It’s June, and the NBA Finals are finished, which means the Sixers season has long been, too. 

Philadelphia has played eight games in June since 2002, and that’s only because a global pandemic shifted the season. 

Each Finals this decade has featured a who’s who of the Joel Embiid era. 

Jimmy Butler made it twice, including the very first year away from Philadelphia. Al Horford has been twice, too. Those are the big names. De’Andre Jordan and Haywood Highsmith played tiny roles. TJ McConnell electrified last year’s Finals. Landry Shamet and Julian Champagnie were this year’s honorees. 

McConnell played the most games with Joel Embiid. Champagnie didn’t play any. Highsmith played one. 

Embiid had plenty of success with Shamet albeit short lived, while the Horford era could not have gone worse. 

Butler did not last a full season. Jordan started playoff games in Embiid’s absence. 

For a stretch it seemed like it might happen. But the Sixers were never as good as they needed to be. Opportunities wasted. Mistakes made. And now we are here. Far from it. Probably the furthest of any team to win a playoff series this spring. They are stuck, for sure. Purgatory. A familiar place. 

As the Knicks win a championship, it’s hard not to be envious. Many teams could have followed their blueprint (although the allure of playing in New York can’t be replicated). Sign Jalen Brunson (and convince him to take a pay cut after he outperforms his contract). Trade for Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, and Karl-Anthony Towns. They’re all in the prime of their careers with weaknesses that sometimes Hart can’t shoot, Towns commits silly fouls, and sometimes the ball sticks too much in Brunson’s hands. They weren’t this postseason juggernaut all season, but something clicked. And Brunson is the best closer.

As a basketball fan, it was incredible to watch. But I am not only a basketball fan. 

Firing Daryl Morey made sense. Being competitive for five quarters in a second round series requires a seismic change, especially when the only deadline trade sent Jared McCain to OKC. You can argue that maybe Nick Nurse had more of a hand in how little McCain played. It’s easy to look at OKC and wonder why couldn’t Philly approach the regular season like them? George and Embiid combined to play 75 games yet Nurse couldn’t find anyone he could trust in the second round flame out. It’s damning. But I’m more than OK with Nurse’s return. Hopefully watching the trust Mike Brown showed his New York Knicks will be an example. Also, instead of rostering Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, and Andre Drummond, Nurse has younger players to play. 

Most of the reason why it took me so long to write the end of the year obituary I am so accustomed to writing is because of life. But the slither that isn’t responsibility is because I wanted to see who the president of basketball operations would be. Mike Gansey and I walked the same campus. Maybe we lived in the same dorm. It’s likely. Bonaventure, after all, doesn’t have that many places to live, nor people. He left the school when the scandal unfolded, so the only reason why I knew of him as a kid was his gigantic t-shirt underneath his West Virginia jersey. 

This doesn’t have the same weight of last offseason. Or the one before that. Even the one before that. Most Philly offseasons are chaotic and high-pressured. It actually might be nice for this one to be quiet. A functional player drafted at 22. Quentin Grimes and/or Kelly Oubre return. A possible rotation free agent. 

There is also a chance that maybe it’s best for the Sixers to purposely take a back seat. Move George’s contract for an expiring contract. Take a step back. It’s hard to get on board with that, unless a team is truly enamored with George and the Sixers are able to get a tangible player and not just a bloated salary. 

While introducing Gansey, Bob Myers mentioned how the Sixers are searching for an identity. They were mostly average last year. That’s how you need to win a play-in game to make the playoffs. It’s mostly because their highest paid players are rarely available. But that is their reality and it’s not like they were unbeatable with Embiid and George. Embiid has played at least 35 games with 39 teammates during his career. The Sixers have won more than 50 percent of their games with each pairing sans one. You already know where I am going. Context, of course, matters. The 20-22 record the Sixers have while Embiid and George play together has a lot to do with their first season together, but it is still their record. And it’s hard to trust either to be on the court. 

I wrote last year about the age of parity (not some novel concept). It’s even more pronounced now with eight different champions in as many years. Fun fact: only twice during this period a team won a championship after beating the Sixers in the playoffs. Toronto began the stretch in 2019. Knicks this year. Does this mean the cycle is complete? Or will another team make it 9 for 9? It’s not just the champions that make this the era of parity. 

Since Embiid led the Sixers to the playoffs in 2018, all but 11 franchises have made the conference finals. Those 11 teams have combined for 12 playoff series wins during that time. The Sixers have six of them. It’s been bleak. And it might become more so. 

New York isn’t going anywhere. Indiana will be back. Orlando may figure things out. Charlotte will only get better. Detroit, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Boston are very good. Washington has the first pick tomorrow. And Miami might have Giannis by then, too. 

So what now? 

VJ Edgecombe will turn 21 this summer. Maxey made All-NBA. Cheering for them is easy. Building around them could be as well (if not for the two gigantic basically immovable salaries). 

It begins tomorrow with pick 22. And then next week with free agency. There is at least some excitement with a new decision maker in tow.

Regardless of what happens, I’ll be back after the dust settles to spew optimism.