Among the East’s Elite

With the NBA preseason getting into full swing this week, this seems like a good time to consider the current state of the Sixers heading into the season, and how they stack up against the rest of the East. If you recall, last season ended with the Sixers sitting one game away from the Eastern Conference Finals, a position that the Sixers hadn’t even sniffed since their infamous run to the 2001 Finals. The truth is however, that the Sixers’ success in last year’s postseason masked what was in many ways a mediocre season for the 7-6. The effort put forth by last year’s team is well-noted, but beating a short-handed Chicago squad, and pushing a rapidly aging Celtics team to a seventh game in no way guaranteed success for the following season, and the front office knew this. Changes had to be made and changes were made. The Sixers now sit on one of the youngest, most athletic, and potentially explosive lineups in the League, centered around their prized pick-up of the offseason, ...