The season is still way too young to pencil them in as real championship contenders, but the Philadephia 76ers are currently the top team in the Eastern Conference. They are one of only four teams left with an unblemished record (alongside Chicago, San Antonio, and defending champions Oklahoma City), and they are only just starting to get a cleaner bill of health.
The main impetus behind their blazing start to the season is their deadly scoring attack. They have the second-best offensive rating in the league at the moment, while also leading the association in three-point shooting perventage and draining the second-most triples per outing. Their offense has appeared genuinely unstoppable to kick things off.
However, there are still people who are not moved by their undefeated record. Sam Vecenie, a draft expert and NBA writer from The Athletic, reminded everyone during a recent podcast episode that people should perhaps take the team’s win-loss card with a grain of salt.
Draft guru says people should hit the brakes on the 76ers
Vecenie highlighted the fact that the 76ers are off to a hot start from rainbow county to begin the season. At this point in time, the team has canned approximately 42 percent of their attempts from three-point territory, which leads the entire league.
However, he said that Philly will most likely not be able to sustain that kind of torrid shooting. Of course, that argument holds water as it is one rooted in precedence. But is it really that crazy to expect the 76ers to remain as one of the most lethal teams out in the perimeter? We like to think not.
Having said that, Vecenie made a great point about the 76ers still clocking in as one of the worst defensive teams in the league. True enough, the team is at the bottom five in defensive rating despite already being in the bottom third of the league when it comes to pace.
Admittedly, defense is (and probably will) not be their calling card this season. Given their roster construction and what had happened to Joel Embiid on that front, it is unrealistic to expect this group to be a top-10 defensive team, so to speak.
Still, whiel Vecenie made some great points, the 76ers still deserve a lot of credit for their unbeaten run thus far. After all, they showed a lot of maturity in securing those dubs, and there are still some heavy hitters they are expecting to be back sooner than later.