76ers Ranked Highly Within ESPN's Power Rankings
When someone thinks about the best teams in the NBA, they think of the reigning champion Golden State Warriors, the Milwaukee Bucks, or even the Phoenix Suns, who fell short of their goals during the playoffs.
All of these teams find themselves ranked highly in ESPN's power rankings for the 2022-23 NBA season, which includes the Philadelphia 76ers in tenth place.
ESPN's reason for ranking the Sixers so highly revolves heavily around their offseason transactions, which proved to patch a lot of holes that the team had throughout the 2021-22 season.
The article highlights the additions of De'Anthony Melton, Danuel House Jr., and P.J. Tucker, who were able to join the Sixers thanks to James Harden's pay cut, which are enough to patch the holes which previously plagued Doc Rivers' side.
This reasoning shouldn't come as a surprise given that other NBA insiders such as David Aldridge of The Athletic have gone on and said that Philadelphia has had the best offseason.
Although finding themselves within the top ten, they aren't the highest team in either the Atlantic Division or the Eastern Conference.
To no one's surprise, the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics made their way into the number two slot, with the additions of Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari being enough to have them ranked highly.
Brogden made his move to TD Garden from the Indiana Pacers in a trade that saw Daniel Theis and Aaron Nesmith move elsewhere in the Eastern Conference, while Gallinari penned a two-year deal with the C's after being waived by the San Antonio Spurs.
One team which always proves to be a challenge for Doc River's men is the Milwaukee Bucks, who are ranked as the third-best team in the league. This ranking shouldn't be too appalling, given that the Celtics, who eliminated the Bucks last season, are right above them.
Another team from the Eastern Conference that finds itself ranked highly is the Miami Heat, who are slotted into seventh place. The South Beach side kept their offseason business low, re-signing Victor Oladipo and Dewayne Dedmon while losing Tucker in free agency.
The Heat and Sixers find themselves separated by only three spots, which is fitting given that this was one of the Eastern Conference Semi-Final match-ups, with the Heat winning 4-2.
Given all of the drama that has surrounded the two teams as of late, it would come across as fuel to the fire to see that Philadelphia edges out Ben Simmons and the Brooklyn Nets by one spot.
The reason behind the Nets falling in at the eleventh spot surrounds the durability and straight-up availability of their big three, Simmons, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving. The big three have never played a game together as Simmons sat out the remainder of the season after being included in the trade that sent Harden to the City of Brotherly Love.
Declan Harris contributes to All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @DecIanH.
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