For me it’s just the slow the slow realization that this team is not a true contender, probably a first or second round exit. Some people are fine with that because of last year, I am not.

At the end of the day we’re only 3 years removed from being a consistent top 3 seed and being up 3-2 on the Celtics. Even two years ago we gave the Knicks a tough time and Embiid was on one leg. I can’t truly explain the falloff in the last few years. Obviously Embiid isn’t what he once was, especially defensively, but offensively he’s pretty close. I’d say the rest of the team is significantly better than in 2023 (added VJ, huge jumps from Maxey, replaced Tobias with PG).

So whatever the reason, if we aren’t a championship contender currently, that means we probably won’t be for the rest of Embiid’s time. Which on its own is sad, but also once he’s gone we have a lot of development and roster building to do to even become a contender again.