Even after Tuesday night's debacle – 41 minutes of excellent two-way basketball, followed by a seven-minute cataclysm in a heartbreaking loss to the Chicago Bulls – there is palpable excitement about what the 2025-26 Sixers have been so far and what they could become.
Jared McCain made his season debut on Tuesday night, marking his return to NBA action after more than 10 months on the sidelines. Nine-time All Star Paul George should join him shortly. Joel Embiid is playing more minutes as the year goes on, and the hope is that eventually his minutes restriction will be lifted.
5-2 does not look quite as nice as 6-1, especially when getting set to face a terrific Cleveland Cavaliers team the day after losing a winnable game. But the Sixers entered the season expected to produce more misery and have instead ignited hope.
Let's see where our friends in the national media stand on the Sixers:
NBA.com: 15 (+3 from last week)
John Schuhmann's modest ranking is easy to understand; in addition to the obvious issues facing the Sixers there are still some more subtle ones he points out, such as their poor shot quality. But he provides a remarkable stat regarding the Sixers' early-season penchant for making comebacks:
"Three of the Sixers’ first four wins came after they trailed by double-digits in the fourth quarter. They were 0-46 when trailing by at least 10 points in the fourth quarter last season and are almost halfway to the record for the most such wins (seven) in the 30 seasons for which we have play-by-play data." [NBA.com]
The Sixers clearly have a resilience about them; they know they have what it takes to get back into any game with their tremendous pace and plentiful collection of guards who can dribble, pass and shoot.
MORE: Tyrese Maxey living at the line, guessing Joel Embiid's schedule and more
ESPN: 6 (+3 from last week)
ESPN's writers go through the most impactful newcomer on each team. For the Sixers, the answer is quite obvious: VJ Edgecombe. Tim Bontemps lays out the case:
"There have been few newcomers to make a bigger impact with their team this season than Edgecombe, the sensational rookie guard out of Baylor whom Philadelphia snagged with the third pick in June's NBA draft. Edgecombe is making all of the pain of last season's miserable campaign for the 76ers worth it, as he entered Tuesday night's game averaging 20.3 points — miles ahead of anyone else in the class — while shooting over 49% overall and 42% from 3." [ESPN]
It cannot be overstated, of course, how enormous a stroke of luck it was for this organization to land the No. 3 overall pick, mainly because at that point the primary alternative was nothing. The Sixers nearly lost their top-six protected first-round pick entirely, but instead of conveying the pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder the Sixers ended up landing a legitimate franchise cornerstone.
MORE: Is Jared McCain now a trade candidate?
The Athletic: 7 (+7 from last week)
Law Murray is far more optimistic about what the Sixers have pulled off so far this year, but points out that Sixers head coach Nick Nurse has been riding his best players to an extent that is likely not sustainable. It is why, he points out, the upcoming return of George is critical:
"They need George to take some of the perimeter workload, because they have three of the top four minutes gas guzzlers in the league in Maxey (league-leading 42.4 per game), Edgecombe (second at 38.9) and Oubre (fourth at 38.1 per game)." [The Athletic]
It is hard to keep Maxey and Edgecombe on the bench, but getting Maxey inside of 40 minutes per game and Edgecombe closer to 35 minutes each night would go a long way – and should be easy to pull off with McCain now back in the mix and George joining him soon.
MORE: Kyle Lowry may be 'old as hell,' but he means everything to his teammates
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