You can't lump these Sixers in with the team's past playoff failures

With the Sixers' dropping a 118-115 heartbreaker to the Knicks in Game 6, their season is over. As the Wells Fargo Center cleared out for the final time Thursday, the bottom line is the Sixers came up short, like they have in every season of the Joel Embiid era.

But lumping the 2023-24 Sixers in with the iterations that produced unfathomable postseason meltdowns is myopic. This team went through hell during the regular season and showed plenty of heart in six white-knuckle games against a tough New York team. Despite the disappointment of another season of failing to get past the second round, there is genuine hope for the future.

We'll start where all things start with the Sixers: Embiid. Man, this guy battled. Meniscus surgery, Bell's palsy, the weight of an entire franchise on his shoulders — Embiid fought through a lot for his team. If you look back on his past playoff performances, this was different. Instead of letting the various ailments consume him, he withstood them and had some of his best postseason moments.

He was spectacular in Game 6, posting 39 points and 13 rebounds. He kept the Sixers in the game all night as Tyrese Maxey struggled after a stellar Game 5.

And that in itself feels like a big deal. Embiid didn't passive-aggressively criticize anyone. He shared genuine enthusiasm for the Sixers' future and his partnership with Maxey. Next season will be the pair's fifth together, the type of continuity Embiid has been longing for with a co-star.

"I've got to be better," Embiid said postgame. "Starting with myself, the whole series I could've been better. Maybe if I was better, we would've won it, so that's on me. That's why we lost. Just got to find a way to get better as a basketball player, as a person, as a leader and come back and hope that everything else aligns.

"(Maxey) has a chance to do something special next year again. I hope he becomes All-NBA this year, but I think he can be in stuff like MVP conversations. I think he can take that next step."

Embiid's attitude throughout the series and in his postgame availability felt so different than years past. There were no excuses (you can count the continuity factor as an excuse — this writer will not). Nobody was thrown under the bus. There were no regrets. No colossal failures.

The truth is the future is bright. Embiid is under contract with no sign that he wants to be anywhere else. As soon as they're able, the Sixers will get Maxey's max contract ready for him to sign the dotted line. Head coach Nick Nurse is only just beginning to implement his culture. President of basketball operations Daryl Morey has something he hasn't had in a long time (ever?): cap space, assets and tons of flexibility.

Plus, Tobias Harris' albatross contract is gone. There will be plenty of folks piling on Harris — rightfully so after the "assassin scorer" put up a goose egg in his final game in Philly — but let's touch on it briefly. The list of players you could swap for Harris and have that series go the other way is extensive. Quite frankly, if you swapped any of the Knicks' supporting cast for Harris, it's the Sixers who are likely advancing.

That also means there are no excuses for Morey. The slate is as clean as you can get. Embiid is the only player on a guaranteed contract as of now. Maxey isn't going anywhere. Beyond that, Morey has the ability to go in any direction he chooses.

Does Morey go after a big fish like LeBron James or Paul George in free agency? Does he try to poach someone like Jimmy Butler in a trade? Does he mostly run it back with less glamorous but notable upgrades?

Embiid is as curious as the rest of us (at least according to him).

"That's a great position to be in," Embiid said. "You've got a young superstar [in Maxey] coming in, face of the franchise for his whole career in Philly. That's exciting. … love our guys. I love the guys that we have, but we've just got to make sure we work on ourselves and come back better as basketball players."

It's a shame that this group drew the Knicks. The point differential was literally one for the entire series. The Sixers likely advance against any other team in the East not named the Celtics. There was something special about this team. They showed guts. They picked each other up and seemed to genuinely enjoy playing with one another — a claim no Sixers team in recent memory could make.

This season started with the James Harden situation hovering over them. Hopes were high after the trade as Embiid was somehow even better coming off an MVP season and Maxey was ascending. Embiid's injury — and the injuries incurred by what felt like the entire team — derailed the season. Just hanging on until Embiid got back felt like an insurmountable task.

But they earned their spot in the Play-In game and took care of business against the Heat. They were the No. 7 seed nobody wanted any part of. They gave New York all they could handle. As Josh Hart put it, "Teams were ducking [the Sixers] for a reason."

Despite an early exit, this felt like a team Philly could be proud of.

"When we get out there," Nurse said, "we're going to fight no matter what the score is, if guys are out or injured. Whatever's going on, we've got to go out there and fight. And they certainly did that in this series and for the majority of the season."

There is work to be done, no doubt.

But for once, a Sixers offseason feels like it's filled with more clear objectives and optimism than drama and despair.

"Like I said, we've got some work to do," Nurse said. "We're going to have to figure that out here this summer. But I certainly like where we're going, especially with Tyrese. I think people were wondering where he fit in this thing, but I think we all know now that Joel-Tyrese is a helluva combo to start with. And we've just got to — maybe not tomorrow, but maybe on Monday — get back to work."