Is Philadelphia a ‘legit’ title contender with LeBron?
Yahoo Sports contributor Tom Haberstroh and NBA writer Dan Devine debate if LeBron James pushes the Sixers closer toward ending their 43-year championship drought. Check out the full conversation on "The Big Number" and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
This LeBron James move is seismic.
I don't think I'd put them above the New York Knicks for the, championship favorite.
I think the biggest injury question in the game is Joel Embiid, and that remains with LeBron James.
Of course.
And I think, actually, LeBron James, you're gonna see a lot of LeBron at the five.
But Dan, my f- my, the fit questions are still here that I don't know how you can look at the Philadelphia 76ers and say they're the championship favorites now when everything rests on Joel Embiid's health.
38 games played last year, and has not been healthy for a postseason run, a deep postseason run in his entire career.
And they don't have much in the way of backups there.
Ariel Huckporty is the backup center, Adem Bona.
I have serious questions about whether they're built to win a championship right now in the frontcourt.
In the backcourt, certainly.
But Dan, LeBron James, I think, was looking to go to a team that he didn't have to play 75 games in the regular season and carry them in the postseason.
But with LeBron James and Joel Embiid, I, I still worry.
And maybe those worries wouldn't be allayed in any other place.
You know?
Like, I would still have injury questions around Giannis, still have injury questions around Draymond and Steph and K- Kristaps Porzingis, James Harden at this point.
Dan, I kinda feel like, I'm nitpicking here by saying the 76ers still, I'm not, I, I'm not willing to go and put them as the championship favorites even though they got Jaylen Brown and LeBron James.
Am I crazy?
I don't think that's crazy.
I mean, there's, there's als- there's so much to dig into here.
I'm glad that we're having a, a live podcast today to do it.
You mentioned the Joel Embiid component.
Obviously, this is the big swing.
It was gonna be the big swing factor before the LeBron deal.
It is the big swing factor now.
The entire enterprise here rests upon the health of Joel Embiid.
He has played, over the last three seasons, 109 total regular season and playoff games.
Over those three seasons, with him on the floor, plus 356 in just over 3,600 minutes.
With him off the floor, minus 729 in just over 9,200 minutes.
It is, it's the, it is the gulf.
It is the, the Grand Canyon of u- of, effectiveness in terms of, being on the floor and off the floor.
Ariel Huckporty was the third-string center on the Knicks.
Adem Bona got played off the floor in the sweep at the hands of the Knicks.
I don't know that they are changing your life in those situations.
I think the idea of LeBron at the five in the non-Embiid minutes or in those games where Embiid's not available, I think that's interesting.
I don't know that it's an answer.
But if you're looking at what are m- what are our available ways to improve this roster as it exists with basically just a little over the minimum available to us or the minimum available to us, hard to come up with a better answer than LeBron James, who again, last we saw him, was averaging 23 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists per game in the playoffs and was the best player on a team that won an opening round playoff series.
So that's a decent answer at the minimum
