CAMDEN, N.J. — The Eastern Conference continues to get tougher for the Philadelphia 76ers. The Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics were already tough opponents sporting stars at many positions.
Now, both teams have loaded up.
While the Bucks made a huge megadeal to team Damian Lillard with Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the Celtics went out and brought in All-Star Jrue Holiday to team with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, the Sixers were unable to make a big splash.
They were hampered by the James Harden trade request and they were unable to add a star at the moment. With the team convening for media day on Monday, Joel Embiid gave his thoughts on the Bucks and the Celtics surpassing the Sixers.
“Who said they surpassed us?” asked Embiid. “We still gotta go out and compete. You can do whatever you want off the court, but you still gotta go out there and put the ball in the hole. I believe that any team that I’m on, we always gonna have a chance. We just need to be a little bit lucky. We just need to stay healthy, be healthy, and stay healthy, and as a team just come together.”
For all intents and purposes, both the Bucks and the Celtics were probably already ahead of the Sixers before each made their big moves. Milwaukee still had the main pieces from its title team in 2021 while Boston ousted Philadelphia in 2023 and made the finals in 2022.
Now, Milwaukee has added Lillard to Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton while Boston has Holiday with their two stars.
“We’ve never had consistency,” Embiid added. “Every summer has been changes here and there. So I feel like at some point, if you want to win, you need to have that consistency, and at the end that’s the next step for us. You see all the other teams. Denver just won a championship. They’ve been together for so many years. Golden State. They’ve been doing it for a long time. So you need to be consistent.”
Consistency is always a good thing. Nobody should argue that. The Sixers essentially have the same roster that won 54 games and was one win away from the Eastern Conference finals in 2023. Obviously, that was with Harden, but there are some good pieces for the Sixers going forward.
“Adding Dame to the East for sure, Celtics moving some things around getting Jrue is big, but they lost a lot, too,” added PJ Tucker. “So it’s different ways to look at it. At the end of the day, it’s gonna be so much talk right now to begin the season. You know how it goes.”
Obviously, nobody knows what will happen. That’s why they play the games. However, when considering the magnitude of the moves the Bucks and the Celtics have made combined with Philadelphia’s playoff shortcomings in the past, it’s easy to think that both Milwaukee and Boston are in front of Philadelphia at the moment.
“It’s always movement and the hype of certain teams, surprise teams, it’s going to be a roller coaster ride for the first few months,” Tucker added. “So you just kind of get on board, work hard to build with the team, and figure it out, but I think everybody in the East, in that top, eight-to-10 think they got a shot at coming out of the East.”
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