The Philadelphia 76ers have been one of the more talented teams in the Eastern Conference over the last 4-5 seasons, but they have always come up short when it matters most. The Sixers have been a top 4 seed in 4 of the last 5 seasons but were eliminated in the Conference Finals on all 4 occasions.
Just take this past season where they were the 4 seed but got dumped out by the Miami Heat in 6 games as Joel Embiid was dealing with injuries. Whether it be injuries to Embiid, Kawhi Leonard ripping their hearts out with a buzzer-beater in Game 7 in 2019, or their epic collapse against the Hawks in 2021, the Sixers always find agonizing ways to end their season. There is hope, though, that this time it just might be different.
Tim Bontemps Predicts The Philadelphia 76ers Will Be A Top 2 Seed In The Eastern Conference
The Sixers have had a fantastic offseason up to this point. They signed PJ Tucker, who was their main target in free agency, and were also able to make some more good moves thanks to James Harden taking a pay cut. The former MVP has also taken his conditioning very seriously this offseason and the Sixers probably now have the most talented team of the Joel Embiid era. ESPN analyst Tim Bontemps is quite bullish on their prospects for this upcoming season as he hyped them up during a recent episode of The Hoop Collective podcast.
via The Hoop Collective (starts at 4:56 mark):
“This team, after being around them for a couple days, they feel very good about themselves, and I think they’re going to win just an absolute ton of regular season games and they’re going to be one of the top two seeds in the East. James Harden looks good, they’re deep, they’re versatile, play a lot of different ways.”
They are quite versatile and deep after all these additions, with Montrezl Harrell being the most recent one. Expectations are sky high as a result and failure to reach the Conference Finals will not be tolerated by the front office or the fans.
It is quite frankly a bit stunning that the Sixers haven’t gotten out of the second round in this Embiid era and while this team seems poised to finally break through, it won’t be easy. The Eastern Conference has a lot of talented teams now and they’ll have their work cut out to make a deep run despite all their talent.
