Helin: Nothing But Positives For Sixers Going Forward

Now that the 76ers season has ended with an exit in the Second Round of the NBA Playoffs, the focus moves to the offseason and preparations for the 2018-19 season.  As questions revolve around the team concerning what they should do in Free Agency, who they should bring back and how the Sixers can improve the roster, it should not be overlooked how far this team has already come in a short time.  The progression in wins over the last three seasons, from 10 to 28 to 52, is unprecedented and the development of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric and TJ McConnell was key to the 76ers leap to success in a short period of time.

NBCSports.com Lead NBA Writer/Managing Editor Kurt Helin joined Mike Gill on Thursday discussing the progression of the Sixers and takeaways from their loss to Celtics in five games:

“This was a 28 win team a year ago that won 50 plus game (this year and) made the second round - I get it, Boston is without their two stars…but honestly, that’s still a good team and the lesson to be taken away from this is: Your weaknesses get exposed in the playoffs, whether it was Embiid’s conditioning and he can’t finish that last shot on (Aron) Baynes, Ben Simmons’ shooting….And Boston was better at being a little bit deeper and hiding their weaknesses.  And that’s how you learn to play – Michael Jordan got his head kicked in for years by the ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons, LeBron (James), Kobe (Bryant), name the star going back in time, they have to learn how to win in the playoffs.  I think that’s what this experience was (for the Sixers), but that said it was such a huge step forward, to me this team is still, if anything, ahead of the curve it was expected to be on.  So to me, it’s nothing but positives for this team going forward.”

Checkout what Helin had to say about the Sixers upcoming offseason, thoughts on Brett Brown as Head Coach, and look ahead to Celtics match-up with the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals