Can They Do It Again?

[Marcos_Beck]

Can They Do It Again?

The Philadelphia 76ers were named CSL champions last season after coming back from 0-2 to beat the Golden State Warriors in the finals with 4 straight wins.



That’s well known among the community. However, the question that stands among all: can they finally be the first team to win back-to-back titles? Actually, will they really go for the win or will GM Beck, fresh off his second career ring, trade the whole squad like it happened back in Chicago and start a rebuild?

These are valid questions for a team that made no major moves this offseason and lost most of their injury depth due to hard cap troubles. Vets like Otto Porter or Isaiah Hartenstein were usually the ones counted on in case of injuries to fill out minutes, and while the 8-man rotation remains the same, it’s still a question how they will do in a long 82-game regular season.

The thing is, Philly is made for playoff basketball, and are good enough to cruise past the season without major issues, but competition in the CSL is harder and harder nowadays and guaranteeing a good playoff spot is extremely important. Surely, they did win it all without home court advantage since second round, but they might not be that lucky this time around, specially as they had a key game 7 on the road against the Heat in ECFs.


Put this man in the banner.

Finding the balance between winning, keeping players fresh and battling for the best position possible without much depth is hard, definitely. De Vico and Reed got their 3rd year endurance boosts, and while Trice has lost a step, he’s still as perfect of a backup as there will ever be for the Sixers. The starting unit remains untouched and even though Bowen, Wagner and Beasley started the year pretty cold from the field, the talent level is absurd. Ball and KAT continue to lead this team and are among the best in the league at their position, even if they attracted minimum interest in trade talks so far.

After starting the year 1-2, the Sixers were able to build some momentum. It’s still very early in the season but it’s safe to say the usual suspects (Miami, Boston, Milwaukee and Brooklyn) will be fighting for the top seeds with Philadelphia. It’s no absurd to name any of these 5 as EC winners and definitely worthy a finals berth, which makes things even more interesting. “I wanna fight the best, I wanna beat the best. To be the best, you have to beat everyone, and not only once.” Beck mentioned in his press conference during media day when asked if Philly could be considered favorites for the season.

As much as he wants to push it away and keep the underdog mentality, everyone will be looking at them this time. There’s only one option for a team fresh off a ring and with such little flexibility and lots of financial troubles which clearly is winning it all. Without assets and any breathing room under the hard cap, it’s probably a two year plan for the Sixers to win a championship once again while everyone is under contract and in the prime of their careers. Many believed the Sixers peaked a while ago and Marcos proved everyone wrong by finding ways to improve the team and winning their first championship. Now, with a chip on their shoulders, fighting to retain the trophy and make history, its title or bust for the Sixers, with a clear question on the air: can they do it again?

That, if they don’t tear it down in the next few days.

You never know what Marcos is capable of, right?

[emplep7]

Totally forgot we need a new banner. I’m numb to Simmons

[GreenBear]

I'm glad you kept your playoff rotation intact. It'll be really cool watching you try to become the first repeat champ

[KW]

Totally forgot we need a new banner. I’m numb to Simmons

I'm gonna fuck around with some AI art tools but no promises

[cb4raptorscb4]

"after coming back from 0-2 to beat the Golden State Warriors in the finals with 4 straight wins."

Oh man I had almost forgotten about that

I totally think you guys could repeat, but it's a hard thing to do around here. The banner speaks for itself haha

[Flaming Homer]

The goal should be to repeat and making history here!
It is not an easy task with balancing the finances and trying to keep most important players around but with De Vico and Reed there are young player able to shoulder more load.

For the long term plan it may be good to jump on a good trade for young pieces, like Miami just did.

[Andrewu91]

You can. Heat, Boston, Bucks, Knicks, Nets seem to be the typical 1-6 seeds. Anything can happen though.

Best of luck.

[mgtr81]

Why not? The core is the same.

[rh0xxy]

Definitely, they can. But it's a long road and anything can happen. Best of luck, bro.

[andrei]

This roster is super strong so can absolutely go for it again. Interesting that it is a very Post heavy offense from the locations of the starters. Sometime ago I thought this engine prefers some diversity in terms of player locations to allow more space but looks it doesn't particularly care. Really only Beasly is primarily on the perimeter while the rest are 35% to 80% Post which I find quite heavy

[Stockton12]

i think you can if you dont blow it up

[bt]

Yeah absolutely don't see why not.

[Marcos_Beck]

This roster is super strong so can absolutely go for it again. Interesting that it is a very Post heavy offense from the locations of the starters. Sometime ago I thought this engine prefers some diversity in terms of player locations to allow more space but looks it doesn't particularly care. Really only Beasly is primarily on the perimeter while the rest are 35% to 80% Post which I find quite heavy

Being 100% honest this probably isn't the way to go, but well, since everyone is still figuring out the engine and it's working, I'll keep it that way for now and start experimenting once I go full rebuild.