Not sure you feel the same way, but I’ve needed an entire week to decompress from the Phillies and Union playoff runs before turning attention to the Flyers and Sixers. I just can’t bring myself to turn the TV on, especially with the Eagles sitting at 8-0 and also having been in front of a computer every single day since the Phillies first squared off with the Cardinals back on Friday, October 7th. We all deserve a one-week vacation (or more) before shifting into full-time basketball and hockey mode.

Anthony will get back to posting Flyers stuff soon enough, but since I’m the Sixers guy I’m obligated to write about a 5-7 team that has thus far disappointed and looks like they’re giving less than maximum effort out there, at least based on my admittedly half-hearted morning DVR rewatches. It’s very easy to say that it’s November basketball and no one gives a shit, but this is the worst start they’ve had through 12 games going back to 2016-17, when they began that transitional post-Process year with a 2-10 record en route to a 28-54 finish.

The thing about this year is that it was supposed to be different. The Ben Simmons saga was over. James Harden was healthy and settled. Joel Embiid got a needed break. P.J. Tucker was added for grit, Tyrese Maxey was a huge bright spot, and the bench was bolstered with the likes of De’Anthony Melton and Danuel House. Yet here we are 12 games in and getting quotes like this:

We can go into a whole sidebar topic here about Joel Embiid and leadership, maturity, passive-aggressiveness, or whatever, but the thing I keep coming back to is that the Sixers are exhausting. Everything feels like a slog with this team, the expectations, Doc Rivers’ favorability (or lack thereof), and the drama of years past still lingering. It’s almost like the inability to get past the second round has created this cumulative malaise that results in the current basketball ecosystem being “off,” for lack of a better word. It’s hard to enjoy individual games and performances simply for the fact that we’ve been waiting five years for this team to really play up to its potential. That’s resulted in a droplet form of malaise that permeates the Wells Fargo Center and can’t be removed by the building’s new air filtration system. It’s like a years-long carpet stain just sort of remaining there even though you sprayed an entire bottle of Resolve on it.

There are on-court things that raise hustle red flags, like opponent transition points, loose balls gathered, and shots contested. You connect the dots on the things the Sixers are doing poorly, and it seems to suggest that the effort is not there. You wouldn’t expect NBA teams give 110% on November 10th, but you have to do enough to be competitive and win. Pacing yourself is pointless if it results in losses. Throw in a lumbering and boring offense on top of that, and everything just feels laborious with this team. Opponents get easy buckets left and right while the Sixers have to work their ass off on the offensive end.


But of course the Doc Rivers topic is the biggest one. There are a lot of Joe Girardi parallels. So many questions though. Would Daryl Morey pull the trigger? Is it even his call? How does ownership feel? Is Sam Cassell the guy, or is he too close to Doc? Should we go the Rob Thomson route and find a random Canadian to take us to the promised land? It’s getting murky, and quickly. Yeah, Harden is injured, but they weren’t exactly lighting the world on fire when he was healthy, so it seems like something has to give, and hopefully soon, before they slide further below .500.