‘Stop Sleeping’: ESPN Host Rants About 76ers’ Recent Run

The James Harden drama caused the Philadelphia 76ers to be often overlooked. With the ten-time All-Star guard planning a holdout ahead of his third season with the Sixers, mixed with the fact that Philly burned out in Game 7 of the second round against the Boston Celtics in 2023, the Sixers were understandably slept on to begin the year.

Harden never debuted for Philadelphia. In fact, he was traded three games into the regular season. The Sixers sent Harden’s former Houston Rockets teammate, PJ Tucker, over to the Los Angeles Clippers as well, leaving the Sixers without two of their starters from last season.

It turns out the losses haven’t affected the Sixers the way many assumed they would. With 28 games of the 2023-2024 NBA season in the bag, the Sixers hold a 20-8 record, which places them third in the Eastern Conference, trailing the Milwaukee Bucks and the Celtics.

To no surprise, the Bucks and the Celtics place above all in the East once again at this point in the year. While those two squads remain favored to make it out of the East over the Sixers in the eyes of many right now, ESPN host Stephen A. Smith recently ranted on the state of the Eastern Conference’s top three, demanding Philly’s doubters to change their thinking.

“We know in the Eastern Conference the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics are getting all of the hype,” Smith said on his show recently. “All the prognosticators, including myself, got one or the other coming out of the East. I got Boston. Others have Milwaukee. But we need to pause for a second, just to stop sleeping on the Philadelphia 76ers.”

Smith then went on to explain why the Sixers have found so much unexpected success thus far from his perspective.

“Nick Nurse is in there. Nick Nurse is a champion with the Toronto Raptors. I got to tell you: Nick Nurse is doing a hell of a job,” Smith explained. “They are a team to be reckoned with. They can’t be ignored. Daryl Morey, this dude does know how to go out and acquire talent. He gets one piece — one piece — imagine if he got a Zach LaVine. Imagine if he got somebody of that ilk. We can no longer sit here and definitively state that the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks hold dominion over the Eastern Conference in such a fashion that they can’t get knocked off. Yes the hell they can. The Philadelphia 76ers could do it. I still think they need a piece, but the way Embiid is playing and Maxey is playing, I cannot rule the 76ers out.”

On the Sixers pic.twitter.com/atIHn3HZhp
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) December 21, 2023

The Sixers’ two-man game between the reigning MVP Joel Embiid and the ten-time All-Star James Harden was dominant throughout the final stretch of the 2021-2022 season and all throughout the 2022-2023 season.

However, the Sixers haven’t taken any steps back by inserting Tyrese Maxey into Harden’s role.

Once again, Maxey has taken a huge leap in his development. He’s scoring more and generating more assists while maintaining an efficient shooting percentage and taking care of the ball better than most point guards in the NBA.

At this point, the Sixers have proven that it would take a whole lot to go wrong in order for them to have a meltdown in the regular season. With another playoff run in clear sight, the Sixers will continue to take advantage of a long season, hoping to put it all together before the playoffs.