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Much has been written and said about this season's Philadelphia 76ers, very little of which revolves around their on-court activity.
The focus instead falls upon Ben Simmons and his as-of-yet unfulfilled trade request, which makes sense given his status as a 25-year-old All-Star but also doesn't given the lack of newsworthy developments. His return to the hardwood—be that in Philadelphia or elsewhere—will be a momentous occasion, but the present stalemate isn't much to monitor.
What is worth discussing, though, is the squad's strong 6-2 start, buoyed by an ongoing four-game winning streak. Typically a defensive powerhouse, the Sixers suddenly have the NBA's most efficient offense, per NBA.com, and they've already overwhelmed several opponents with it.
To help shift focus further onto the basketball side of the Sixers, let's check in on how Philadelphia's top stars—the ones actually playing—have handled the first few weeks.
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At some point, the law of averages should catch up to Seth Curry and start regressing his absurd shooting rates back to the mean.
Then again, this scorching start is simply a continuation of his breakout postseason performance. Back then, he was going for 18.8 points on 57.8/50.6/78.9 shooting. Now, he's at 17.1 points with a 61.2/53.7/84.6 slash line.
He already has four 20-point outbursts, and each was engineered on at least 58.8 percent shooting. He has multiple threes in seven of eight games, including one game with seven splashes and another with four on four attempts.
Since he isn't a particularly helpful defender or distributor, his impact largely hinges on his shooting. So far, so great on that front.
Grade: A
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It's been anything but the smoothest start to the season for Joel Embiid.
His co-star is missing in action. He injured his right knee on opening night and had an MRI on it over the weekend. His jumper, which played a huge role in his silver medal finish in 2020-21 MVP voting, hasn't made it to this season yet, and is one of many players struggling to adapt to the league's new ball.
"I'm always not looking for excuses, but the ball is different," Embiid told reporters. "Still [don't] totally feel comfortable with it."
Embiid's shooting, scoring and rebounding are all down, but he's still anchoring the interior on defense and dishing out a career-high number of assists. The Sixers are 5.1 points better per 100 possessions with him than without, which is reason enough to grant him a passing grade.
Grade: B-minus
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At some point, Tobias Harris has to start plateauing, right?
He is 29 years old and in his 11th NBA season. He should be at or nearing the point where improving is off the table and it's all about limiting the effects of inevitable decline.
Harris, though, has somehow kept up his seemingly perpetual improvement. For the third time in four seasons, he's posting a personal-best field-goal percentage (54.3). His 4.2 assists are another career-high. His 24.8 usage percentage has never been higher, per Basketball-Reference, but his 8.4 turnover percentage ranks among the lowest he has ever tallied.
Add it all up, and you have the best player efficiency rating of his career (23.0). For the Simmons-less Sixers, Harris doing everything he can to fill the second-star void.
Grade: A-minus
Grading Joel Embid, 76ers' Top Stars to Open 2021-22 NBA Season - Bleacher Report
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