The frequent discussion around the new core of the 76ers is rooted in a time-old NBA problem—the fragility of building a championship contender. As Philadelphia has learned over the past couple years, flexibility in free agency is not always the best fix.
The Sixers are probably the most widely debated ink blot on the NBA internet. Some people see a team with three stars who don’t really quite make sense, with each needing a different style of basketball to reach their full potential. Others see a team on pace for 54 wins—two more than last season—and a roster stocked with enough unique, top-end talent to overcome shooting deficiencies elsewhere in the lineup. (I fall closer to the former…