The Philadelphia 76ers are in dire need of a successful turnout next season. While there are a lot of uncertainties shrouding them entering the upcoming campaign, the expectations remain lofty for this group. Unless they make a deep playoff run, no one will be really convinced that they have turned in a satisfying year.
With better health in the cards to complement one of the league’s most talented rosters, the 76ers should be back in the thick of the playoff race next season. And with the Eastern Conference not expected to be as potent as it can be, the stage is set for the franchise to make a grand return to the postseason after a one-year sabbatical.
Just making the playoffs, however, is far from the actual goalpost for this team. While the title is probably a tad unrealistic for this bunch, the 76ers have to prove to everyone that they are capable of being in that exclusive group of championship-caliber teams.
But to do that, they will need to be as foolproof as possible as a squad. That means refining all the details, no matter how minuscule, to get all the edges they can over their competitors.
76ers get an unwanted branding in newly released rankings
Apparently, though, the 76ers can get a little bit too over the top with their on-court shenanigans. According to a recently released list featuring curated data over the last decade when it comes to fines and suspensions, Philly stands as the fifth-dirtiest team in the league among all 30 squads.
It seems like the 76ers have a lot if work to do. After all, cutting down on the extracurriculars in the hardwood would serve them well. Staying free from the drama often yielded by competitive juices will allow them to fully focus on winning games without paying any attention to tactical provocations and cursory game stoppages.
Those things are tied to on-court maturity. Thankfully, this data does not take into account the wild variance of roster changes during that period, meaning that the team should be able to flip this script soon enough thanks to their roster being jampacked with veterans and tenured players.
While probably not as urgent as any other on-court concerns the 76ers currently have, being a “dirty team” is not a label they should want to brandish moving forward. Conjunctively, the goal is for the squad to outgrow its mercurial tendencies and clinch that consistency in both play and approach on a game-to-game basis.