Coming into the season, the Philadelphia 76ers were viewed as one of the top-3 teams in the Eastern Conference, a side that had the talent to make an appearance in the NBA Finals if a few things broke right. It’s still totally possible that Philadelphia can accomplish this, but the early returns have left a bit to be desired, as the Sixers sit at 2-3 on the year.
Between a few injuries and the fact that players aren’t quite where they need to be yet, the slow start in Philadelphia does make sense. The issue is that the Sixers defense hasn’t been great, while Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and J.J. Redick have all been very good-to-great this season.
Basically, Philly needs its players outside of those three dudes to either step up or start engaging on the defensive end of the floor. Brett Brown agrees this is the case, and there’s good news and bad news: While it is something he thinks the Sixers will get past, right now, there’s a void that has to be filled.
“We need help,” Brown said, per Keith Pompey of Philly.com. “We need other people stepping up, and playing more as a team and getting Mike [Muscala] and Wilson [Chandler] back in this. I like what we have. I really like what we have. It’s just early days. You know we are struggling a little bit.”
This certainly isn’t a call for the Sixers to make a big trade or anything like that, but it is a sign that Philly has a long way to go. Getting Muscala and Chandler fully back and healthy will help, same with whenever 2018 first-round pick Zhaire Smith is healthy. In the meantime, it’d be a pretty big boost if guys like Robert Covington, Dario Saric, and Markelle Fultz can find their form.
