The dysfunctional Philadelphia 76ers are running out of time

The Philadelphia 76ers came into the season with grand expectations with their shiny and new big three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George. They signed ample depth, a great head coach in Nick Nurse, and were painted as the Boston Celtics’ number one threat in the East.

Well, one month into the season, Philly sits at 2-11 and blew a 19 point lead against the Miami Heat on Monday night. They have won one game in the month of November. While Embiid has only played three games and the team has yet to see their big three take the court together, Philly’s issues go beyond health.

After that loss to the Heat, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Sixers had a team meeting, where players and coaches aired their grievances. One surprise though was Maxey reportedly calling out Embiid for always being late to team activities.

The Sixers will not go anywhere this season if Embiid is not fully engaged with the team

Embiid accepted responsibility for his mistakes, but the fact that the guy who is supposed to be the face of a franchise and vowed to make this season his most healthy one yet is not leading by example is very concerning.

In order for Philly to get where they want to be, they are going to need a focused Embiid and he has been anything but that this season. He has been more of a distraction off the court from complaining about how the media treats him to shoving a reporter and now not taking this season seriously.

In addition to that, Charania’s report also outlined how players feel that the coaching staff is not coaching them hard enough, but also how the coaching staff wants more attention to detail from players in practice. It’s mid November. Why are players and coaches already not on the same page? 

The one silver lining in this report though is Maxey showing his leadership skills. He was not afraid to call out the franchise player on his behavior. This shows the maturity that Maxey has developed and why is a team pillar. 

Charania’s piece just further emphasized that all the talk about Philly being a championship contender coming into the year, was just that: talk. This team has consistently shown that they are anything but a serious contender to start the year. 

This much dysfunction before Thanksgiving does not bode well for their long term outlook, but the season is an 82 game marathon. They have time to turn it around, but they need to do it sooner rather than later before so they can stop their slide down the standings.