Philadelphia 76ers

Josh Harris Says Sixers Can Recover From Slow Start Like Phillies

Philadelphia 76ers' managing partner Josh Harris said on Monday that he feels good about the season despite a slow start.

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Josh Harris says Sixers can recover from slow start like Phillies originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

There's a famous saying that goes: "It's not how you start, it's how you finish."

That's exactly how the 76ers' managing partner Josh Harris feels about the start of the NBA team's 0-3 season.

But he says there's no need to fret because the Philadelphia Phillies were able to claw their way back into the World Series after a slow start in the MLB regular season so the Sixers can mimic that. 

"Obviously we are very disappointed with our start," Harris said at the Business of Sport US Summit on Monday. "There are lots of examples, including one in Philly called the Phillies where people have started a little slow and have come back."

The 76ers' weak start included a poor loss to the Spurs on Saturday night where the team received boos at the final buzzer moments after fans were elated when an update on the Phillies' NLCS game against the Padres had appeared on the Jumbotron.

"We're all in on the season, I think we have a lot of talent and we're together as an organization.. this is our year," Harris added. "Games four through 82 await us."

In another example of teams that have combated slow starts, Harris says the Boston Celtics showcased that turnaround last season. 

For Boston, the 17-19 start of the 2021 season led the team to focus on the big picture and the need for urgency.

As far as the ongoing tanking issue that the NBA continues to deal with, Harris says relegation, an idea the league's commissioner Adam Silver put down last week, is not a feasible option.

"I don't think it [relegation] necessarily makes sense," Harris said. "The NBA is doing great, it's growing, it's very competitive, different teams win at different times ... I think there are better ways to do it."

The statement comes as Silver addressed a solution the league could enforce to ensure the worst-performing teams are incentivized to win. He said that would require relegation, demoting the worst one or two teams to the G League while boosting the best couple of teams from the G League to the NBA. 

He went on to say that relegation would be “destabilizing” to the NBA and “disrupt our business model” but “even if you took two teams up from the G League, they wouldn't be equipped to compete in the NBA."

The 76ers are set to take on the Indiana Pacers on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.

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