The Philadelphia 76ers have a clear and obvious title case

An MVP level player. Multiple other players capable of All-Star caliber player. Decent depth. A championship coach. A front office that will do whatever it takes. Here is the case for the Philadelphia 76ers. Good morning. Let's basketball.

Tom Ziller

25 Sep 2025 — 6 min read

The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti III; Sandro Botticelli; 1483

People act like Joel Embiid lost a leg, or died. Less than two years ago, Joel Embiid was on pace to repeat as the NBA MVP. Before a knee injury cost him a 2-month chunk of the season, Embiid was riding a 22-game streak scoring 30+ points. He had 40+ eight times in that stretch, 50+ three times and a 70-point game. Seventy.

His knee gave out. He missed those two months and fought back to help the Sixers secure a play-in bid, then a playoff spot, then fought like hell to get Philadelphia past the Knicks in the first round. That was a bloodbath series. Embiid wasn't always great during it, but he played like a maniac and an all-timer. He had a 50-point game in one of Philly's wins, and 39 in the elimination game. A few months later, he helped Team USA win gold in Paris. The Americans probably lose to Serbia in the semifinals and miss out on gold for the first time since 2004 without Embiid.

People act like Joel Embiid lost a leg, or died. The last time we saw him in extended action he looked like a god, like he was the third-best player in the world at worst. He beat Nikola Jokic for the MVP in 2022-23, and some folks groused about it, and then those people were being amazed all over again by Embiid by January 2024. He was converting the harshest skeptics. And then his knee went out and the performance was much less exciting in the ensuing starts and stops, including all of last season.

Embiid is 31, quite tall and has a history of leg injuries. Skepticism is understood. But I beg to you remember that not two years ago he was playing at a level reached by very few centers in the history of the known universe. Not two years ago! If he plays consistently at 75% of that level this season, or has a 20% of re-reaching that level, then the Philadelphia 76ers will be a very good team.

If that happens and Tyrese Maxey continues his path toward being a top-20 player and top-7 lead guard in the NBA, then the Philadelphia 76ers will be in play at the top of the Eastern Conference.

If those things happen and Paul George, now 35, can play 25% better than he did in a wastrel 2024-25 season – not even as well as he played in his last two All-Star seasons in Los Angeles, just not as bad as he was last year – and lend his postseason experience (a highlight of which included breaking Donovan Mitchell's heart in the second round), then the Philadelphia 76ers will be even more imposing.

If Jared McCain can look anything like he did as a rookie before tearing his meniscus ...

If V.J. Edgecombe can be a lightning bolt in limited minutes ...

If Andre Drummond and Kyle Lowry can fill in when needed ...

If Kelly Oubre or maybe Quentin Grimes and Eric Gordon can provide sparks ...

If Nick Nurse can re-steady the ship and manage workloads while scheming opponents into dizziness ...

If Daryl Morey can remain opportunistic on the trade market with a blank check to bring positive finality to The Process ...

Then the Philadelphia 76ers have a clear and obvious title case.

There are a plethora of ifs. So it goes with most teams. The most important and best player is a significant if. That's scary: Embiid is both the titan who can lift this team to unknown heights and the titan whose fall could crush the whole project. It's not ideal. But it would appear so many analysts and chatterboxes are focused on the downside if. What about the upside if? What if doctors fixed Embiid's knee enough to get a few more very high-level seasons out of him? If he's healthy – which is a moderately reasonable thing to expect given the stakes for himself and the team, certainly nothing close to a guarantee given the history and the nature of a finite world – if he's healthy, you have to believe he will be extraordinary, because we have seen nothing but that when he has been healthy.

Look at this dude. There's nothing but health that has ever stopped him.

Well, health and I suppose "teams in the playoffs."

To repeat a point: if you get 75% of that and all of this – Tyrese Maxey coming into his own powers – is there a better duo in the NBA?

Maybe Luka and LeBron, maybe Brunson and KAT, maybe Jokic and Murray (primarily because Jokic is so high), maybe Spida and Mobley, maybe Shai and J-Dub, maybe Sabonis and LaVine.

Maybe. Or maybe not.

Skepticism is understood. There is a clear and obvious case for skepticism. However, there is a clear and obvious case for hope, too. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me for the fourth or fifth time ... well, I'm willing to go down with The Process on this one. Withhold laughter until you're sure I'm wrong.

My dearest free subscribers, welcome to the weekly free edition of Good Morning It's Basketball. Here's what our paid subscribers received since we last met.

A spin on the attempted government censorship of Jimmy Kimmel as it pertains to NBA players as perhaps the last T.V. stars who can't be cancelled
- By the way, thank you to all the readers who reached out publicly and privately to express their appreciation for the post! I wasn't able to respond to everyone but the appreciation and support is seen and appreciated.
A piece on Tyler Herro's injury, the brilliant foresight to trade for Norman Powell and how the Heat can survive (if they can survive)
A doom-and-gloom reaction to the awful Fred VanVleet injury and what it means for the Rockets' title hopes
A meditation on Austin Reaves' fit with the Luka-led Lakers during and after the Late LeBron era, and what a trade market might look like

With camps starting, we're getting close to lookahead season (as evidenced by today's column). If you're a person who turns off the paid subscription the offseason, don't forget to re-up as we approach opening night!

What I'm Reading and Listening To

David Aldridge, one of the GOATs of the industry, on the Clippers scandal and whether Adam Silver can find his resolve.

Dan Devine on the Knicks facing down new expectations.

Uh, Zion Williamson looks incredible? Are the Pelicans (!) a sleeping giant in the West?!

Sam Amick with an update on the Jonathan Kuminga situation, which includes the Kings re-engaging on a sign-and-trade. Here's my brief take: you don't trade first round picks in sign-and-trades! Trading a first and a good player on a non-disaster contract? Absolutely not! I'm not opposed to Kuminga on the Kings. I'm opposed to giving up assets to make it happen.

Zach Lowe's podcast with Chris Ryan (one of my favorite internet folk to listen to on almost any topic) where they drafted their favorite non-Finals teams since 2010-11 was amazing and entertaining. Here's my top-five: the Beam Team, the '18-19 Lakers (I love drama), the '21-22 Grizzlies, the '18-19 Bucks (Giannis could make you see God in the sport) and the '10-11 Thunder (as a stand-in for that entire era of Thunder teams, incredible stuff). If you could include Finals teams, the '14-15 Warriors would be on top of my list with a bullet. Just a tremendous viewing experience from start to finish.

I did not know that the Wall Street Journal had a Style section, so I was surprised to see Luka Doncic's summer PR blitz hit their YouTube channel. At some point we will need to talk about whether Luka is even at Jokic's level as a media personality (derogatory).