A new beginning is followed by a disaster! The 76ers new season is still full of question marks, but at least it won t be worse

Translator's note: The original text was published in The Ringer, and the views in the text have nothing to do with the translator and the platform.

Andre Drummond was stunned when he first walked into the Philadelphia 76ers training hall this summer. The veteran, who played for 13 years, returned to the team for his second season and was late for foot rehabilitation treatment. He thought he could take it slowly. "I thought we were just running tactics and looking for rhythm," Drummond said. Then he caught a glimpse of the training match - his body collided violently, his elbows flew across, but he couldn't hear a whistle.

It turns out that the 76ers instructed the referees in training to try to swear as little as possible.

"I was tragically abused on the court," Drummond said. "But seeing some players on the team playing like this, I think, 'Yes, this is exactly what we need. ' "

The core is still the same, the method is innovative. This can be said to be the motto of the 76ers this year. So far, everyone has devoted themselves. There are talks about new upgrades of "standards" and "culture". The management hyped the younger roster and a freshly-released medical team. Head coach Nick Nass praised the energy he felt in the gym. The players praised VJ Edgecom's athleticism, Terrys Maxi's leadership and second-year guard Jared McCain's desire to win. Best of all, even Joel Embiid smiled. He said that he "feels pretty good" physically and added that he also "feels better" mentally.

As the training camp unfolded, the atmosphere in Philadelphia was quite good. But then again, we have also walked this path before. As one person close to the team said: "All this is good, but can this team really achieve any kind of success under all the interference and uncertainty that Embiid brings?" Pessimists might point out that the 76ers star is still secretive about his health. Can he catch up with the opening match? After he played only 58 games in the past two seasons in a total of 164 regular season games, how many games he plans to play this season? "Honestly, the situation can be difficult to predict sometimes," Embiid himself said so.

If this has not made the 76ers fans feel like "reappearing yesterday", then there is another star who is the same. In Paul George, who underwent arthroscopy in July after a left knee injury during a training session, the Sixers have the second former All-Star player to recover. Although his absence is not as mysterious as Embiid, it is equally frustrating. On the media day, he said he was not ready yet "started to resume training in full " which would probably make the 76ers fans chill. "All I can do is focus on coming day after day, day after day," he said. Neither he nor the team official have given his return schedule yet.

In addition, McCain is now missing for four to six weeks due to a tear of the right ulnar collateral ligament of his right thumb in his most recent training - perhaps a victim of the intensified physical confrontation? ——This means that the 76ers will once again start training camp with a young pillar player recovering from injuries. All of this doesn't seem like a good sign for a team looking to rebound from an awkward 24-58 season.

However, despite this, there is still a clear optimism throughout the organization. It’s not the kind of arrogant last year, but it’s more like a kind of “low-key pride” that arises after feeling that something has really been diagnosed.

"We realize that we are in the 'proving ourselves' stage," management said at Media Day. "I don't think it's important to see what expectations we are talking about here right now. "

The real question now is whether the Sixers really have a chance in the weakened Eastern Conference. Or put it another way: is a team formed around Embiid and George still worth taking seriously—or is their window to compete for the championship closed?

The following is a brief review of the development of things to this point...

After being eliminated in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, the Sixers were able to use some "no use" salary space to attract George from the Los Angeles Clippers. It requires a four-year, $212 million contract, which is a huge financial risk for a 34-year-old player, but the move has been well received. George, an elite all-around forward, is recognized as the number one free agent in the market. He seems to be the perfect guy to be placed around Maxi and Embiid, both of whom also signed long-term contracts before the start of the season. The championship core that the team has been chasing for a long time seems to be in place. The Sixers talked about their plan to "skip" in the regular season during the preseason, as if the playoff journey was taken for granted, entering the 2024-25 regular season with the league's third-highest championship odds.

Then what? "A bottom-down season," George described it as a reflection of last season. The problems are broad and far-reaching. The team formed a supporting cast (Reggie Jackson, Caleb Martin) is old and slow. Nas' tactical system, especially his pressure-oriented defense, failed to work. George missed half a season with various injuries; and when he came on the court, he looked more like a bystander than a star, averaging 16.2 points per game was his lowest since the Pacers' sophomore.

Nevertheless, if it weren't for Embiid's unstable health and flawed ways of doing things, the Sixers might have survived it—or at least avoided being a laughing stock.

"This organization is built around someone who doesn't trust anyone and prefers to be alone," said a former employee of 76 people. This may work when that person can play Chamberlain-like data.

Maybe everything will go well, and next month, Stephen A-Smith and Perkins will debate whether the 76ers are genuine. Maybe none of this happened, and by January, the team really decided to turn. Perhaps the 76ers will be in the middle and the future will be unpredictable. The best thing a team can do is learn from the past. 76 people said they had done so. The question is not whether they have learned their lessons, but whether it is too late.