All Those Stars And Philly Still Looked Like They Just Met

Philly finally put LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe together, and the funniest part is the Nets still won 114-108. 😂 Now I'm not acting like preseason is a championship referendum, but if we're gonna get excited about a roster with that many big names, we've gotta talk about how they actually looked together. Brown had 18 in 24 minutes, Maxey had 14, LeBron put up 10 with five assists and four boards in 18 minutes, and Edgecombe added 11. There were flashes where you could see how uncomfortable this team could make defenses once the timing gets right. Then there was Embiid with six points on one made field goal and eight turnovers in 24 minutes. EIGHT. That's the kind of number that'll jump off the page even if it's October. Brooklyn had young guys like Egor Dëmin putting up 13 and five assists, Julius Randle adding 14 and six boards, and enough ball pressure to make the Sixers work. Philly didn't lose because nobody knows how to play basketball. It looked like a roster where everybody's still figuring out whose turn it is.

And I'm not even touching a Philly points prop with a straight face until I understand how they're splitting this shit up. Brown scored 22 without LeBron, Embiid and Maxey in their first preseason game. Now he's got 18 with them. Neither night is a clean indicator of what his regular-season line should be when all five guys are playing 30-plus minutes. LeBron's five assists in limited time might say something about who organizes the offense. Embiid's eight giveaways say he's still finding his timing, not that he suddenly forgot how to hoop. And the fact that Brooklyn had 14 steals while Philly coughed it up 21 times tells me their problems weren't just missed jumpers. From a FanDuel angle, minutes, turnover rate and touches are the first things I'm checking before I convince myself that a massive name means a free over. The ceiling is obvious. The pecking order ain't. I want to see what they look like when these guys actually get consistent run together before calling them anything.

A superteam on paper still has to learn to pass the same basketball.6IX / THE TAKE