76ers Season Preview, Predictions: Just behind the East’s best

For a Philadelphia 76ers team that was looking for the final pieces of a potential championship puzzle, a dormant offseason doesn’t necessarily do much to instill hope that the franchise’s championship drought will end this season.

The 76ers are coming off a season in which they were the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, but yet again, couldn’t make it past the second round of the playoffs.

All offseason, the talk was that Ben Simmons would be shipped off in a blockbuster deal to provide the necessary pieces to not only further unlock Joel Embiid’s MVP-caliber play but to make Philadelphia an unstoppable force rival to the Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference.

Simmons, however, is back after demanding a trade and vowing that he would never play in Philadelphia again. Yet the 76ers were unable to find a suitable trade partner given the issues in his game that other teams seemingly can’t get over in order to give up a king’s ransom.

So, we could see Simmons back with Embiid, as Sixers brass remains hopeful that the 25-year-old will suit back up this season.

That doesn’t change the fact that he’s become a weak link despite his All-Star status and stellar defense. The 76ers are still in need of a point guard to properly stretch the floor and Simmons’ inability to improve his mid-range and three-point game makes his game and the team’s offense, at times, predictable.

Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben SimmonsBill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

So, the 76ers find themselves heading into the 2021-22 season still a step behind the likes of the Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks with an eerily similar starting five (if Simmons plays) — which likely was going to be the case due to the salary-cap crunch they were facing.

But their hopes of contending for a championship will continue to rely on Embiid, who had his finest campaign yet as a pro last year, averaging 28.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. Should he replicate those numbers this year, the 76ers will be near the top of the East — but they still have a ways to go in order to take that next step as a legitimate Finals contender.