Joel Embiid is locked in playing at an MVP level. Tobias Harris is also playing the best basketball of his career. Ben Simmons, despite offensive limitations, continues to be that athletic Swiss army knife that is so rare to find. Seth Curry was the perfect addition. Doc Rivers has them focused. And Daryl Morey is seemingly pushing all of the right buttons.
Add it all up and you have a 16-6 Philadelphia 76ers through 22 games, best in the East.
"Yeah, I think that's the case and it's exciting to see," Hall Of Famer Grant Hill said when asked if the Sixers can win the NBA Championship on Thursday's 94WIP Midday Show with Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie. "There's enough of a sample size here to start the season, where you're almost 25 games into the season—20, 25—you feel like OK, you have a pretty good sense, a general idea of who you are as a team. I think Doc Rivers, certainly his credibility, his voice, his leadership, his experience has been incredible.
"I love how when you have this starting lineup and they're all playing—I believe and correct me if I'm wrong, I believe they're undefeated with the full starting lineup on the court together. They've established [Joel] Embiid, he's really exerting his dominance, but at the same time everyone else is being able to thrive in their role. And I'm not sure that was always the case in years past.
"I think now they're on their way and I think now you can sort of trust them as a team that has a real chance of going far in the playoffs and potentially making it to the NBA Finals. I like what I see."
Hill, a seven-time all-star who played 18 NBA seasons, had similar things about his game with Sixers all-star Ben Simmons.
"That's someone who just handles the game, does what he does well," Hill said of Simmons. "Gets people involved, great in transition. Obviously, defensively is really good as well. The shooting, we spend a lot of time on the shooting and that's an area of concern, but I think he's figured out how to still be affective and how to still not be a liability at times when he's out there on the floor. We forget, he's an all-star—as is Embiid—but they're still young players. They're still trying to figure it out. They're still trying to understand how to have success, real success, in this league.
But he's unselfish, he's a fun guy to play with, he gets players involved, he has a selflessness about him, he does make winning plays. I think when you focus on what he does do well, it's pretty impressive."
Unfortunately, in his fourth NBA seasons, Simmons is currently fighting through an offensive rut, where his confidence has deteriorated. Simmons is averaging just 9.5 shot attempts this season, after averaging over 11 in each of his first three seasons, and consequently averaging just 13.4 points per game. However, his 8.0 assists, 1.7 steals, 0.9 blocks, and 3.5 turnovers remain consistent while he's shooting a career-best 63.6 FT% and has a career-best 2.6 defensive box plus-minus.
"I don't know what the deal is with it," Hill said about Simmons refusal to take outside shots. "I don't know if it's a mental thing. I'll say this, when I was young, I came in the league I wasn't a great shooter. I got to the rim, I got to the basket, I attacked. I would still go out there, my first year I was 20 points a game. It got difficult as I got older...it just became harder. I had to learn how to diversify my attack, become more comfortable shooting from the perimeter, getting into the post, shooting in the mid range, even getting to the three-point line. So now you have a number of ways to attack, it's not just one or two things it's multiple things.
"Still, even with that said and done [Simmons not improving his perimeter game at all], he is helping his team and his team is playing great basketball."
