The Sixers Are Testing My Patience (Again) and I Need to Vent
Being a Sixers fan is an exercise in managing disappointment. Photo: Unsplash
Man. I don’t even know where to start with this one because the Sixers are doing what the Sixers always do and I’m tired. I’m so tired. Another season, another early stretch where we’re trying to figure out if this team can stay healthy long enough to actually compete. Spoiler alert: so far, no.
Look, I love Joel Embiid. The man is a generational talent. When he’s on the court, healthy and engaged, he’s one of the five best players in basketball. His post moves are textbook. His footwork is immaculate. The way he can score from anywhere on the floor—inside, mid-range, three—it’s beautiful basketball. But he’s NEVER healthy. And at some point we have to ask hard questions about what that means.
Embiid is making $55.2 million this year. He’s missed significant time already with the same knee issues that have plagued him his entire career. This isn’t new. This isn’t a surprise. This is the pattern. And the Sixers keep building rosters around him anyway, hoping THIS year will be different. It never is.
Marcus’s Take:
Let me break down the basketball real quick because I actually love talking X’s and O’s. When Embiid IS healthy, his rim protection is elite. He alters shots just by existing in the paint. The drop coverage the Sixers can run with him anchoring the defense is suffocating. Teams can’t get clean looks at the rim. That’s why Philly’s defensive rating historically jumps when he plays versus when he doesn’t.
The offensive side is where his injuries hurt most though. When Joel is out, Tyrese Maxey has to do EVERYTHING. Maxey is a baller—one of the best young guards in the league—but asking him to be the entire offense is unfair. He’s averaging huge numbers this season but he’s also exhausted. The workload is unsustainable.
The roster construction is also frustrating. We’ve gone through so many iterations trying to find the right pieces around Embiid—Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, James Harden, now whatever this current group is—and none of it has worked. Some of that is bad luck. Some of it is bad decisions. Most of it comes back to not being able to count on your best player being available when it matters most.
Real Talk:
The Eastern Conference is wide open this year. Boston is the favorite but they’re not unbeatable. Cleveland is good but flawed. Milwaukee is always dangerous but Giannis has his own injury history. The Sixers SHOULD be in that conversation. They have the talent. But talent doesn’t matter if it’s sitting on the bench in street clothes.
I know Philly fans are going to come at me for this take. That’s fine. I’m a Philly fan too. I’ve been watching this team since the Process days. I was there for the 10-win seasons. I believed. I STILL believe. But I’m also not going to pretend everything is fine when we’re watching the same movie for the seventh year in a row.
The Silver Lining:
My realistic expectation for this season: the Sixers make the playoffs as a middle seed, Embiid misses games throughout the season, he comes back for the playoffs not at 100%, and we lose in the second round to whoever is healthy. That’s not me being negative. That’s me watching the pattern repeat for nearly a decade.
I want to be wrong. I WANT to come back to this article in June and say “Marcus you idiot, they won the whole jawn, Embiid was healthy, trust the process forever.” That would make me so happy. But I’ve been hurt too many times to expect it.
Ard, that’s my vent. Go Sixers. Please prove me wrong. My blood pressure can’t handle another first-round exit.
