Winners of four straight games in a pretty surprising and abrupt fashion, all of a sudden, the Philadelphia 76ers have caught fire. While still undermanned, the team has clicked all the right buttons as of late, drastically improving their chances of making a legitimate playoff push moving forward.
While the 76ers still remain seated outside the play-in tournament picture, they are very capable of mounting another hot stretch and cracking into the top 10, if not more. But despite this, the team undoubtedly remains a team to watch before the trade deadline thanks in large part to their drastic decline as a collective (and players, individually) this season.
Most of Philly's signings during the last offseason have not panned out as expected, which explains a lot about their struggles from a wider vista. Sure, they can qualify for the playoffs, but winning the championship and hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy has become a virtual impossibility for this squad, at least for the present campaign.
Having said that, their prospects could have gotten much uglier.
The 76ers did well to pass up on Klay Thompson in free agency
The 76ers had a boatload of cap space to fidget around during the summer, which they ultimately exhausted by signing Paul George to a max contract. While the nine-time All-Star has largely disappointed during the first half of the season, Philadelphia could have taken a rockier road had they signed Klay Thompson instead.
Dallas took the bait of signing the former All-Star to a lucrative deal, and so far, the results have been more negative. Thompson, while still registering an elite 39.6 percent conversion rate from three-point territory, has become a model of sheer inconsistency while offering almost nothing elsewhere.
The soon-to-be 35-year-old was a major get for the Mavericks, which were exploited for their lack of reliable shooting during the Finals, but he has been far from dependable despite what the numbers say. He is still capable of putting up mind-blowing flamethrower sequences, just like he did recently when he bombed away and drained seven threes in one quarter. Still, in a similar vein, he is also perfectly capable of laying eggs on the hardwood.
Elsewhere, Thompson is a near non-factor. He is no longer the positive defender he once was, and his age and slim frame have made him a liability on that end, especially when it comes to one-on-one situations. And as usual, he is no playmaker or board-getter, and almost never goes to the charity stripe by his own doing.
While the Philadelphia 76ers will most likely only get jeers from the crowd after signing Paul George to such an expensive deal, things could have gotten much worse for them if they went the Klay Thompson route. That is just how shaky it has been for the former All-Star.