If you’re a pessimist, the [Sixers](https://www.libertyballers.com) season is over. If you’re an optimist, the Sixers season just started.
The pessimist views a 7-15 record thru 22 games as proof the team is not deep enough to withstand what appears to be a season of load managing both Joel Embiid and Paul George. The pessimist probably doesn’t care about the fact that the Sixers are tied in the loss column with Chicago and Indiana, the final two teams currently occupying play-in tournament spots in the Eastern Conference standings. The pessimist would argue that a spot in the play-in tournament would only end the way last year’s season did in the first round and therefore is already confident that a deep playoff run is not going to happen in 2025.
The optimist just saw a suddenly spry-looking Embiid in Chicago. The optimist saw a few good George games and thinks he’s settling into a new environment after a bit of a rocky start. The optimist does care about the standings because they’re a measurement of where the Sixers are relative to the rest of the East and with the exception of Boston and Cleveland, no one in the conference has separated themselves from the pack. Therefore, the optimist still views gaining a top six seed and avoiding the play-in tournament as a firm possibility.
There are still 60 games left for the Sixers so the truth probably lies somewhere in between for the team’s fate for the remainder of 2024-2025 given how much meat is still on the bone. But what we do know for certain is that the Sixers are now beginning a stretch in which they will only play two games in 10 days. With the NBA Cup taking center stage, and the Sixers having already been eliminated, they’ll host Indiana on Friday. Then they visit Charlotte next Monday before resuming a more normal schedule on Friday, Dec. 20, against Charlotte again.
If you believe in momentum, perhaps you think the Sixers will cool off with all these days away from game action and they’ll be a bit rusty. However, there’s a strong argument to be made that for a team that has such a strong emphasis on load management, that this upcoming stretch of days off will allow the Sixers to find the best version of themselves. One would think Embiid, George and Tyrese Maxey are finally going to be on the court for consecutive games now.
Consider the rest of December to be the first true barometer for what the ceiling is for this year’s Sixers. Even when they resume a more regular cadence of games, the Sixers will not have a back-to-back for the remainder of the month. While it’s only eight games for the team between now and the new year, if they win at least six of them, there’s a chance the greater narrative surrounding this season could take a positive turn after such an ugly start.
To be clear, even if the team ends the calendar year on a high note, I wouldn’t expect the load management plans for Embiid or George to deviate at all when we flip the page to 2025. So, it’s likely that the team could return to lots of inconsistent availabilities come January and inconsistent results may in turn follow. That’s why the rest of December feels pretty important.
The off days should allow for all the key players to be available when they do play games during the next three weeks. If they can string together a good month of play, we’ll at least have some results to point to as evidence that they could still be a dangerous team come the spring if the plan to have Embiid and George at full bore by April bears fruit.