The Philadelphia 76ers were massively underwhelming on the defensive side of the ball in the 2018-19 regular season.
Last regular season, they ranked third in the NBA with a defensive rating of 103.8. But this year, they ranked 14th with a defensive rating of 108.9. For a team whose identity had been built on their defense, it was a pretty surprising decline.
Of course, this team looks a lot different from last year’s group.
Giving up Robert Covington (a first team All-Defensive player) was always going to hurt, but getting Jimmy Butler (a four-time second team All-Defensive player) in return meant the downgrade should be minimal.