Retired NBA champion Jason Williams shared a wild claim regarding where the Philadelphia 76ers will finish in the Eastern Conference.
“Orlando will have a better record than the Sixers.”
No, that’s not a typo. Former NBA player and champion Jason Williams really thinks that the Orlando Magic will have a better record than the Philadelphia 76ers.
Now, usually it's good to try to find the truth for both sides of an argument, but this one is simply hard to do so. Even if Philadelphia got off to a bad start, there’s no chance that they would finish out the season worse than the Magic. What does Orlando have to offer that could rival the 76ers? Besides Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Desmond Bane, it looks pretty bleak.
Orlando was a better team two years ago compared to where they are now. How can a team regress so much and add very little to be compared to a playoff contender? Yes, I’m aware that Orlando has made the playoffs two of the last three seasons, but that doesn’t mean much when you really think about it. The same injury bug that has plagued Joel Embiid has had the Magic starters in a chokehold.
Wagner missed 48 games last season as he dealt with lingering calf injuries. Banchero missed 46 games over the last two seasons. Last season was Bane's first time playing in every game since he joined the league.
Outside of injury histories, this team is wildly inconsistent, hanging around the .500 mark for the majority of the season. Orlando ranked fourth in defensive rating while Philadelphia ranked ninth in offensive rating, and this was before all of their offseason acquisitions. Now how much better do you think the team will be once all their new toys begin to gel? It sounds like a rough night for their opponents.
Orlando doesn’t have the offensive firepower to contend with a team like Philadelphia. It’s the same issue they had when they faced the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. With an offseason that saw Orlando add only one familiar face in Nikola Vučević, it’s hard to see how they can go do any better than what they’ve done in the last three years.
Philadelphia finished seventh in the Eastern Conference while Orlando finished eighth. One of these things isn’t quite like the other. It’s obvious there is a huge difference in talent, and that may be what Williams is hoping for. A dysfunctional team to be present for the 76ers that leads to a poor record. The only problem? LeBron James has dealt with this on every team he’s been on. Each one has had a better record once he set foot in the building.
There’s no question that trend will continue and put naysayers to shame when it’s all said and done.
