Sixers

Shameless Rage Bait from Boston’s “The Ringer” Ranks Sixers 10th in NBA, Celtics 4th

By Matt Schultz

Published: Sep 22nd, 2026 · 2:32 PM EDT

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The Ringer is a website founded by Bill Simmons, the sports writer/podcaster whose whole thing is being a Boston guy. That being the case, the media company’s bias for Boston sports is extreme. So extreme that I’ve always found it kind of funny. I like The Ringer. I get a kick out of Bill’s insane/old guy justifications for every Boston team being good and every Boston rival being bad.

But I do not extend that same grace to The Ringer’s employees — namely, Michael Pina. I am not a fan of Michael Pina’s basketball writing. I think Pina is actively and knowingly a troll who cranks out rage bait for clicks and interaction. This is common in internet sportswriting, of course. Pina is not special in this regard. But there’s just something about the guy that’s particularly irritating to me. Not exactly sure what it is.

He worships Boston sports in a weird, over-the-top, little-kid-level kind of way, for one. Maybe it’s that. That’s an annoying way to be.

His writing/podcasting is also completely void of humor, charisma, and interesting perspectives. Everything he says sounds like if you asked ChatGPT to make a pro-Boston take that Bill Simmons would nod his head about. That’s another thing. Could be a reason.

His troll-approach is very self-serious, too. There’s no tongue-in-cheekness about it. You know how Colin Cowherd says some wild stuff, but there’s always an undercurrent of “I’m playing a character here” going on? Pina has the opposite of whatever that is. This feels like a big part of it.

In any event, the reason I got Pina on the brain is that he wrote an NBA power ranking for The Ringer on Monday, and it is very obviously some rage bait dog shit. There’s a ton of antagonistic, incorrect stuff said in the piece, but the worst of it is that he ranked the Sixers 10th in the league and ranked the Celtics 4th.

It’s extremely bad stuff, even for a professional troll like Pina. Here’s what he had to say about the Sixers:

10. Philadelphia 76ers

Talent goes hand-in-hand with winning at the NBA’s highest level, and the Sixers probably have the most talent in the NBA. Hence, nobody should argue against their ceiling. It’s irrefutably sky high. But as I write this, several weeks before Joel Embiid, LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe (who’s quite possibly the biggest X factor in the entire league) share the floor for the first time, the abundance of questions that relate to their collective health and non-negotiable need to compromise are a fair concern. Furthermore, can they defend at an above-average level? What’s the pecking order in crunch time? Will their locker room implode if they start the season 12-12 or lose five games in a row? There are very strong personalities on this team, swaths of pride, oceanic egos. That doesn’t mean they’re doomed to point fingers if things get off to a poor start, but it does matter. There’s more pressure on these Sixers than anybody else. (For what it’s worth, James has won only three playoff series since the bubble.) Bang or bust.

I don’t even disagree all that much with his assessment here. I’m more glass-half-full than he seems to be about the Sixers defense/crunch time pecking order/ego management, but whatever. I also disagree with the idea that the Sixers have more pressure on them than any other team, but again, whatever. That’s not even a basketball opinion. That’s some lame First Take shit I don’t care about. Has nothing to do with anything.

But I digress. Overall, this breakdown isn’t utterly egregious, is what I’m saying.

What is utterly egregious is having this Sixers team — which Pina himself says probably has the most talented roster in the NBA — ranked 10th in the league behind the Lakers (ranked 9th), Pistons (7th), Raptors (6th), Rockets (5th), and, most ludicrously, the Celtics (ranked 4th). Here’s what he has to say about his beloved C’s (Pina is from Boston, by the way; forgot to mention that earlier):

4. Boston Celtics

I thought the Celtics were going to be terrible last season. In hindsight, that was foolish. They won 56 games and finished the regular season as one of the NBA’s most balanced, competent, and reliable teams despite not having their franchise superstar for all but 16 games. Assuming Jayson Tatum is back to his All-NBA self (not a given, but fair enough to presume), the 28-year-old’s presence should offset Jaylen Brown’s departure on a team that essentially replaced him with Paul George, Mitchell Robinson, and the great Mike Conley Jr. Defense, depth, athleticism, and lots and lots and lots of outside shooting are winning ingredients, all belonging to a group that happens to also be too disciplined to ever deviate beyond the periphery of their head coach’s pragmatic vision. Teams that want to beat the Celtics must do so knowing they will almost never beat themselves. 

Lot to unpack here. In short, I disagree wholeheartedly with this insanely generous read on the Celtics. Here are my counters:

• Jaylen Brown powered the Celtics to 56 wins last year by playing out of his mind, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 boards, and 5.1 assists in 71 games. The idea that his departure is cleanly offset means Pina is assuming Jayson Tatum (working back from an Achilles tear), Paul George (cooked, turning 37 this year), and Mike Conley (lol, about to be 39) can replace Jaylen’s production for 71 games. This will not happen.
• Real quick, here’s Mike Conley’s stat line from last season: 4.5 points, 2.9 assists, 1.7 rebounds on 33.5% from the field and 33.7% from three.
• The claim of having “lots and lots of outside shooting” is negated by adding Mitchell Robinson (5.7 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 40.8% FT, 0 career 3PA), who eliminates Boston’s five-out spacing. Pina’s contradicting himself there. This is going to jam up the way Boston likes to play.
• Speaking of Robinson, assuming his health for any significant stretch of time is a bad idea. Over the last three seasons, he missed 138 of 246 regular-season games (56.1%). He is always, always out.
• Also, Derrick White shot 32.7% from three last year. It looked even worse than the final number. He was a disaster beyond the arc. Every shot felt like a miss.
• “Defense, depth, athleticism, and lots and lots of outside shooting…” Quick fact check on that: In last year’s postseason, the Celtics “deep” bench shot just 33.1% from three-point range. Payton Pritchard shot 30.9% from three and 42.4% from the field. Hugo Gonzalez went scoreless in four appearances. Jordan Walsh averaged 1.7 points across seven games on 21.1% from the field and 16.7% from three. Luka Garza averaged 4.4 PPG, 1.7 RPG, and 0.9 APG… So what depth are we talking about? What athleticism? What defense? I see old guys, injured guys, and bad shooters in the C’s starting five. What the hell is Pina talking about?

For good measure, I’ll also jot down a couple counters to Pina’s claim that the Sixers are only the 10th best team in the league:

• The Sixers boast an unprecedented foursome of 20+ point-per-game scorers: Jaylen Brown (28.7 PPG), Tyrese Maxey (28.3 PPG), Joel Embiid (26.9 PPG), and LeBron James (20.9 PPG). It’s a wild amount of scoring. Pina glossed over this. It’s worth looking at those numbers.
• Tyrese has taken leaps every year he’s been in the NBA, and we could be in store for another one. He averaged 28.3 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.1 rebounds across 70 games while shooting 36.7% from three in 38 minutes per game last year. Imagine if he gets better. It very well could happen.
• VJ Edgecombe averaged 16.0 points, 5.6 boards, 4.2 assists, and 1.4 steals (not nothing!) while shooting 35.4% from 3 as a rookie. He also averaged 35 minutes per game for a coach who doesn’t play young guys. VJ is 21 years old. He’s going to be sick.
• Jaylen Brown is fresh off a career-high 28.7 points, 6.9 boards, and 5.1 assists in 71 games (47.7% FG) and finishing 6th in MVP voting. He brings elite perimeter defense, transition dominance, and a ton of wing scoring to the Sixers. The guy is an offensive force by himself, and he’s not by himself. Also, he’s out to “kill,” according to him.
•  With Brown, Maxey, and Embiid handling primary scoring, LeBron (who averaged 20.9 PPG, 7.2 APG, 6.1 RPG on 51.5% FG in 60 games) can operate as a hyper-efficient playmaker, orchestrating the offense and picking apart single coverage without having the burden to score every night.
• The Sixers actually have the depth and shooting Pina thinks the Celtics have: Anfernee Simons averaged 14.2 points per game last season while shooting 39.5% from three. Dean Wade is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league and last year shot 36.2% from three. Justin Edwards shot 37.2% from deep. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is a Sixer, too. Maybe you get something there. It could happen.

In conclusion, Pina is wrong. Good rage bait, Pina. Almost made me mad for a second there.