The Philadelphia 76ers tallied two impressive wins to shut off a pretty dingy seven-game losing streak that preceded them. With the team currently in the middle fo their toughest stretch yet, that they managed to find a way to pull the rag on the best team in the East and pull away from another team above them on consecutive occasions must be so animating.
Both of those wins should give the team a template on how they should go about things on the hardwood moving forward. Turning in a clean bill of health is now a sheer impossibility for this group. Thus, Nick Nurse and the coaching staff will need to cling onto the hope that each game would be attendant with some breakout performances here and there, ideally from unexpected contributors.
This brutal stretch they are situatd in is still a ways to go from being over, but Philly somehow still has some fighting chance to make the playoffs. While they are 10 games below .500, they are merely a game behind the Bulls for the last play-in tournament spot.
The 76ers could already be starting to veer away from Ricky Council IV
Coming off their latest win over Chicago, Philadelphia is reportedly assigning sophomore wing Ricky Council IV to the Delaware Blue Coats which are, if you do not know, the G-League affiliates of the 76ers.
Council has not really seen his role increase this season as much as expected despite performing strongly in his limited appearances last season and during the Summer League. However, he saw an uptick in minutes just recently, although the 76ers have turned to other options in their latest wins over Cleveland and Chicago.
Now, it seems like Philly is starting to not feel as strongly as they previously did with the athletic wing. Council was initially anticipated as a potential challenger to be a starting two-guard this season, but his lack of real growth as a kickstarter on offense has severely limited his ceiling as a rotation piece for Nurse.
He had tried to remedy this glaring weakness of his by being more trigger-happy from three-point territory, but his efficiency remains wanting. And with the 76ers getting more stability from Justin Edwards, it could just be a matter of time until the team drops the hammer on the sophomore.
Unfortunately, not all things work out the way the envisioned it to be. That is how the road has been for Ricky Council IV, and if he fails to banner a novel and convincing reason for the Philadelphia 76ers brass to hold him in high regard again, he could find himself in the doghouse for much longer.