After an overdramatic, long-winded summer, LeBron James finally made his free-agency decision: A two-year, $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. He'll join Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and VJ Edgecombe in the City of Brotherly Love, creating one of the most stacked starting lineups in recent memory.
And I think it's going to be a disaster.
There's no doubting the talent Philadelphia will have on its roster. Brown and Maxey just earned All-NBA honors, with the former finishing sixth in MVP voting last year. Edgecombe finished third in the Rookie of the Year race. When healthy, Embiid is an All-NBA guy. James is an All-Star at 41 years old.
But talent doesn't win championships anymore. At least, not on its own. We live in an NBA world spearheaded by depth, fit, and play style. This 76ers team is following a team-building strategy that was popularized in the mid-2010s. That era is over.
It's the James era. The one where he can join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. The one where he can team up with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in Cleveland. Have you noticed the trend yet?
Each of those Big 3s had a very clear pecking order. James was the 1A. The obvious leader of the pack. The guy who would have the ball in his hands when things mattered most.
Then came Wade and Irving. The No. 2 options. Wade set aside his first-option hoops in hopes of winning a championship, and he was rewarded with two. Irving put his feelings aside (at least, for a few years) in pursuit of a title, and he got one.
Love and Bosh filled in the gaps. They were stars turned role players, willing to put stats aside in order to win a ring. It worked out well for both of them. They were fine being third-string stars.
Fast forward to today's NBA, and that doesn't happen anymore. The best example was the Brooklyn Nets. The Kevin Durant, Irving, and James Harden Nets. They attempted to follow the superteam blueprint, and it failed miserably.
Injuries got the best of them, sure. But personalities clashed, too. By the end of the run, Harden had requested a trade, and Durant was on live TV picking All-Star teams, refusing to even say his name. Clearly, having a ton of talent wasn't necessarily conducive to winning.
Look at the teams winning in today's game. The New York Knicks were led by Jalen Brunson, followed by Karl-Anthony Towns and elite depth. Right alongside them were the San Antonio Spurs: Victor Wembanyama, a clear 1A, backed up by incredible depth.
The Oklahoma City Thunder? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, two stars okay with lesser scoring roles, and elite depth. The 2024 Boston Celtics? Two stars (Jayson Tatum and Brown) backed up by elite depth, including stars willing to turn into role players.
It's all about depth. One (or sometimes two) alphas with a crew of do-it-all talent right behind them. Most importantly, a crew that knows their roles. A crew that won't be eager to overstep their boundaries, getting in the way of the team's championship pursuit.
That's not the formula the Sixers are following. Philadelphia is playing that toddler game where you try to fit shapes into the corresponding holes. It's trying to bash the circle block through the square hole. Over, and over, and over again. That's what this season is going to look like.
© Bill Streicher
LeBron James and Joel Embiid
The Sixers are banking on their current squad following the old-school Big 3 era, but with a Big 5 instead. They added talent for the sake of adding talent, hoping the math will add up to a championship. But that would require playing basketball on paper instead of in person.
Who is going to be the 1A? Or, more aptly, who is going to be willing to step aside to let someone else be the 1A? Because right now, the 76ers have four players all vying for that top spot.
First up is Brown, who just wrapped up an insanely impressive regular-season campaign. Right after the Celtics' playoff exit, he went on a live stream and called this year his favorite season of his career. He got the chance to lead the Celtics and proved the doubters wrong.
That doesn't exactly sound like a guy eager to