The Philadelphia 76ers are sitting at 8-5 as the team returns home from a 1-2 road trip and there is some skepticism around the team about whether this can actually work. The offense has looked discombobulated and the defense has been up-and-down throughout the early part of the season.
There is still some hope for this team, however, as they have talent all over the roster. This roster was built to win championships after coming up just short in the 2018-19 season after Kawhi Leonard broke their hearts. The additions they made were to win in the playoffs.
Coach Brett Brown believes this wholeheartedly as he stated at practice on Tuesday when asked about the offense:
It is a challenge, like when you get into ‘who are your pick-and-roll guys?’ there’s some decisions to be made. ‘Who are your pindown guys?’ This is my point. I think this team is built for April and May. I think it is certainly built for defense. It’s my job to shape it offensively and put them in positions where they can do well.
In the playoffs, the game slows down to a grind and it becomes a defensive basketball game. That is what the Sixers are built for as they come together as a team. Taking care of the offense is an issue that Brown will have to figure out, but this will be a defensive-minded group that can win in the playoffs.
The Sixers are back at home where they hope to fix their issues on both ends of the floor, but it is tough to really act as if the sky is falling or to say that this experiment has been a failure. It is only November and there is still so much more basketball left to be played. They play 82 games for a reason.
Brown added:
This is the stuff that keeps coaches up late at night. As I said to my team, if I’m not sleeping because I think we’re soft and we don’t have the capability of guarding then that’s a real sleepless night. This problem that we have, and to call it a problem would be too dramatic, is true, but to have this pre-Thanksgiving and if that’s what’s most on my mind, it’s not terrible. So we like being at home, we like being at home a lot, and we hope to resolve some of those issues along the way.
The Sixers and the New York Knicks face off on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. EST from the Wells Fargo Center. [lawrence-related id=19566,19548,19556]