the same: they’re young and their roster construction is subpar, to say the least.
As it currently stands, the Sixers are the second youngest team in the league. Aside from J.J. Redick, Jerryd Bayless and Amir Johnson, their regular rotation players are all on the right side of 30. Most of them are in the 25-and-under club.
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Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are the most heavily involved players on the team, while Dario Saric has taken on a much bigger offensive role as of late. It’s tough to ask a team that young to compete at an elite level for four quarters every night, regardless of how much talent they may have.
With young teams, ebbs and flows are natural. That’s how the NBA works.
Their roster construction, however, is more concerning. Aside from Markelle Fultz, this team doesn’t have any capable shot creators outside of their core duo. That makes halfcourt offense difficult whenever Embiid and Simmons are off the floor, and Simmons isn’t exactly a dynamic perimeter scorer.
It becomes even more problematic whenever Embiid has an off night, as he did in London. When a team like the Celtics plays physical defense and takes the Sixers’ primary weapons away, there isn’t much they can do to make up for it.
Fultz isn’t going to come in and ball out right away either. He’s been through too much this season to expect vintage performances from day one. He needs time, and Sixers fans should be more than willing to give it to him.
The primary concern then boils down to depth, which falls on Bryan Colangelo’s lap more than anything else. Even if Justin Anderson is healthy, we don’t know if he’s capable of playing like an average reserve. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot has made any progress, while Bayless provides minimal value when shots aren’t falling. This season, they haven’t been falling enough.
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Amir Johnson is a solid backup center, but the Sixers could have gotten as much value — if not more — for less than $11 million. That money could have gone towards some help on the perimeter. Bayless was an understandable signing at the time, but we all knew three years was too long.
Not all of this is Colangelo’s fault. Injuries and unexpected regression have hit the Sixers hard, and a lot of it is stuff nobody expected. Nobody knew Fultz would forget how to shoot before dealing with a shoulder injury common we’ve never heard of, and TLC wasn’t supposed to fall off a cliff.
But, nonetheless, there are some clear flaws with the moves Colangelo has made and he hasn’t done enough — at least not yet — to make up for them. We’ll see what the trade deadline brings.
A shallow bench and extensive youth will almost never mix well. The Sixers just don’t have the talent or the experience to play at a high level every night, no matter how special Embiid and Simmons may be. They’re good, and the playoffs are still well within reach, but these blown leads aren’t an isolated incident.
Next: Are the Celtics in the Sixers' heads?
When you consider the roster Brett Brown has to work with, blaming him becomes even more laughable.