Long have I stayed silent lo these many years when Philly fans have been dragged through the mud, albeit often rightfully so. Most of my friends are LeBron haters and it’s hard. Embiid has been insufferable at best until recently (except for that shit with that reporter who brought up his dead brother, that shit sucked). But think about what it’s been like to be a sixers fan. I was a kid when AI was here, it was the best. He’s forever my favorite player—his impact on the game is as important as Steph’s, and Steph had such better players around him than Iverson. Since then? Decades of shambles. The Iggy teams were fun but had a low ceiling, although I’d take that over the total irrelevance of The Process. The end of the suffering that was The Process (and of course I was all in to suffer, the best way through the pain of mediocrity is even more pain) was as promising as it was tragic. Utter tragedy. Until Tyrese came around. And then VJ too? But just to waste their windows bogged down with where we knew Jo would end up and Paul Fucking George? (I’m sorry Carl, but I can’t defend this guy anymore). Rarely have we been on this side of a roster move. Trades. Free agent signings. Draft picks. They all end up fucked. ALL. Maybe since Dikembe? Toni Kukoc? You may forget names like Glenn Robinson, Chris Webber, Andrew Bynum, but I don’t. They all hurt just like the big ones. The Fultzs, Simmons’s, the Harden’s. Jaylen’s not perfect, I know that. But a player of his outstanding skill, who is such a unique and thoughtful and good person, is going to be so fun to get behind. I know Jo’s breaking down, I know we may not be at the version of this team that actually wins the title (we thought that about fucking NY though didn’t we?) but I feel momentum around this team that I haven’t felt since the days of George Lynch and Aaron Mckie. And for the price we paid? And got off PFuckingG? And from Boston who pantsed us so many times? Man, maybe something good is finally happening to this team I’ve spent so many years rooting for. When everyone’s talking about the Eagles or pretending they actually like baseball or those two guys who like hockey too much are going on about the Flyers, I’m worried about my basketball team. Remember me when you think about this trade and what it could mean for my team and the league. We’re not all the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, and Spurs. We’re all more like the Clippers, honestly, although with out the bigotry and abuse. Remember me.
