I'm Disappointed, But Not Angry. It Was Still The Year To Me.

They didn't win a championship -- or even a single playoff round -- but Spike still doesn't feel like the Sixers let him down this year.

If you were to describe Mike and me to a stranger who had never listened to the Ricky, you’d say Mike is the emotional one who knows basketball, and I’m the pragmatic one who is usually negative. This can often make me pretty irritating. 

But pragmatically is how I think about the Sixers, for better or for worse. It is who I am, in part, because of how this team has been built and the experience we’ve had cheering for them over the years. 

I am disappointed that the season is over, that the Sixers lost to the Knicks in the first round. However, I am not angry, embarrassed, or disappointed in their performance or effort. I’m actually sort of happy with it. This may be loser shit, but sometimes I am a loser.

The truth is, this was never likely to end in a championship, even from the very beginning. Most teams don’t ever win championships. The Thunder built a young team around Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook and never won a title. The current super-fun Thunder will likely never win a title. It’s easy to forget how fucked up and chaotic it’s been with the Sixers for over a decade now because we’ve been in the middle of it, but when you start writing down all of the crazy shit that’s happened (starting with Okafor’s fight in Boston), it becomes pretty clear what a long shot it is that the Sixers will overcome all of it enough to be the last team standing. 

I remember being aghast several years ago when Mike told me he believed there was a FIFTY PERCENT chance that Embiid and Simmons would win a title together. Fifty! Truly my brain was locked more on something like five percent. 

So with the idea of a championship as sort of a comfortable fever dream, my interest in this team is largely centered around the ups and downs, success and failures, and growth of Joel Embiid, and to a lesser extent, Tyrese Maxey (I’m sorry, he just wasn’t here for a lot of the worst of it. I’m sure he’ll see some fucked up stuff too). And this year, Joel became a different guy, grew, and did not let me down.

When I proclaimed it to be The Year in December, I said it was not about winning a title (for me). I also spoke about it a little more emotionally in a solo pod I did around the same time. Truly, all The Year meant to me is that I was fully willing to trust that they would not embarrass us.

Will they win the title? I don't know. Probably not. But I do know, in my heart, they will not let me down like they did before. They will run through the finish line. They will do us proud. They have learned, like we have learned. They are different, and they deserve our faith and belief.

Once the season started with the Harden situation, the odds that it would come together as a championship team were almost zero, unfortunately. Their projected win total (at Draft Kings) at the start of the season was 46, and they hovered around +2000 to win the title most of the year. Because of Embiid’s injury, they ended up as the 7 seed, having to face the sort of team that they would normally avoid until the Conference Finals (LOL) or at least the second round. This is not an excuse, it is reality. I would guess this season had the lowest championship odds heading into the playoffs than any Sixers team of the Process era.

Limited Edition 'The Year' Stateside Bottle

Their starting lineup in this series included 38 year old Kyle Lowry at point guard, a minimum contract acquired in the buyout market, who Embiid played about six games with prior to the Knicks series. It also included another minimum guy in Kelly Oubre, because of Melton’s injury, and Tobias Harris, who sucks and was making $40 million a year (nice guy though). The rest of the rotation was rounded out with Cam Payne and Buddy Hield, players who Embiid had only played with for about a week before the postseason, Nic Batum, who is 38 and who they traded for during the season, and BBall Paul. This is not an excuse, this is reality. 

And the Sixers were different. I do not feel like a fucking idiot. They came back and battled back in ways that we have not seen, and I was proud to watch. Embiid had numerous opportunities to no-show, and he threatened to do it, but always returned to form. It was like that feeling you get when the vomit gets to the bottom of your throat, and you decide “not today,” and send it back down into your stomach. It burns, it sucks, but it’s better than puking in the car. 

Finally, A Loss That Ends the Sixers' Season Without Ending the Whole World With It

I’ve said many times, I’d rather not win a championship with Joel than win one without him. I’d rather see this through and complete the story with him, good or bad. The most difficult part of this season is I probably feel a little less optimistic that he’ll ever get through a playoffs healthy, but I feel more optimistic that he won’t simply check out when things aren’t going his way. 

We also got to see Tyrese Maxey bloom into a full-blown star, and then even get to do the thing that really makes you a star: eat some shit when you do not come through in a big game. The true measure of Maxey is not that we celebrate when he has a great game, but that we are disappointed in him when he doesn’t. It’s sort of the move from backup QB to starting QB. He’s getting some heat for his 6-18 showing in Game 6, which I look at as a blessing. 

While Daryl Morey’s tenure here has been a mix of good moves, bad moves, and “he walked into a fucked situation,” it is this offseason where the pressure is finally resting firmly on him. After being at least partially hamstrung by the Sixers’ circumstances his first four summers here, this time he’s got plenty of cap space, four or five first round picks, and the tradeable non-guaranteed contract of Paul Reed (sorry BBall). He’s got both a Batman and a Robin. This time, no excuses buddy, this one’s on you. And even after Daryl remakes the roster, they’ll again be largely rolling into a season with a completely new team, and a completely new team almost never wins a title the first year. The chances are once again massively against them winning a championship, and that’s OK. They always will be. 

I can appreciate people, like Mike, who are completely heartbroken about another year without advancing past a good team in the playoffs. But for me, I walk away from this season with a smidge of optimism and no anger at all. Thankful that we got to do all of this for another year. And everyone knows, the true Ricky season is the off-season anyway. 

PS: I’ve gotten some blowback, not much, on The Year t-shirts, etc… You should know, we don’t do the merch for the money, we don’t make very much after our partner takes their cut, and we pay Tanner or Abbie or whoever did the art. Also, the t-shirt is fucking sick, even though they lost in the first round. But to that end, I’ll donate my portion of it to the Small Moments Foundation, which you’ll learn about next week. It’s a local charity that supports kids who have lost a parent to cancer, and was started by the widow of a Ricky guy who died far too young. 

PPS: Huge shout out to our Ricky writing crew, let by the great Andrew Unterberger. Between the pod, the writing, the art, the video, I am incredibly proud to be part of all of this.