Philadelphia 76ers Power Rankings Roundup Through Week 5
Life in the NBA hasn't been easy for the Philadelphia 76ers as of late. After their starting guard Seth Curry tested positive for COVID-19 a little under two weeks ago, the team has missed a notable chunk of players throughout the last couple of weeks.
There were times the Sixers got dominated because they were forced to trot players out on the court for significant minutes who wouldn't normally get too much playing time otherwise. But at a point, the team got relatively healthy and managed to face an undermanned team as well and came out on top with multiple wins.
Things haven't been pretty for the Sixers lately due to injuries and COVID-related concerns, but the 76ers have proven that when the team is at least almost fully healthy, they can be contenders in the Eastern Conference.
Based on what they've shown lately, though, does the national media buy-in on the idea of the Sixers being contenders right now? Let's round up the latest NBA Power Rankings around the internet to see where the Sixers place these days, three weeks through the month of January.
ESPN Still Believes... For now.
Rank: No. 5 (-1 Spot)
"Philadelphia is now 9-2 this season when Joel Embiid plays and 0-3 when he sits. That two of those losses came on the road against teams the Sixers should've beaten -- the Cavaliers and Grizzlies -- is a cause for some concern. Embiid has arguably been the league's MVP so far this season, but Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris and supporting players should be enough to win games against non-playoff teams." - Tim Bontemps
CBS Sports Likes What They've Seen Lately
Rank: No. 8 (+3 Spots)
"The Sixers were able to pick up back-to-back wins over the Heat, a team facing similar issues with player availability, but fell to the Hawks and Grizzlies. The loss to Memphis was ugly, as Philly committed 22 turnovers, including seven from Ben Simmons, with Joel Embiid out of the lineup. Shake Milton returned to the lineup for the final two games of the week and was on fire, scoring nearly 30 points and dishing out 5.5 assists per game on 64 percent shooting." - Colin Ward-Henninger
SI National Isn't Panicking
Rank: No. 7
"There’s no real reason to hit the panic button in Philadelphia amid a 9–5 start, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that the 76ers won’t regret pulling the trigger on a potential Harden trade. There are still legitimate spacing concerns in the fourth year of the Simmons era, and there’s no clear avenue to improvement in that respect barring a massive progression in Simmons’ jumper. Perhaps the asking price simply got out of control, but to get a player of Harden’s caliber, an overpay is often necessary. We’ll see if Daryl Morey can lure another star to Philadelphia (hello, Beal) before a pivotal postseason." - Michael Shapiro
NBA.com Gives Sixers Biggest Drop Yet
Rank: No. 9 (-4 Spots)
"Embiid’s absence was an opportunity to play Ben Simmons with four capable shooters around him. But in 14 total minutes with Simmons on the floor without any of their centers this season, the Sixers have scored just 25 points on 35 offensive possessions. With their game in Oklahoma City on Sunday getting postponed because of their inability to suit up eight guys, it doesn’t seem like they’ll have a full rotation any time soon." - John Schuhmann
