With the Philadelphia Phillies running away with the National League’s best record and the Eagles seemingly adding every available NFL star to their roster, it makes a basketball fan wonder just how far behind the 76ers are in joining the elite ranks in their sport.
The standard set for this kind of dominance was none other than Bean Town. From 2006-2008, the baseball, football and basketball teams from Boston established a code of dominance we’d not seen in years. Here’s a rundown:
- New England Patriots – Undefeated in regular season (2007), Lost in AFC Championship (2006)
- Boston Red Sox – AL Pennant (2007) World Series Champs (2007) Lost ALCS (2008)
- Boston Celtics – NBA Finals Champ (2008) Won 62 games (2008-09)
Most importantly, the teams from New England clearly struck fear into the minds of opposing teams and fans and were often favored to be top-tier finishers even when the end of the season didn’t turn out that way.
With the Eagles now tied at 6-to-1 odds to win the Super Bowl (along with the Patriots and Packers) and the Philadelphia Philles at 9/4 odds to win the World Series, we may very well be entering a period of dominance for sports in the city of brotherly love.
I asked Sean O’Connor of The Sixer Sense if he felt the 76ers’ new billionaire owner Joshua Harris was set to make Philly a basketball town again. He said it was legitimately possible, with the exception of the insane 15+ year TV deal with Comcast (the sellers of the team. Hmm.)
Could that bad contract could be less painful if a new revenue-sharing system makes up for poor attendance records while the team rebuilds?
“It could, since the team isn’t a big revenue maker. The team’s in the second biggest 1-team market, and recent ratings were up,” O’Connor told me.
The 76ers are in a pretty good cap situation as well, coming in right around $54 million for next year but only $39 million in 2012-13 with a team option for Andres Nocioni (um, no thanks). Given that they could have young point guard Jrue Holiday under $4 million through 2013-14, the tradability of Andre Iguodala and the relative youth/price tag of the rest of the roster, the only negatives for Philly is that Comcast contract and Elton Brand (who is productive but not $18 million-a-year productive).
Along with the Pacers and Jazz, I’d say that the Philadelphia 76ers are prepped to be one of the better-positioned teams in the next two years. Which is good, seeing as how my bid to purchase the team when it was up for sale with O’Connor and KL Chouinard only rounded out to a $17.14 investment and a sandwich coupon. So close!
What do you think? How sunny is it in Philadelphia?
The newest edition to The Hoop Doctors writing staff, Dane Carbaugh is the editor and lead writer of the popular new basketball blog A Young Sabonis. Dane is a published research author and also writes for Dime Magazine and the ESPN TrueHoop Affiliate Portland Roundball Society. He can be found on Twitter at @DaneCarbaugh
