Basketball is back.

We’re kicking off the NBA season with Sixers vs. Celtics on PRIME TIME NATIONAL TELEVISION, and no matter what happens tonight, you know the takes are going to be hot.

Everyone is going to have an opinion on Markelle Fultz and Brett Brown and Ben Simmons. Some of the takes will be good, more will be horrendous, and others will be neutral and pragmatic, which is what I’m going for. I’d even suggest that pragmatism IS a hot take in 2018, but that’s another column for another time.

More importantly, we’re going to have game footage to break down and analyze, and real quotes from real games. As much as I love preseason basketball, it’s time to get on with it and see what the Sixers actually have this year, as they kick it off against the Eastern Conference preseason favorite Boston Celtics, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs about five months ago.

I did the podcast with Russ last night and likened last season to a “gap year” one takes before or after college. You’re hitchhiking across America or backpacking in Kyrgyzstan, trying to find yourself and figure out what you want to do with your life. In that regard, 2017-2018 was a bridge connecting the end of the Process era to the beginning of something new and exciting. 52 wins was not what anybody expected, and at the end of the day I think most Sixers fans were more than happy with a second round playoff appearance, even if they were initially disappointed with the Celtics’ series loss.

It’s different this year. A second-round exit isn’t going to get it done. Anything short of the conference finals is a disappointment. Anything short of a top-three finish is a disappointment. Markelle Fultz coming out and failing to seek his shot would be a disappointment.

I know a portion of fans felt let down by the offseason because LeBron James, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard all went to other teams. Turns out LeBron and PG were never coming here in the first place and the asking price for Kawhi was too high, so the Sixers stood pat, improved the bench, and decided to run it back with a 52-win team. Even if one of those three players had come to Philly, you STILL needed to see internal growth and development from Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Markelle Fultz. Adding a high-priced free agent was not an automatic solution to the problems that lost you the Boston series, but a complementary move that would theoretically put you over the hump and into the NBA finals.

What the Sixers have right now is good enough, and here’s what I need to see from every player and the head coach if this squad is going to reach the NBA finals:

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