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BOSTON – Josh Harris may be the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, but that does not stop him from checking the standings every morning like every other NBA fan. He knows very well that if the season ends today, his Sixers and the Boston Celtics would play one against the other in the first round of the playoffs of the Conference 's. Is.
Harris can also do the math: his club is 2-9 against Boston in the last three regular seasons, and the Sixers were eliminated by the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs last year.
So how will Harris evaluate the season if Philadelphia lost to Boston in the first round in April?
"That would be problematic," Harris replied. "Very problematic, that would not be what we play for.
"We would be unhappy, I would be unhappy, the city would be unhappy, we're going to work hard so that it does not happen, we have enough talent on our list to be able to play the same way" able to play, we can beat any team from the east. "
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Harris, who participated in a panel discussion on "Creating a sporting legacy" at the MIT / Sloan Analytics conference in Boston on Friday, urged his border office to proactively strengthen its alignment by the trading deadline last month. Philly clinched two essential pieces for her race with Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris, both of whom will be free agents this summer.
The Sixers could end up in the purgatory of luxury taxes if both players controlled the maximum salary, which would allow them to pay each north $ 32 million per season, but Harris says he's determined to find the way to sign them.
"We gave up a lot so Tobias and Jimmy were part of our team," Harris told ESPN. "We think these are exceptional talents, we will try to keep them in. We know we will have to pay these guys appropriately."
"We get it – it's expensive."
The Sixers are now among the five most powerful players in the NBA: Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Butler, Harris and perimeter veteran JJ Redick. This is a radical change from Harris's early days within the team when she found herself bogged down in a reconstruction project known as "The Process." Philly has endured the wrath of basketball purists who have condemned his flagrant testing strategy for coveted lottery choices. The NBA has since revised how it manages its lottery to dissuade teams from participating in their own "process".
While Harris enjoyed the excitement of his basketball team in contention, he did not forget the season of the 10 wins in 2015-16 that caused the NBA's – and the bureau's of the league.
"I'm a competitive person and Philly is a competitive city," Harris said. "They like the winners.When we decided to rebuild, we tried to communicate that to the city, but when you live through, it's incredibly difficult.
"And the reality is that it was probably a little deeper than I was expecting.These things are not perfectly predictable.It was incredibly difficult.But what allowed me to to cross – and the city was very supportive of this – continued to focus on creating greatness around the Sixers.
"Now the pressure is strong to deliver."
Embiid, the great charismatic who loves trolling his colleagues in the NBA, did not hide that he often entrusts the Sixers the leadership of the team. The empowerment of the players continues to be a topic, and Harris said that he welcomed the dialogue.
"Joel respects our work," said Harris. "He is our most important player, he is clearly our future – they are all an important part of the future – but Joel is exceptional, we usually talk to him about our direction and the type of players we could bring. We give him a warning about specific conversations, sometimes it's not always appropriate because of the other parties involved, you do not want to compromise the other person or [Embiid] in an uncomfortable position. "But we certainly think all the time about how to complete his skill set, consisting of wings 3 and D, people who broadcast on the field, he is dominant in defense and he is dominant in painting. pressure so that people do not collapse on him. "
Harris acknowledged that the summit of the Eastern Conference is powerful and that the greatest of champions recognize the defending champion. Golden State Warriors as favorites to win again.
"I think we have enough talent to go very far in the playoffs," said Harris when asked if he felt the Sixers were championship contenders this season. "I think we have enough talent to win [it all]. At least we want to make sure we go further in the series than we did last year. We brought a lot of talent here. They have not been together for so long, but we hope to be able to position them for a deep race. It's exciting. I am focused, but I am also nervous. "
The Sixers are not the only team to have key personnel who will become free agents. The aforementioned Celtics are changing with Kyrie Irving, their best player, who sent mixed signals about his plans. A premature exit in the playoffs could also have important consequences for the future of Boston.
Harris acknowledged that trading for players who could distance themselves without any compensation from the team is a nerve-wracking exercise.
"The reality is that, like Tobias and Jimmy, they are just not numerous," he said. "It's never perfect, but when you negotiate a deal with someone who's expiring, there's a risk, so hopefully we can convince them that this is a great place for them.
"For us, success will depend on our playoff win, obviously we would like to have a good regular season as well, but we added and subtracted to win in the playoffs, we won a playoff series. I created more talent on the list.
"We hold ourselves responsible."
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