What makes this 76ers team stacked with superstars so unique
originally appeared on
NBC Sports Philadelphia
They're a team of superstars that don't play superstar basketball.
That's the beauty of this 76ers team. They play a brand of unselfish team-first basketball you rarely see from a team loaded with stars.
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LeBron James is one of the two or three greatest players in NBA history, a four-time MVP, a four-time NBA champion, a 1st-ballot Hall of Famer.
Joel Embiid is a seven-time all-star, a former MVP, an Olympic gold medalist and a likely Hall of Famer.
Jaylen Brown is a five-time all-star, an NBA champion, a career 20 points-per-game scorer.
Tyrese Maxey is a two-time all-star, one of only two NBA guards averaging 27.0 points per game over the last four years.
Four certified megastars on one team. And somehow they've figured out how to leave their egos at the front door and play smart, tough, disciplined team basketball, the style of ball you just never see on these superstar-laden teams.
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On offense, they patiently work the ball around, always looking for the open man or a positive matchup. You've got this bunch of big-name, high-priced All-Stars who are just as happy to pass the ball as shoot it. That never happens.
The 76ers are sixth in the NBA in assists, and they're one of only four teams with twice as many assists as turnovers. Smart, unselfish, patient, disciplined.
When an all-timer like LeBron averages 7.3 assists per game that speaks volumes. LeBron is fifth in the NBA in assists per game among forwards, which is wild. You can see the joy on his face when one of his passes leads to a basket. When one of the greatest players in history has that mentality, it rubs off on everyone around him.
Embiid hasn't really got going yet on offense and still takes too many 3's, but he's also embraced the team-first mentality, and his 4.8 assists per game are more than one full assist above his career average and 4th-most in the NBA among centers or forward-centers. And still one of the most dominating defensive players in the league.
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Brown is averaging 27.0 points, which you expect, but he's also averaging 4.3 assists per game, significantly above his career average of 3.8 coming into the season. He's fit in so well so fast you forget its his first season here.
And what can you even say about Maxey? Just a beast. He's averaging nearly 30 points per game but never wastes a possession, always makes the right decision with the ball in his hands and is still finding time to average 4.3 assists per game.
With James, Embiid, Brown and Maxey, the 76ers are the only NBA team with four guys averaging at least 16 points and 4 assists per game. Only the Pacers, Magic and Raptors have three.
But where we're really seeing this group playing out of their minds is on the defensive end, where this bunch of all-stars, including two newcomers, has been astounding.
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The 76ers have the 2nd-best defensive efficiency rating in the league, behind only the Pistons, who they play Wednesday night, and they're allowing the 2nd-fewest points in the league, also behind Detroit. Last year, they allowed 123 points per game through eight games. This year they're at 111.
They're holding teams to 43 percent shooting from the field, 3rd-best in the league and their lowest since 2011-12. Their 9.3 steals per game are 6th-most.
All five starters are among the top 25 players in the league in defensive rating – James is fourth, Embiid 11th, Edgecombe 15th, Maxey 22nd and Brown 23rd. How is that even possible?
It's rare to see superstar-caliber guys play as hard on the defensive end as the offensive end. Everybody on this team embraces it. They hustle, they work, they communicate and most importantly they commit to it.
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The biggest concern when the 76ers built this dream team was that it would be a team of individuals out for themselves, but the reality has been the opposite.
In a very short period of time, they've learned how to play together. How to play for each other.
And we haven't even mentioned V.J. Edgecomb, who at 21 years old has figured out how to assimilate into this loaded lineup, never force anything, wait for his opportunities and make huge shots when he gets his turn. Edgecombe is at 12.7 points and 3.0 assists per game, and his numbers are understandably down a bit from last year, but if that bothers him it sure doesn't show.
And the role players – Dean Wade, Anfernee Simons, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jabari Walker – have each adopted the same ego-free style of basketball, supporting the starters however they need to.
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Nick Nurse deserves a ton of credit for getting this bunch to play this brand of hoops. It's not easy to get any NBA player to put team goals ahead of individual goals. But he's got Hall of Famers and all-stars doing it and having a blast along the way. They all seem to love playing basketball the right way and they seem to love playing together.
The 76ers are 7-1 and looking like a real threat to win the East, and they're doing it by playing the game the right way.
By committing to each other and not themselves.
