Sense of self-belief finally taking hold with Sixers
WASHINGTON - As the 76ers began their 38th game of the season here Saturday night, just exactly how evident is the change in attitude for a team that has not won more than 19 games since the 2012-13 season?
WASHINGTON - As the 76ers began their 38th game of the season here Saturday night, just exactly how evident is the change in attitude for a team that has not won more than 19 games since the 2012-13 season?
It is something the Sixers' longest-tenured player has never experienced before.
"This is the first time that we've had, no disrespect to other teams, but we have an actual team," said Nerlens Noel, the lone holdover from the 2013-14 team. "We have an actual team with the right pieces in the right spots being able to play off each other."
Indeed, the Sixers took a 12-25 record into their matchup here at the Verizon Center against the Washington Wizards. They were riding their first three-game winning streak since they won four straight from Dec. 29, 2013 to Jan. 4, 2014. The Sixers had also won five of their last six games for the first time since winning six out of seven in early 2012.
The Sixers now have a big personality in rookie center Joel Embiid, an NBA All-Star Game candidate. They have what coach Brett Brown calls a "kamikaze marine" in point guard T.J. McConnell. You also have Noel's rim protection as the reserve center and wings Robert Covington and Gerald Henderson flying around on defense.
The Sixers will also tell you that reserve power forward Ersan Ilyasova is an underrated defensive player. And the coaching staff swears that Dario Saric is a Philadelphian inside and out in relation to his toughness and his edge.
And we haven't even seen what first-overall pick Ben Simmons can do yet.
"The pieces are there to play with the spirit that reflects the city's personality," Brown said. "We haven't wavered once in what our goal is to build this. I think slowly you can point to some subtle examples, albeit only a handful of games.
"But it's pointing the direction we want to take this program."
Now, let's not get it twisted. The Sixers are still several seasons away from being a serious contender. They might even have a tough time winning two of their next eight games, against the Milwaukee Bucks (Monday and Jan. 25), Toronto Raptors (Wednesday), Portland Trail Blazers (Friday), Atlanta Hawks (Saturday), Los Angeles Clippers (Jan. 24), Houston Rockets (Jan. 27), and Chicago Bulls (Jan. 29).
The Rockets (31-11), Raptors (26-13), and Clippers (28-14) are among the league's elite teams. The Hawks (22-17) and Bucks (20-18) are the fourth and fifth best squads in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls (20-21) and Trail Blazers (18-24) are the only teams the Sixers will face during this stretch with losing records.
But there's a swagger surrounding this team that hasn't been visible in recent seasons.
"My job, here, I've been trying to change the culture," Embiid said. "I think people are starting to see that. We are winning games, and hopefully the way people view the Sixers hopefully changes."
The 7-foot-2, 270-pound center had a firsthand view of what things were like the last two seasons. The team selected him with the third overall pick in 2014, but he was sidelined during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons with surgeries on his right foot.
"The word associated with the Sixers was basically tanking," Embiid said. "I don't think [any of the players were] trying to do that. The roster just wasn't good enough."
As Embiid pointed out, the Sixers played hard. They just were unable to gain victories.
"People got to get away from that word," Embiid said of tanking, "and see that the Sixers are now winning and thinking about playoffs."
As a result, the Sixers finally have a sense of self-belief.