Photo Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

Since the last time we did one of these posts, the Sixers have notched two wins. TWO WINS! Let’s call it a season right now because life is beautiful and this is as good as it gets. Just a short string of luck and these Sixers could be 64-18. We’re on our way.

But in reality, the last few games have shown Sixers fans with an eye towards the future a whole lot. Michael Carter-Williams, in the absence of a healthy backup, is touching the ball way more than anyone should, and Robert “Big Shot Bob” Covington is starting to look like an NBA player (almost). Things are happening. And no, no one can blame you if you aren’t watching, but here’s what you’re missing:

1) That first win was a joy to behold (and more exciting and nerve-wracking than it had any right to be). Liberty Ballers did a pretty great round-up of what it was like.

2) About that MCW thing:

Screen Shot 2014-12-08 at 11.51.29 PM

That is unhealthy and unsustainable. But in those last five games, MCW is averaging 19.6 pts, 12.2 assists and 9 rebounds. Those are ridiculous numbers, but they’ll drop when he’s not the only person ever touching the ball.

3) Before that second win, Will Leitch at Sports on Earth talked a bit about the pile-on of negative media attention the Sixers were getting, and how they deserved better:

Every time I ever read anything about the team, someone’s always typing with a sneer and snarl. The 76ers are the Tanking Tankers of Tanktown, the team supposedly ruining the league with its focus on the long-term rather than the short, the one such an aberration that the league darned-near changed its whole drafting structure, mid-stream, to stop them …

I’m not sure the 76ers are much more cynical than the Lakers, who are letting a lunatic legend amuse the masses with sideshows while they go through what Grantland’s Zach Lowe called “the most stealth tankjob in history.” I’m not sure they’re much more cynical than the Nets spending a millions on an aging roster to faux-legitimize an arena they forced on a populace that wasn’t asking for one. I’m not sure they’re any more cynical than the Marlins’ perpetual pump-and-dump strategy, or literally anything the Washington Football Team does, ever. I frankly don’t quite understand why the 76ers are the bad guys.

4) In highlight land, you can start calling K.J. McDaniels “Young Nasty Man”, because that’s levitation, holmes:

5) Big Shot Bob is coming into his own. In the four games in December, Covington is averaging 18 points while shooting 60% from three-point range and 54.3% from the floor. Look at this shot chart for December:

Shotchart_1418101428793

That’s a thing of beauty. And late in the game? Covington is 10-12 from three-point range in the fourth quarter this season.

6) With those two wins, the Sixers have vacated the 30th spot on the Power Rankings, but that probably won’t last long.

7) Much of this stretch has been missed by Tony Wroten and Alexey Shved, leaving MCW to play an insane number of minutes. But Wroten is set to return tomorrow and Shved has been practicing.

8) And we heard a lot about Furkan Aldemir and then we heard nothing about Furkan Aldemir. We know he at least had a plane ticket to Philly, but since then, all we’ve heard is this:

We just hope he’s okay.

The Sixers play another (possibly) winnable game against the Hawks in Atlanta at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow.