After an exciting but 18-win season last year, the Sixers took one step forward by drafting Jahlil Okafor and two steps back by losing Joel Embiid for another year. The fan base seems to be genuinely psyched for this season, but they expect some kind of real growth. But not to worry, says the Sixers’ own Houston Jerami Grant, because they’re gonna try really, really hard.

In an interview with SLAM Magazine, Grant said what fans can expect from the Sixers this year:

“You can expect us not to quit. Even though we’re not the most talented team, at the moment, or we might be extremely talented, but just extremely young at the same time; I definitely think everyone can expect us to come out and play every last minute of all 48 hard. I think that our fans appreciate. Even though we’re not winning that many games, as they would like, every night we’re coming out and giving it our all. Going forward, I think that’s something that you can’t really teach older teams. Going forward and as we get older, I definitely think that’s going to give us an edge.”

They’re good enough, they’re smart enough, and doggone it, people like them.

Snarky headline aside, the Sixers’ refusal to give up in (most) games was what made them exciting to watch on a regular basis, even if you knew they weren’t going to pull off many victories. But we’re one more year into the plan, and some exciting new pieces have been added to the maturing young core of the team. Effort is great, and it’s very important, but it’s gotta start turning into wins. The mentality is great though.