The Sixers have more than a dozen nationally televised games scheduled for 2017-18. They a season ticket waiting list for the first time in more than a decade and have been the subject of a bevy of optimistic predictions.
And now, even ormer Sixers’ great and TNT basketball commentator Charles Barkley is drinking “The Process” Kool Aid.
“I’d be totally shocked and disappointed if the Sixers don’t make the playoffs,” Barkley said Monday at Eagles training camp, where he was attending with Billy Cunningham as a guest of the team. “The Sixers are going to make the playoffs. If they’re healthy, I don’t see any way they don’t make the playoffs. I love [Joel] Embiid, Ben Simmons, he has a bright future. They have Markelle Fultz, [Dario] Saric should have been rookie of the year.”
Barkley, who is an Auburn alum and a big football fan, watched the Eagles and Dolphins compete in the first of two joint practices Monday — commenting that he thinks it gets boring when teams practice against themselves constantly and thinks it is a good idea for the NFL to start mixing it up. He also spoke high praise for Philly’s other favorite team.
“I have been here since 1984,” Barkely, a former fifth overall pick, said. “It’s the first place I ever lived that had a pro franchise. Coming from Alabama, we didn’t have that. One thing I realize is no matter how much success the Phillies and Sixers have, this is a football town. I have always rooted for the Eagles.
“Eagles and Sixers, if youre a Philadelphia fan you have to be really excited about the next 10 years.”
And his scouting report for the Eagles?
“Everybody is excited about Carson [Wentz],” Barkely said. “He had a good rookie year and they went out and got him some more weapons. It’s going to be close for the playoffs. It’s a tough division but they have a chance.”
