Coming into this season, the consensus amongst the NBA world was that the Philadelphia 76ers were a much-improved team on paper. Daryl Morey made some shrewd moves in the offseason. Perhaps the most important one was convincing former NBA MVP James Harden to take roughly a $15 million pay cut.
Harden's decision to opt-in for less money enabled the Sixers to add some key pieces in the summer, including De'Anthony Melton, PJ Tucker and Danuel House.
The early returns didn't look promising; Philadelphia sputtered out of the gate, losing its first three games on the schedule.