Danny Green Believes Sixers are NBA Finals Contenders
NBA veteran Danny Green knows what an NBA Finals contender looks like. After all, the 33-year-old guard has been a part of three separate organizations who have won it all.
First, Green was a part of the 2013-2014 San Antonio Spurs. Then, he managed to help the Toronto Raptors defeat the Philadelphia 76ers in the playoffs two seasons ago en route to win the 2019 NBA Finals over the Golden State Warriors.
And finally, last season, Green inked a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, who went on and won the 2020 NBA Finals down in the Orlando bubble. Although Green wanted to try and complete a repeat with the Lakers -- Los Angeles moved on this offseason as they traded Green to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
As expected, the re-building Thunder didn't intend to keep Green on board for long. So, they flipped him to the Sixers in exchange for Al Horford, two draft picks, and the rights to Vasilije Micic.
The trade isn't complete yet -- but Green has accepted the fact that he's going to be a member of the 76ers when the 2020-2021 season tips off later this month. Heading into this season, the Sixers don't have a ton of hype around them as they typically have in previous years, but Green notices the organization has championship potential.
"I want this team to have 50, 60 wins," Green told Melissa Rohlin of FOX Sports. "I want two or three guys on the All-Defensive team. I want to get two or three All-Stars on our team. There's no reason why we can't have two or three All-Stars on our team. And there's no reason why we can't be the last team standing or at least make the Finals. So these are the goals that I see for our group."
The Sixers already have two young All-Stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. As we know, that hasn't been enough for the 76ers to succeed in the postseason as they've failed to get past the second round of the playoffs over the last three seasons.
The hope is that a new head coach and better-fitting personnel around Simmons and Embiid can help the team get over the hump. Not only did the Sixers' revamped front office add better shooters this offseason to complement the young stars, but they also added veterans with championship experience such as Danny Green.
It's not going to be an easy year for the 76ers as the Eastern Conference is only getting tougher. However, the team seems to be in much better shape than it was last season. And if a three-time champion believes the NBA Finals is attainable for this year's Sixers, then Philly should have every reason to believe it.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
