News To Brett Brown: The Sixers Could Not Have Played In The NBA Finals
Oh sweet baby Jesus. What did I do in a previous life to be blessed with a quote like this? I mean by now I’m used to delusional Sixers fans on Twitter, but I thought it sort of ended with them. I get it, they are excited about their young talent and are convinced that are better than they are in reality. Happens to the rest of us too so I won’t fault them for that. But this is something I expect to hear from a Bryan Colangelo burner account, not the actual head coach of the Sixers. Now don’t get be wrong, being confident is important, and you have to believe in yourself before you expect anyone else too, but on what planet was last year’s Sixers team a Finals team? You know, the one that needed Adam Silver to help them win a game against the Celtics in the second round? Now Sixers fans, don’t get triggered, you don’t need to tell me about the Eagles Super Bowl win or how the series was actually close if not for a few boneheaded plays by your best players. I have the internet, I have not forgotten
On some level, I’m actually a little jealous of the delirious nature that the Sixers and their fans carry themselves with. Again, I am someone who believed in James Young and currently believes in Yabu, so I am no stranger to outrageous basketball claims. I figure there is probably more context around this quote at whatever media luncheon this is, but I don’t really need to hear it. They all live in some fantasy world where they truly believe for them to be a Finals team Simmons doesn’t need a jumper, Fultz never has to get rid of his yips, and that there isn’t actually a reality where they didn’t get completely worked by their direct competition that was missing their two best players. I think the Sixers beat the Celtics just once or twice in all the times they played each other, including the Summer League, regular season, and playoffs. You want to talk about young talent? Both the Sixers and Celtics have an average age of 25.3. So Brett Brown can believe in his head and his heart all he wants, but here on planet earth, the Sixers could not have played in the NBA Finals last season. Not even close.
But you know what, for the sake of this blog I’ll play along in this fantasy world where the Sixers were actually better at basketball than the Celtics in any way shape or form. Even if they got past BOS, they aren’t beating CLE. They would have had the same issues the Celtics did aka no chance of stopping LeBron. If they couldn’t even stop a rookie in Jayson Tatum, how were they going to stop the best player on the planet? This quote is just so outrageous I have to respect it. Listen, nobody, and I mean NOBODY wants the Sixers to be actually good more than me. Hell, I’m like the biggest Sixers fan on this blog and I can’t fucking stand them. I need them to live up to the hype and actually provide a challenge in the East. I want all their young talent to prove to be the real deal so we can fire back up a true BOS/PHI rivalry like back in the Bird/Dr. J era. But I also need it to happen in reality, not just the head and heart of their head coach.
The good news is, rumors are swirling that the Sixers are actually going to be a real organization and finally hire a GM, and I would say that’s a good first step. At the same time, maybe, just maybe, actually make an ECF before you start talking about the Finals you cowards.