Plenty Of Encouraging Signs From Sixers’ Blue X White Scrimmage

The Philadelphia 76ers’ annual Blue x White scrimmage was held at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday afternoon and the event did not disappoint. In addition to clearing the obvious “no one got hurt in a meaningless scrimmage” bar, we witnessed a ton to be excited about with this group heading into the season. Let’s touch on a couple key points:

• Joel Embiid looks healthy

Joel is noticeably trimmer this training camp and has spoken about the benefits of only needing to focus on his game this summer and not rehabbing some injury or coming off surgery. Other folks have reiterated he’s been at practice every day, out there doing everything with no need for load management, maintenance days, etc. We saw some of the benefits of the improved health during the scrimmage. Embiid was hard hedging on defense, something he almost never did last season. He looked spry in dunking down the lane and going up for a block attempt of VJ Edgecombe. Basically, he looked like a man able to let his talent do the talking without having to worry about injury limitations.

• LeBron still looks like LeBron

This point is less discussed than Embiid’s health, but James is a guy turning 42 years old soon who missed time last season with sciatica in his back. It’s fair to be a little trepidatious about how he’ll hold up. But he still looks like LeBron (in a Sixers uniform which still feels surreal). No, not the LeBron of 10 years ago almost singlehandedly taking down the Death lineup Warriors, but the LeBron of the last few years who is still an All-NBA-caliber player. Great to see him out there filling lanes and throwing down dunks; the Sixers in transition are going to be a major problem for the opposition.

• Labaron Philon might be a Day One guy

The rookie did not look the least bit out of place taking the floor with former MVPs and All-NBA players. He showed off smooth handles, defensive chops, and a nice-looking shot. Philon could be forcing his way into the rotation from day one.

• This starting five is awesome.

Sorry for the Captain Obvious statement, and I don’t really have a specific point, but seeing this starting group together was incredible. They were unselfish, working the ball around to find mismatches, and everyone seemed comfortable with each other and capable of working individual two-man games to find buckets. We’ve been talking about the group for a couple months now, but just seeing them on the court in reality is something else entirely. Barring something extremely Sixersy happening, this should be an extraordinarily fun season.

Here’s a full highlight reel of clips from the scrimmage for your enjoyment: