The Quick Turnaround: How will the restart help the Philadelphia 76ers?

By Sheldon Washington | Nov 9, 2020

Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons | Philadelphia 76ers (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

The NBA season starts up soon; are the Philadelphia 76ers ready?

So, with the 2020-21 NBA season officially scheduled for Dec. 22, one can’t help but wonder the particulars surrounding the reason for such a quick turnaround from commissioner Adam Silver and the NBAPA. But, if I had to take a guess, we can all assume the obvious: money.

The NBA reportedly lost over $1 billion in revenue from COVID-19. So even with this past season being the longest in NBA history, the need to stave off more financial loss resulted in a vote for the return date of NBA basketball.

Here we are fans, officially a little more than a month out from the tip of another season. With all that has happened this year, and still happening, it’s hard to get up for it. Some of the players can attest to the feeling with LeBron James tweeting that “I’m gonna be cherry picking the entire first half of the season.” That won’t happen, but you get the point. Some of these guys are not ready to return to the hardwood for another 82 games after playing the equivalent of a full season in the Bubble.

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But this may be the perfect storm for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Or maybe not.

I will choose to be optimistic. This new season won’t feel like a new season cause a lot of these players are just flat tired. Unless they didn’t get invited to the Bubble. So, expect a lot of uninspired basketball for the first few weeks. But for a Sixers team who was embarrassed the last time we saw them back in August, they should be licking their chops to pounce on whoever falls on their schedule.

Most of the teams in the East won’t have much in the tank come Dec. 22. Miami, fresh off of their surprise NBA finals appearance, will now have to summon the energy to nightly defend their Eastern Conference crown, and who knows what Jimmy Butler we will see on opening night.

Boston, though young, will have to do the same and try to figure out creative ways to keep bodies fresh throughout the year. The Sixers had problems with these two teams all year long. But with the quick restart, maybe the mental fatigue will work in the favor of Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Co. against the East.

The only team that Philadelphia should have on their radar is the Brooklyn Nets. Kyrie Irving should be fully healthy coming in the new year, and Kevin Durant has had over a year to fully recover from his Achilles injury suffered in the 2019 Finals. They will be hungry for redemption.

I’m excited to see what each team will look like when basketball resumes this year. One thing I can say for sure: don’t expect a beautiful game at all. There will be some sluggish play from everyone. But, this possible down year could be the very thing Philadelphia can use to get over the hump and finally reach an NBA Finals.

Who cares if everyone isn’t at their best? We just want a championship.

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Bring on the new season!