It would be disingenuous not to proclaim the Philadelphia 76ers as a bona fide championship contender next season. Sure, the team is relatively brand new outside of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, but there’s simply too much talent oozing on the roster to simply toss them as a big question mark.
The 76ers, however, are not treating this as a shortsighted escapade. All of their recent moves point to a more elongated timeline altogether, aiming to claim the title (or titles) in the immediate future. Having said that, do they really have a sustainable blueprint to stay relevant for quite a while?
The 76ers should draw inspiration from this former dynasty’s ways
In their quest to win the championship, the 76ers could take some inspiration from how the San Antonio Spurs repeatedly did it. Their dynasty, one of the spread-out kind, yielded a staggering five championships, but the way they did it is unique in that it lasted for a really long time.
When Tim Duncan, their best player, aged, Gregg Popovich made drastic changes to the way they operated. To preserve his career and the team’s staying power as a contender, he significantly reduced his on-court load, empowering his other co-stars to take a bigger mantle.
Now, the 76ers aren’t incentivized to replicate the same wavelength of change the Spurs did with Duncan with Embiid, who’s still at the very peak of his powers. However, they should make it an emphasis to start shaving off some of his responsibilities, especially those that can easily be funneled to Tyrese Maxey and now, Paul George.
Minutes management is also one thing they should do with more prudence moving forward. They showed glimpses of doubling down on that end when they pulled Embiid out of games they essentially already won even before the fourth quarter, but they have to do it intentionally. Limiting him to 32 minutes per game could be a good thing to springboard this from.
The 76ers will inevitably go where Embiid takes them. It’s just the way it is for a franchise defined by its best player. But to remain relevant and in the title chase for quite a while, they need to move with more strategic precision and vision from now on.
San Antonio has already shown that it works.