A few offseason adjustments have made a world of difference in the City of Brotherly Love.
And now, the Philadelphia 76ers sit on top of the East nearly a quarter of the way through the season.
Since the franchise fired former coach Brett Brown, hired Doc Rivers and added Daryl Morey as president of basketball operations, it has been smooth sailing.
The Sixers currently sit at 12-6, good enough for not only first place in the Eastern Conference but also the fourth-best record in the NBA.
The team has displayed noticeable differences so far this season, and it starts with the 3-point shooting.
Through 18 games, the Sixers are attempting 32 3-pointers per night and shooting 36.1% as a team.
If those numbers were to hold over the course of the season, it would be the most 3-point attempts per game for the franchise since Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons took the court together for the first time in 2017.
The shift is due in large part to the work Morey did in acquiring ace shooters on the wing, specifically three-time champion Danny Green and veteran guard Seth Curry.
Green and Curry both help fill out the Sixers' starting lineup, and they are shooting 36.5% and 53.7%, respectively, from 3-point range while making a combined 11.3 attempts per game.
That marksmanship from deep, combined with the contributions of Tobias Harris (45.8% from 3), has provided space for the All-Star duo of Simmons and Embiid to have their way in the paint.
Despite averaging a career-low 12.8 points per game, Simmons is stuffing the stat sheet, averaging 8.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists and leading the Sixers with 1.7 steals per night.
Then there's the big guy.
In 14 games, Embiid is putting up career highs in field-goal percentage (55.4), 3-point percentage (40.5) and free-throw percentage (83.3) while averaging 27.7 points and 11.5 rebounds.
His early-season dominance has his name firmly in the conversation for league MVP, and right now, he would get the vote of ESPN's Max Kellerman, as Kellerman noted on First Take.
"First of all, his team has the best record in the conference, and it's largely because of him. And it's not just the offense, but defensively – especially at the start of this season – I thought he's been the best player on this team."
Through his first four seasons, the All-Star center showed flashes of brilliance, turning himself into one of the NBA's premier inside presences.
Now, his routine dominance has him brushing shoulders with legends of Sixers past, as he was recently named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for the fifth time in his young career.
After three consecutive postseason letdowns — losses in the conference semifinals in 2018 and '19 followed by a disappointing first-round exit in 2020 — it might finally be time for optimism regarding the Sixers’ chances of making a deep playoff run.
Nick Wright said earlier this month that he has been thoroughly impressed by Philadelphia and is ready to peg the squad for a spot in the NBA Finals, as he discussed on First Things First.
"Right now, Philly looks awesome. Embiid's playing well. Doc Rivers looks like a massive upgrade."
More than the improved production of individual players, what Rivers is demanding from the team as a whole has created a stark contrast from previous years, according to Harris, as detailed by Michael Kaskey-Blomain of CBS Sports.
"What he's asking of this team is to play the right way, move the basketball, play with one another, use your teammates – really be a collective group," Harris said, noting Rivers has brought a new level of accountability to the team.
Finally, the Sixers are playing up to the sum of their parts, led by a coach who knows what it takes to get to the NBA Finals.
If they can keep it up, the Eastern Conference playoffs could run through Philadelphia this spring – a city just a little west of Brooklyn.
