76ers 2025-2026 Season: The Rise of Skywalker (Thread 1)

[the_process]

We could win a championship. All we need is...

* Everyone to be healthy in the playoffs
* Healthy Embiid to show only a 'normal' falloff for his age. If we see that, he's still top 15 in the league - maybe top 10.
* PG to still be a fringe All-Star player when healthy. Or at least shouting distance of that level.
* Out of McCain, Maxey, VJ, and Grimes... see three of them make a noticeable improvement on their game. At their ages, growth is still expected, so expecting growth from 3 out of 4 is not out of the question. The 4th (unless it's Maxey) could actually be injured as long as the other 3 show improvement
* Some luck. All of the above only makes a contender - not even close to being the favorite. We'd still need to have some luck in the playoffs.

None of those are totally out of the question, but many of them are well below 50/50 propositions. We really need to hit on all of them... which even then only makes us a contender, not a favorite. All together, I'd give it a 10-15% chance of the Sixers being the in the conversation come playoff time. Less than 2% chance of actually winning. But not zero.

No. Just no. Look at the mental gymnastics you just ran through to get to less than 2%.

It's zero. It's ok to let go.

[FlyingArrow]

My mental gymnastics line up pretty well with the odds-makers, who have us as 12th most likely to win the championship. Sixers are +3500 right now, which is a break-even bet if the Sixers have a 2.78% chance of winning. I don't think our chances are that high, but it's in the ballpark.

Contrast it with the Wizards and Jazz, who are +100000, which implies a 0.1% chance of winning.

It's fine for you to think it's zero, but it's not. We'll have to just agree to disagree, because the most likely outcome is that we are injured once again, Embiid looks like he's 35 instead of 31, and we exit in round 1 or 2... without even looking competitive in our eventual losing series. That's probably what will happen, but it doesn't mean our chances are zero right now.

[Peak Brunson]

If anything, the only way Sixers would have a chance to win the championship, albeit a very small chance, is if Embiid is actually NOT healthy. We know how it goes with him. Death, taxes and Embiid not getting past 2nd round.

[FlyingArrow]

If anything, the only way Sixers would have a chance to win the championship, albeit a very small chance, is if Embiid is actually NOT healthy. We know how it goes with him. Death, taxes and Embiid not getting past 2nd round.

We have very rarely had a healthy Embiid in the playoffs, and I think we're much better with him on the court than without. But I do think we're better off if he gets injured early. The chances of him being healthy for 82 games plus the playoffs are near zero. We have far better chances if he goes down in October or November for about 3 or 4 months. Come back with just enough time to get back into game shape (well, as close to it as he gets). That shorter timeline near the end of the season minimizes the chances for another injury.

[Peak Brunson]

If anything, the only way Sixers would have a chance to win the championship, albeit a very small chance, is if Embiid is actually NOT healthy. We know how it goes with him. Death, taxes and Embiid not getting past 2nd round.

We have very rarely had a healthy Embiid in the playoffs, and I think we're much better with him on the court than without. But I do think we're better off if he gets injured early. The chances of him being healthy for 82 games plus the playoffs are near zero. We have far better chances if he goes down in October or November for about 3 or 4 months. Come back with just enough time to get back into game shape (well, as close to it as he gets). That shorter timeline near the end of the season minimizes the chances for another injury.

Yeah, Embiid is undefeated when healthy!

[76ciology]

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Under the radar = always overperform
Too much noise = always underperform

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[76ciology]

Biid-Bona line-up =

[Sixteen]

That's so awesome to see. Embiid's presence along with positive body language does good things for this team.

[HotelVitale]

If anything, the only way Sixers would have a chance to win the championship, albeit a very small chance, is if Embiid is actually NOT healthy. We know how it goes with him. Death, taxes and Embiid not getting past 2nd round.

Yeah dumb point. Embiid isn’t a good 4th quarter playoff guy and has lots of other flaws that keep him from being a great star, but he obviously still helps winning and the curse thing is stupid. If the Sixers didn’t miss like 15 open 3s in the last 20 minutes of game 6 a few years ago against Boston, if Kawhi’s shot rims out (and they won OT), if the Sixers defense didnt blow a huge lead to ATL in game 5 (I think?) then Embiid is the same Embiid and he’d be in the 2nd round. Sixers and Embiid have been good enough to get there but it just didn’t work out, and Embiid wasn’t like the sole or overriding reason for that.

[76ciology]

I think Nurse’s system now allows the team to perform at a high level even without Embiid. The issue before was that the offense was too heliocentric around him, but Nurse seems intent on building a more balanced attack that doesn’t just rely on the Maxey–Embiid duo. Defensively, we’re seeing more lineups with two or even three bigs, spreading the defensive load across the frontcourt instead of having one anchor surrounded by tweeners. In that sense, it feels like both the roster and the overall scheme have been built to function effectively even in Embiid’s absence.

Ideally, we can build and run a team capable of “Indiana Pacers” our way into the Finals, relying on pace, movement, and depth, in case Embiid ends up missing the playoffs or he suit up spiritually absent in a do or die game. Im not sure how successful will it be but it sounds good on paper.

[Kolkmania]

Really awesome to see Embiid on the court. That's much earlier than I anticipated and it doesn't feel like a forced showcasing to keep fans engaged?

If Embiid really gets to 90% or so of his peak performance, then I think this roster can certainly go for a top 4 seed. Normally that wouldn't excite me much, but we can pair that competitive spirit with the development of Maxey, VJ and McCain. So even if we lose, there's still plenty of things to look/root for.

[M2J]

I think Nurse’s system now allows the team to perform at a high level even without Embiid. The issue before was that the offense was too heliocentric around him, but Nurse seems intent on building a more balanced attack that doesn’t just rely on the Maxey–Embiid duo. Defensively, we’re seeing more lineups with two or even three bigs, spreading the defensive load across the frontcourt instead of having one anchor surrounded by tweeners. In that sense, it feels like both the roster and the overall scheme have been built to function effectively even in Embiid’s absence.

Ideally, we can build and run a team capable of “Indiana Pacers” our way into the Finals, relying on pace, movement, and depth, in case Embiid ends up missing the playoffs or he suit up spiritually absent in a do or die game. Im not sure how successful will it be but it sounds good on paper.

Nurses system is a good system, and perfect for the Joel Maxey combo.... It's relied on feeding the mid post and allowing a player from there to work with off ball guards. He took Kyle and Demar off ball more to play around siakam and ibaka and later put gasol there. Problem with this team last year was they didn't have a player that could make decisions from the middle without Joel or George playing.

My problem with nurse was that he was so hesitant to adjust the system to just play faster with the athleticism and guards

[eyeatoma]

If anything, the only way Sixers would have a chance to win the championship, albeit a very small chance, is if Embiid is actually NOT healthy. We know how it goes with him. Death, taxes and Embiid not getting past 2nd round.

Go away

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[Negrodamus]

Actively avoiding Embiid scrimmage clips to prevent myself from getting hurt.

[Sixersftw]

Actively avoiding Embiid scrimmage clips to prevent myself from getting hurt.

Its coming. Like all of us, you are but one DX crotch chop away from being all the way in.

For 10 years our collective mental health has been in the palm of one giant Cameroonian millionaire's hand.

[Jailblazers7]

I’m back to all in after seeing Joel play again and Nurse talking about Embiid/Bona lineups with Bona at the 5.

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[Slacktard]

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Return of the King!

lol. The best seats I ever had for an NBA game were like a few rows off the mid-center and it happened to be Hip Hop's like 1st anniversary or 2nd anniversary or something so I forget if it was billed like that or as a 'birthday' like the Phillies do with the Phanatics.

I never heard a mascot get booed so much.