76ers need better Harden, healthy Embiid to contend in East

PHILADELPHIA - The first piece of the 76ers’ offseason is set: Doc Rivers will return to coach next season, early exits and all.

Another question mark seems somewhat settled, James Harden wants to stay in Philly and the Sixers want him back. All signs point to yes, but no deal — one that could be worth nearly $50 million next season — is guaranteed.Outside of NBA scoring champion Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, the rest of the roster is fair game headed into another offseason following a second-round exit, this one in six games to the Miami Heat.The Sixers lost in the Eastern Conference second round four times since 2018 — once as a No.

1 seed — and were swept in the first round in 2020. They haven’t advanced past the second round since 2001 and only twice (1985 the other) since winning their last NBA championship in 1983.Ten years ago, the Sixers were the plucky underdog that knocked off the top-seeded Bulls to reach the second round.

Tired of the early exits, the 76ers soon launched the tirelessly debated Process that yielded Embiid but not much else. The Sixers aren’t about to start again, not with Embiid still in his prime, the Wells Fargo Center packed nightly, and a core that theoretically has pieces that could shape a contender.Under owners Josh Harris and Dave Blitzer, team president Daryl Morey and Rivers, can this franchise ever win a championship, at least while Embiid is under contract through the 2026-27 season?"We’re right there," Rivers said Friday. "We’ve put ourselves in the argument."Oh, there’s plenty of arguing in Philly.Like, why is Rivers coming back?