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We’ve finally, mercifully reached the quiet part of the NBA calendar, James Harden’s latest eye-popping contract notwithstanding. That triggered a fresh batch of power rankings and standings projections across the basketball internet in recent days.
On Monday, Law Murray of The Athletic put the Sixers fourth in his latest power rankings, trailing only the reigning champion New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. Right after LeBron James signed with the Sixers, he had them fifth, behind those three teams and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although I anticipate a slow start for the 76ers, like all LeBron James teams, I am already doing what I said I would not do last month: raising expectations for Philly. Why? If nothing else, because they have their team in place.
While James was the player the broadcast partners wanted, Brown was an All-NBA selection last season. It’s Brown replacing George in the salary bracket, and it’s Brown who must show he can defend at the level that helped him earn the 2024 NBA Finals MVP. James should be the kind of connector who makes Philadelphia’s offense easy for everyone else, especially Tyrese Maxey. More succinctly, James replaces Kelly Oubre Jr.
The bench ensures Philadelphia’s depth will be strong. Wade replaces Watford, Simons supplants Grimes, Caldwell-Pope is in for Terry and Philon is an upgrade for the recently retired Lowry. Philadelphia still has significant vulnerabilities, and many of them trace back to whether Joel Embiid is playing and how often he is available. Head coach Nick Nurse has some things to figure out. But the 76ers have more talent, and that’s after being good enough to win a playoff series last spring.
SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell is similarly bullish on the Sixers’ prospects this year. He put them fifth in his latest power rankings, trailing the Thunder, Spurs, Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Notably, Ricky has the Cavaliers at 11th even after their acquisition of Peyton Watson. On a related note, Ricky knows ball.
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You know who doesn’t know ball? ESPN, apparently. Their “NBA insiders” joined together to project the full…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/fresh-nba-power-rankings-set-173000832.html
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Publish date : 2026-08-25 17:30:00
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