Photo: Tom Sande (AP Photo) Well hello there, casual basketball fan! Welcome back... to the crucible of champions. The NBA playoffs are upon us once again, probably within minutes or possibly even before I actually finish writing this very long (and good) blog. Oh crap! Who are the teams? Who does the stuff on them? Who will hoist the [checks Wikipedia] “Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy”? What can you say about all of this in the company of possibly basketball-knowing acquaintances and fellow bar-goers that will not mark you as a clueless doofus? Buddy, I have got you covered. It’s fine to print this blog out and carry it with you to the bar and consult it for conversational nuggets. Let’s check out the first-round series, in the chronological order they’ll start and/or have started already while I was working on this. Saturday’s first, and then Sunday’s tomorrow.Philadelphia 76ers (3) vs. Brooklyn Nets (6)Photo: Elsa (Getty)Advertisement When does this shit start?Saturday, 2:30 ET, on ESPN. Who are these groups?It’s weird to consider that, even with the big moves they made this season (swinging blockbuster trades for both Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris), and even with the air of triumphal inevitability that’s been swirling around the team’s homegrown young stars since Ben Simmons made his debut last season, this season, so far, seems like it’s been a sideways step for the 76ers at best, if not a small step backward. LeBron James’s departure from the East opened a power vacuum at the top of the conference; last summer the 76ers (along with the Boston Celtics, more on them in a sec) seemed like the team best positioned to fill it. But not only did the Sixers wind up with the same playoff seed they had last year—and with a record one loss worse—they’ve also been leapfrogged, decisively, by the Milwaukee Bucks. They still haven’t figured out any kind of productive, complementary fit between their two homegrown young stars. Even with the additions of Butler and Harris (and Mike Scott, who’s been great), they still have a troubling tendency to look completely lost whenever the deadly Joel Embiid-J.J. Redick pair isn’t on the court. Of course, the real test of the changes they’ve made since last spring isn’t the regular season; that power vacuum at the top of the East won’t really be filled until somebody makes it out of the conference finals. The Sixers absolutely can represent the East in the Finals. They’ve got the top-end talent to do it. It might be time to worry if they don’t. The moves they made—including trading catastrophic former first overall pick Markelle Fultz in February for a 29-year-old role player and a pair of nothing-special draft picks—have made them into a team that isn’t really young or developing anymore. If anything, they fit more closely the profile of a slightly bloated contender nearing the end of its window, with a top-heavy roster and big names set to hit free-agency after the playoffs and an uncertain future. The ti
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Photo: Tom Sande (AP Photo) Well hello there, casual basketball fan! Welcome back... to the crucible of champions. The NBA playoffs are upon us once again, probably within minutes or possibly even before I actually finish writing this very long (and good) blog. Oh crap! Who are the teams? Who does the stuff on them? Who will hoist the [checks Wikipedia] “Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy”? What can you say about all of this in the company of possibly basketball-knowing acquaintances and fellow bar-goers that will not mark you as a clueless doofus? Buddy, I have got you covered. It’s fine to print this blog out and carry it with you to the bar and consult it for conversational nuggets. Let’s check out the first-round series, in the chronological order they’ll start and/or have started already while I was working on this. Saturday’s first, and then Sunday’s tomorrow.Philadelphia 76ers (3) vs. Brooklyn Nets (6)Photo: Elsa (Getty)Advertisement When does this shit start?Saturday, 2:30 ET, on ESPN. Who are these groups?It’s weird to consider that, even with the big moves they made this season (swinging blockbuster trades for both Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris), and even with the air of triumphal inevitability that’s been swirling around the team’s homegrown young stars since Ben Simmons made his debut last season, this season, so far, seems like it’s been a sideways step for the 76ers at best, if not a small step backward. LeBron James’s departure from the East opened a power vacuum at the top of the conference; last summer the 76ers (along with the Boston Celtics, more on them in a sec) seemed like the team best positioned to fill it. But not only did the Sixers wind up with the same playoff seed they had last year—and with a record one loss worse—they’ve also been leapfrogged, decisively, by the Milwaukee Bucks. They still haven’t figured out any kind of productive, complementary fit between their two homegrown young stars. Even with the additions of Butler and Harris (and Mike Scott, who’s been great), they still have a troubling tendency to look completely lost whenever the deadly Joel Embiid-J.J. Redick pair isn’t on the court. Of course, the real test of the changes they’ve made since last spring isn’t the regular season; that power vacuum at the top of the East won’t really be filled until somebody makes it out of the conference finals. The Sixers absolutely can represent the East in the Finals. They’ve got the top-end talent to do it. It might be time to worry if they don’t. The moves they made—including trading catastrophic former first overall pick Markelle Fultz in February for a 29-year-old role player and a pair of nothing-special draft picks—have made them into a team that isn’t really young or developing anymore. If anything, they fit more closely the profile of a slightly bloated contender nearing the end of its window, with a top-heavy roster and big names set to hit free-agency after the playoffs and an uncertain future. The ti
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