The OFFICIAL Sixers Season Preview: Roundtable of THE Takes

The most anticipated Sixers season in God knows how long is finally upon us. Our staff knows that being three seasons removed from winning 10 games and now playing on opening night in the NBA, this is no time for anything but the most bold and precise takes:

 

The Official 2017-18 Philadelphia 76ers Hot Takes:

Set 1:

Take 1: Joel Embiid is going to win MVP.
LeBron won’t play enough or win enough games to win MVP. Anthony Davis is going to be a 6-8 seed. Celtics have too many guys. No one on the Warriors will win because they’ll cancel each other out. Harden just got his MVP he should have won two years ago. And I have a better chance of winning MVP than Russell Westbrook. That leaves Embiid who is poised to have his first season coming off of a healthy offseason. In the preseason, Embiid has looked unstoppable. Him and Drew Hanlen worked primarily this offseason on “bully-ball.” I fully expect Embiid to carry that over to the regular season. Also, on a night-in-night-out basis, who in the East can really control Embiid? Horford for sure, outside of him? Dwight Howard? Andre Drummond? LOL. Hassan Whiteside?? Please. The point is that there’s no one in the East, outside of Horford that has a chance at stopping Embiid every time out.
Take 2: By the end of the season, the Sixers won’t be able to play Markelle Fultz.
Listen, I hope I’m wrong, but Fultz doesn’t have it. What does every great guard have on the offensive side of the ball? A swagger and a confidence that they’re unguardable. Fultz just doesn’t have that. He spends a majority of the time looking like he’s trying to not step on the toes of Embiid or Simmons. For the Sixers to be good with Fultz on the floor with Simmons and Embiid, they NEED him to shoot the three consistently. He just won’t do it. Until he develops some kind of killer instinct on the offensive side of the ball he’s not going to be able to play when the Sixers are going to making a playoff push.

Take 3: The Sixers turn into an elite defensive unit.

I don’t know what the Sixers have planned but both Embiid and Brown have hinted at a change in defensive philosophy this offseason. Will it mean more switching? I don’t know but Simmons, Covington and Embiid are an amazing defensive core, throw in a, hopefully playable, Markelle Fultz, who’s length will challenge guards at the point of attack and you have a defensive that can be elite.

Set 2:
Take 1: The Sixers are Flying Past the over/under of 54.5 Wins
Vegas has set the Sixers over/Under at 54.5 and FiveThirtyEight has their win prediction at 53. The Sixers hitting the over is the biggest lock since Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande calling off their engagement. This was a team that was under .500 into January LAST season. Then, still ended up with 52 wins. Last season started unsurprisingly with no rhythm and a lot of turmoil. The Sixers coming into THIS season reminds me a lot of the Los Angeles Rams this year. Last season, it was so obvious the Rams had incredible talent, just needed some time to put it all together. They came into this year with their young core still in tact (and healthy), the same coaching staff, and more experience. Who’s that sound like? And here’s the other thing: there’s a lot of shitty NBA teams this year. Like extremely bad. Brett Brown’s squad plays a total of three playoff teams from a year ago in the first three weeks (Celtics, Bucks, Raptors). Come into the season with some stability, then beat the teams you’re supposed to beat. Watch the trajectory go far over 54 wins.
Take 2: Jayson Tatum Will Be Confirmed NOT a Superstar When Markelle Fultz Averages More PPG Than Him

This magazine cover was a terrible hot take and my hot take just stems from that. It’s like a video of dominos falling. One domino falls, in this case it’s calling Jayson Tatum a superstar, and then after a million dominos fall, you get to the end. The end in this case is me concocting this take that Tatum is NOT a superstar and Markelle Fultz WILL average more points per game than him. This take is two fold. Firstly, it’s a numbers game. Tatum averaged 13.9PPG while playing the entire season without Gordon Hayward and a large portion of the season without Kyrie Irving. With those guys back, you figure Tatum’s shot attempts take a hit. Secondly, Fultz means more to the Sixers offense than Tatum does to the Celtics’. The Sixers offensive success will be more dependent on Markelle Fultz’ than the Celtics offense will be with Tatum. They have other formidable weapons they will rely on. The Sixers are benching one of the best three point shooters in history to give Fultz every attempt possible to succeed. Numbers game. Now, I realize that I have cursed us and Tatum will drop 32 tonight while Fultz goes 2-9 on FGA. I apologize in advance but we will settle for nothing less than scolding takes.

Set 3:

Take 1: Ben Simmons Gets More Triple Doubles than Russ

Once the sixers get wise and start JJ and bench Dario, moving Ben to forward, he’ll have a million more opportunities for rebounds. Plus, he’ll still be making his fancy assists behind the back and off the backboard and he’ll put up so many triple doubles, none of us will be able to count that high.

Take 2: Landry Shamet Will be That Dude Off the Bench

Number 23 will surely be a difference maker for the Sixers this year. Only it will be underneath “Shamet” instead of that other guy. Marco who? Landry is going to be that lockdown three guy off the bench and maybe he’ll get his foot behind the line.

Take 3: Three All-Stars and Two First Team All Defense Players

Tell me I’m off base here…you can’t, nerd. Ben and Jo will obviously get the All-Star nod there’s no reason Markelle won’t position himself for it especially since I’ll vote the max amount of times then make 20 new email address and twitter accounts. Cov will be even better on defense this year giving him the honor of first team again and either Ben, Jo, or even Kelle with his surprising blocks could see themselves there.

By Aidan Powers | October 16, 2018