The Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics were already the two driving forces in the Eastern Conference.
However, the moves they made in the past couple of days got them even more over the top.
Even so, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid doesn’t believe either the Bucks or Celtics have surpassed them, according to his latest statements on Media Day (Via Austin Krell and NBACentral).
“Who says they surpassed us?”
– Joel Embiid on the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics
(Via @NBAKrell ) pic.twitter.com/yBd4tmBrPL
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 2, 2023
Truth be told, the Sixers haven’t been able to get past the second round in quite a while, and a lot of that has had to do with the Celtics’ dominance over them.
They could even taken them down last season but missed two chances of closing them out, which eventually led to Doc Rivers’ firing.
Of course, they have the reigning MVP in Joel Embiid, a budding star in Tyrese Maxey, whatever they can get for James Harden, some depth, and a nice coach in Nick Nurse, but that may not be enough.
The Bucks acquired the elite shooter and closer they needed by trading for Damian Lillard, and the Celtics swapped one elite backcourt defender for another by getting Jrue Holiday.
In all reality, the Sixers are the ones that need to prove themselves in the East.
Embiid has left a lot to be desired in the postseason every time, either because of exhaustion, injury, or both.
Things just got a lot tougher in the East, and the Sixers will have to try and level the field with some big moves of their own as well.
