The Philadelphia 76ers have constructed perhaps the most talented team they've had since, well, the last time they won the NBA Championship in 1983. Getting Jaylen Brown in what many believe was a lopsided deal was one thing, but now, they've added LeBron James for pennies.
Adding those two to a team that has Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe creates an extremely talented starting five. The only downside is that we kind of similar things about one of the most infamous Celtics teams everL the 2018-19 season.
The prevailing narrative was that healthy Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward were being added to a team that were mere minutes from making the NBA Finals. To think of all that talent assembled surely meant an NBA Finals berth was coming?
Except it wasn't, and without going into too much detail, it was clear why. Any typical Celtics fan will say Kyrie, and while that's not untrue, the overall problem was that the players' agendas outweigh the team's. Hayward and Jayson Tatum admitted this years later.
Which brings us to the Sixers. Let me preface this by saying that anyone in the Sixers' shoes would have done what they've done. They had the chance to get Jaylen Brown after his best season as a pro while only having to give up Paul George and two first-round picks, then got James for much less than what he's worth.
On top of that, they brought in old friend Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade. That's a pretty fantastic offseason, but that's a lot of talent and not a lot of guys who help along the margins. That sounds a lot like that 2018-19 Celtics.
No matter what adjustments Stevens tried to make, nothing consistently worked. In fact, the only change that proved somewhat helpful was benching Brown and Hayward for Smart and Morris. Why did that work? Because Smart and Morris were role players who wouldn't demand as many touches (as odd that sounds, knowing how they played), they fit better.
The Sixers have undeniable talent with players who need their touches. Basketball is not played in a vaccuum, but there's only ball to go around between Brown, James, Embiid, Maxey, and Edgecombe. If Philadelphia can find a formula that works, that's great, but too much talent has proven to be a problem.
Not every time, but the 2018-19 Celtics are legitimate proof of this.
Asking Brown to do less has been a problem before
Even before Boston traded him, there was a growing narrative that Brown wanted his own team. This coming season, he's going to be in an even lesser role. Have I mentioned the 2018-19 Celtics in this article? I hope I did, because if there was one player whose stock fell the hardest from that team, it's Brown (Hayward had the excuse of recovering from a traumatic injury).
He was so bad being paired with Irving, Hayward, Tatum, and Al Horford, that he was put into the second unit and was only re-inserted when Smart got injured just before the playoffs started. As odd as it sound, being relegated to more of a 3&D wing proved harder for him than to being the second option like he was the previous season.
He will be asked to do a similar role. Yeah, he's definitely gotten better since 2019, but Brown does better when asked to do more. In fact, he tends to do much worse when asked to do less. After playing the biggest role of his career, he's now going to play his smallest in seven.
Just because it didn't go right then doesn't mean history will repeat itself, but Philadelphia should keep their expectations in check.
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