They tend to be one of the more talked-about teams in the NBA, just usually for all the wrong reasons. Inevitably, something tragic or comic (or both) happens, and everyone shakes their heads, has a good laugh and then waits for the next time they trip themselves up and faceplant, which often doesn't take very long. The run-up this time has been different.
The Sixers are about to begin one of their most anticipated seasons in recent memory. For the first time in a long time, there is promise. In the NBA's annual general manager survey, the Sixers received the most votes for having the best offseason.
They received the second-most votes to win a vastly improved and much deeper Eastern Conference, trailing only the Knicks, the defending champions. And they were the only team other than the Spurs, Thunder and Knicks to receive a vote to win it all. That says quite a bit about the expectations surrounding this team.
So do their championship odds, tied with the Knicks (+1000 at FanDuel) and behind only the Thunder (+240) and Spurs (+270). That's the sort of elite company Philly is expected to keep after signing arguably the greatest player ever in LeBron James, and trading for Jaylen Brown coming off the best regular season of his career. But of all the things that have been said so far about this year's version of a previously star-crossed franchise now simply laden with stars, Joel Embiid's take on the situation was perhaps the most telling.
The oft-injured Sixers center has seen some stuff in his 10 NBA seasons, very little of it good, a lot of it ranging from frustrating to deeply disappointing. Technically, he's been in the league for 12 years, but he completely missed the first two seasons due to injury. That's obviously become something of a theme.
Over the last three seasons, the former MVP has missed 150 games. Embiid's rash of health issues tends to pop up at the worst times, particularly around the playoffs. He's had a fractured orbital bone (twice), torn meniscus (twice), torn thumb ligament, and a bout with Bell's Palsy.
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