That acknowledged as a side-entrance variety of compliment, the last 12 months did include a Super Bowl, an MVP, an NLCS, plentiful star-level players and ownership willing to inside-out pockets to acquire talent.

Could have been worse. At least no one was willing to postpone winning in order to draft Jahlil Okafor.

So before it fades into the mist as another parade-free waste of parking-lot fees, here is the top 10 list of sports figures who made 2023 captivating on or around Pattison Ave. For the record, the individual who decided Craig Kimbrel deserved his own cockamamie light show finished dead last.

1. Jalen Hurts: While there is no printed rule for choosing the essential Philadelphia Sports Figure of the Year, having an MVP candidacy and leading a team to within a possession of a Super Bowl championship works. And while the Eagles’ quarterback finished the year performing as something less than the highest-paid footballer ever, as he was for a moment earlier this year, he still has the Eagles likely to finish 13-4 and contend in more games that end in Roman numerals.

2. Joel Embiid: Don’t remember who first declared in print six years ago that the center was the most talented player, skill for skill, ever to play for the Sixers — wait a minute, it was right here — but by 2023 there was no disputing Embiid was the best player in the NBA. Finishing as the leading scorer for a second consecutive season, Embiid was named the 2022-23 MVP, then went on a statistical rampage of historic proportion to help the 2023-2024 Sixers win 21 of their first 30 games.

3. Howie Roseman: After stitching together the Eagles’ second Super Bowl team in six years, the most effective personnel director in the NFL chased the achievement with a Draft Night for the ages, winding up with the player said to be the best in the draft in Jalen Carter and a linebacker he wanted in Nolan Smith, while rolling some capital to Detroit for D’Andre Swift to upgrade the running game.

4. Bryce Harper: It is one thing for a player to blabber about how hard he wants to play in order for a city to enjoy a championship. It’s another to insist on coming back from complicated elbow surgery in such record time that hair-combing still brings pain, then learn another position, then bang clutch, late-inning hit after clutch, late-inning hit to push a team into the postseason.

5: Tyrese Maxey: In addition to his continued rise to All-Star-level backcourt play, the 21st overall pick in the 2020 draft came to embody the reality that it takes scouting instincts — not lost games — to add franchise-changing talent. Nightly displaying breathless joy for his job, he’s made himself into a reliable three-point shooter and is maturing into a winning point guard.

6: Nick Sirianni: Only four coaches have led the Eagles to a Super Bowl, and he did so by winning 14 games in just his second season largely by committing to and benefiting from the development of Hurts as an MVP candidate. And even if he did take it one Sixers throwback jersey too far, he did exhibit an appreciation for the city and its sports history.

7: Dan Hilferty: After too many years of lost leadership and cheap, rarely to be delivered promises, Comcast-Spectacor finally turned to a proven business leader with a life-long grip on what works in Philadelphia to restore relevance to the Flyers. That, he did by trusting the institutional knowledge of Keith Jones and Daniel Briere while promising to rebuild without tanking. By December, the Flyers already had their image cleansed. To boot, the Saint Joseph’s grad breathed life into the wheezing Big 5 with a one-day, Wells Fargo Center tournament successful beyond expectation.

8. Jaron Ennis: At 26, he scored impressive victories over Karen Chukhadzhian and Roiman Villa — who were a combined 47-2 — to finish the year as the IBF welterweight champion. At 31-0-0, the North Philadelphia product was named Philadelphia’s Most Outstanding Pro Athlete by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association.

9: Jim Curtin: As he has through his nine-plus seasons in charge, he did more with less and managed the Union into its sixth consecutive postseason, reached the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League and finished third in Leagues Cup play.

10: Zack Wheeler: He struck out 212 batters in 32 games, earned a Gold Glove and allowed six earned runs over three postseason starts, reinforcing his status as one of baseball’s more reliable and dominating starting pitchers.

Next up, 2024. Nick Nurse and John Tortorella already have their hats in the ring. Hats are never the problem, though. Rings are.

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com.

But, wait, said Nick Nurse.

There’s more?

“I think so,” the Sixers’ coach was saying of Joel Embiid before a 121-111 victory over the Toronto Raptors. “Yes.”

Embiid will turn 30 in March and was on a pace to join Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor as the only players in league history to average at least 35 points and 10 rebounds for a season. He has posted career highs in scoring average, made field goals, free throws made, free throw percentage, offensive rebounds and assists. He’d also been averaging 1.1 steals, tying his career high.

So if the Chamberlain-Baylor Hall of Fame level is not his career destiny, then what other level is there for the two-time defending scoring champion to reach?

“I just think he can continue to go forward with the things he can do,” Nurse insisted. “He can do a lot of things. There’s a lot of things he can do yet that I don’t think we’ve seen on a consistent basis.”

Continuing his record pace Friday, Embiid did plenty, furnishing 31 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists as the Sixers improved to 20-8 with their eighth victory in their last nine games.

Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris led all scorers with 33 points apiece. It’s the first time since 1961 that three 76ers have scored 30 or more points in the same game, when Dolph Schayes, Hal Greer and Dick Barnett did so.

Pascal Siakam led Toronto, which remained stuffed at the bottom of the Atlantic Division at 11-17, with 31 points.

But as well as Embiid is performing, Nurse is convinced opposing coaches soon will test him with new defenses and challenges. Exactly what trickery has not been already been tried against the 10th-year veteran is unclear — Nurse tried plenty when he used to coach the Raptors, for one — but apparently they are coming.

By the way, warns Nurse, Maxey should be prepared for that, too.

”I think you are going to see different matchups and schemes thrown at them every game,” Nurse said. “Where they are going to improve is in how they handle all those, right? Some teams are trying to put size on Tyrese and size on Joel and then switch them. How are we going to handle that?

“Some teams are starting to blitz Tyrese a little more. You could go through a lot of things. There is a variety of schemes and stuff they are going to see.”

Embiid Friday became the first player since the ABA-NBA merger to tab at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in 13 straight games, breaking the record of 12 that had been held by Moses Malone and Shaquille O’Neal.

“Joel’s getting better,” Nurse said. “He’s got a ways to go yet.”

• • •

As the Sixers completed the pre-Christmas portion of their season, typically, a checkpoint for NBA teams, the coach continues to suggest Maxey is a lead-guard-in-progress.

“For me, I still think Tyrese is just getting started on ‘running the team, organizing, having the ball’” Nurse said. “I think he is making really good strides with it. But I just think that needs time.”

Maxey entered the game with a 26.1 point scoring average, with about a 6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio and as a 40 percent three-point shooter. And he had been running the team well enough to help Embiid fashion some history-challenging numbers.

Nurse, though, has consistently refused to declare the project complete.

“That needs time,” he said. “That needs different situations. That needs different game plans that you’ve got to fight through. You have to build up your tolerance for being able to handle that, both physically and mentally. I think that over the course of a game or a season or a playoff series, whatever it is, there’s a lot of growth there for him.”

• • •

Much as Nurse is expecting more from Maxey and Embiid, Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic has seen enough to be a believer.

“They are producing every single night,” he said. “They create problems for every team throughout the league. But that’s the beauty of the game: When you have two guys like that, you go out and you find ways to compete. That’s what makes you better. That’s what makes this a beautiful game.”

• • •

NOTES >> Patrick Beverley (right heel soreness) and De’Anthony Melton (left thigh contusion) were scratched. … Nico Batum and Mo Bamba were unavailable due to illness. … Despite being listed as ill on the injury report, Robert Covington logged 24 minutes but did not score. … Embiid, Maxey, Tobias Harris, Marcus Morris and Kelly Oubre started. … The Sixers will play at 8 Monday night in Miami.

Joel Embiid being a relatively late entry onto an injury report, and with something of a new discomfort, had Nick Nurse at least a touch concerned Monday.

Several times cited with minor knee or hip soreness this season — then typically finding a magic cure minutes before the presentation of the starting lineups — Embiid tweaked his left hamstring during a morning shootaround Monday and was listed as questionable for a game against the Chicago Bulls, raising the potential crisis level.

“They are going to check it and see where it is,” Nurse said. “I think it’s always concerning when we’re talking about some tightness of the hamstring or something like that. We are going to see how it goes.”

For the Sixers, it went just OK, as Embiid collected 40 points and 14 rebounds, though in a 108-104 defeat.

Embiid did not look to be favoring his hamstring during his 37 minutes, but the Sixers are scheduled to play again Wednesday against the difficult Minnesota Timberwolves and Friday against Toronto.

Embiid has provided at least 30 points and 11 rebounds in 11 consecutive games.

Through 21 games, Embiid had career-high averages of 34.2 points, 10.3 free throws attempted , 89 percent foul-shooting efficiency, 3.0 offensive rebounds , 6.0 assists and a plus-minus of 11.

• • •

The Bulls played their ninth consecutive game without Zach LaVine, who is heavily involved in trade rumors, including a sprinkling involving the Sixers.

The two-time All-Star, who is on a $215 million contract, has been recovering from inflammation in his right foot. Originally feared to be unavailable into January, LaVine has been making progress.

“He is doing some shooting and he is doing some straight-ahead jogging,” coach Billy Donovan said. “He’s been good. The issue for him has been cutting. He has not done any cutting yet. I think they want to give him to to kind of build up to that.”

• • •

Notes: Nic Batum started and played 26:49 before leaving early with right hamstring tightness. “It’s sore,” Nurse reported. “It’s sore. I don’t think they think it is too major, but they obviously want to take a look more seriously at it tomorrow.” … Tyrese Maxey saved 15 of his 29 points for the fourth quarter. “He gave us a chance to get it at the end,” Nurse said, “even though I think we were outplayed for most of the game.” … Marcus Morris was scratched with an illness.

That race is over, because an injured, 29-year-old with six years of big-league experience, a .274 career batting average and exactly zero playoff appearances just grabbed $700 million from the Dodgers.

Seven hundred of them. Seven. Numbing, is what it was. So numbing, apparently, that the masses apparently forgot to be outraged.

So Shohei Ohtani is a great player; OK, he’s the best in the world at the moment. One reason is that in addition to being a special hitter he can be a No. 1 starting pitcher. But he has some kind of elbow carry-on that will keep him out of the rotation for at least a season, and he rarely is used in the field. So the Dodgers just added a blemished player who just hit over .300 for the first time and committed to him until he was 39.

Among the rationalizations was that he deferred some of the cash in order for the Dodgers to back-door some salary restrictions. Even higher on that list was the claim that, with Ohtani, the Dodgers will move so much swag in Japan and other places to add at least $700 million to the value of their brand.

But if Ohtani is that valuable as a brand manager, why wasn’t his former team somehow elevated to iconic sports status for the past six years instead of being just the Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim or some such tongue-twister?

Not including the mini-season of 2020 — and in that season, they won the whole thing — the Dodgers have averaged 105 wins in the six years Ohtani has worked across the street. Are they going to average 107 now? OK, figure their TV ratings to triple, advertising to follow and for ticket prices, parking fees and Dodger Dog prices to rise. But know that expectations will rise, too. And a contract that cannot be dismissed with a witty political zing is not going to guarantee that they ever are met.

• Because he wasn’t literally caught on film uttering one peep about it, Bryce Harper is technically safe from cross-examination on the matter. But apparently someone in his business posse let it leak that he would like a pay bump and an extension of his $330,000,000 to lifetime status.

Knock it off, B-Harp. You are already signed until you are 39. If you want to play as a quadragenarian for some expansion outfit in Nashville — oddly enough, your new hometown — why should the Phillies care? Think about it: By then, Andrew Painter will be ready to pitch. So there.

• Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are on the Hall of Fame ballot. If they don’t mind being included in a joint that has been soiled by the addition of Scott Rolen, may they all be elected.

• • •

Stunned, I am, that self-driving cars have been recalled for some flaws.

• • •

The curve has passed, and the 76ers are so far behind it that they are dizzy.

Such was the truth revealed last week when the Washington Wizards and Capitals began to plot a move to relocate from a clumsy, inaccessible arena on a crowded street to a more sensible location just outside of the downtown area.

They tried the urban-planning thing since 1997 to some success, but after 26 years, the novelty has crumbled and common sense has made a comeback. Yet there are the Sixers, a quarter century behind the idea, plotting a big-box monstrosity on Market Street in the misguided belief that, overnight, Philadelphia sports fans will have the urge to take SEPTA home from games in the middle of the night.

Given the geography of the area, the Sixers cannot move to any suburb and risk losing millions of fans from South Jersey. So if they insist on a new building, they will need a central location close to highways (and, OK, for those so inclined, a SEPTA terminal), with plenty of parking.

Just thinking out loud: Wonder if Broad and Pattison would ever work as a site for sports arenas?

• • •

Among the reasons I never miss a New Year’s Eve on Times Square is that I can spend $75 to take a selfie with a guy in a filthy Superman costume.

• • •

Not that they don’t all eventually get fired — cripes, even Bill Belichick is on a boiling chair — but it must be great to be an NFL head coach.

Where else in sports can the guy who is supposed to be responsible for the on-field product count on at least two years of fan-whining about the assistants before it’s his turn to take the heat?

Not once in the last three seasons have the Eagles lost a game without Jonathan Gannon, Shane Steichen, Brian Johnson or — quite clearly in the last week, Sean Desai — going on public trial for incompetence.

It’s a beautiful thing — and an NFL head-coaching perk better than Preferred Stadium Parking Spot No. 1.

• • •

Show of hands: Anybody get parade grand marshals?

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com.

INDIANAPOLIS — George McGinnis, a Hall of Fame forward who was a two-time ABA champion and three-time All-Star in the NBA and ABA, died Thursday. He was 73.

The Indiana Pacers said he died early Thursday morning following complications from a cardiac arrest suffered last week at his home. McGinnis also struggled to walk in recent years after undergoing multiple back surgeries because of a hereditary condition.

His uniquely deep, deliberate voice, warm personality and passion for the sport helped him create a tight bond with the fans around his basketball-rich home state, Indiana. Here, they watched McGinnis’ development from Indianapolis prep star into an unstoppable force in his one and only college season at Indiana University before eventually taking the Indiana Pacers to those two titles.

“From his all-state high school days to his time as an IU All-American and, of course, to his legendary ABA championship runs with the Pacers, George McGinnis shaped so many of the fondest basketball memories for generations of Hoosiers,” said a statement from the Simon Family and Pacers Sports & Entertainment. “He was the very definition of an Indiana basketball legend, a champion, and Hall of Fame athlete.”

McGinnis put together a sterling resume few could match — even today.

It all started with McGinnis taking advantage of Spencer Haywood’s Supreme Court victory in 1971 that allowed underclassmen to turn pro based on a hardship case.

McGinnis wound up signing with his hometown team, two years after his father had been killed when he fell off a scaffold while working as a carpenter. His trademark one-handed jump shot helped him become an instant cornerstone in Indiana’s two title runs as well as the Philadelphia 76ers turnaround in the mid-1970s.

The result: He earned multiple all-ABA and all-NBA honors and was named the 1973 ABA playoff MVP in just his second pro season. And after making the ABA’s all-rookie team in 1971-72, he took home all-NBA honors in his first season (1975-76) in the more established league, too.

McGinnis’ best season came in 1974-75 when he won the ABA scoring title (29.8 points per game), finished second in steals (2.6), third in assists (6.3) and fifth in rebounds (14.3). He shared the league’s MVP Award with Hall of Famer Julius Erving, his future teammate in Philly.

For McGinnis, it was just the warmup to a historic playoff performance that included a 51-point, 17-rebound, 10-assist triple-double, two series in which he topped 200 points, 100 rebounds and 50 assists, and although he didn’t win a third title, he was the playoff leader in scoring (581 points), rebounding (286) and assists (148).

Those numbers helped fuel McGinnis’ next trailblazing effort — switching leagues on his terms.

With the ABA struggling financially and the 76ers still holding his contractual rights two years after drafting him in 1973, McGinnis was advised to pursue more money in the NBA. McGinnis wanted to negotiate with a team of his choosing and initially signed a six-year, $2.4 million contract with the New York Knicks.

When NBA Commissioner Larry O’Brien voided the deal and punished the Knicks, McGinnis accepted a six-year, $3.2 million contract with the 76ers that included no‐cut, no‐trade and no-option clauses.

He spent the next three seasons with the 76ers, helping them end a four-year playoff drought as home attendance increased by more than 5,000 per game in his first season. The next season, with Erving, the 76ers reached the NBA Finals before losing to Portland in six games.

McGinnis was traded to Denver in 1978 but was dealt back to the Pacers midway through the 1979-80 season. He finished his 11-year career with 2 1/2 more seasons back home in Indiana.

McGinnis had 17,009 points, 9,233 rebounds and 3,089 assists and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017.

At Indiana, he became the first sophomore to lead the Big Ten in scoring (29.9 points) and rebounding (14.7), earning third team All-American honors after sitting out his freshman season because NCAA rules prohibited freshman from competing.

At Indianapolis Washington High School, McGinnis won the state’s coveted Mr. Basketball Award and Mr. Basketball USA in 1969 while leading his school to the 1968-69 state championship. Washington was just the third undefeated state titlist in Indiana history.

McGinnis also is a member of the Indiana’s athletic Hall of Fame and is one of four former Pacers players to have his jersey number retired.

The second time, it was curious.

Was he sensing something?

While due credit for honoring the spirit of his initial request, the Sixers were 10-3 when Nurse asked again for the 20-game accommodation, passing on a bonus opportunity to perform a little early-season victory soft-shoe. The Sixers were hot, defending well on the perimeter and at the rim and moving more smoothly without the human offensive bottleneck that is James Harden. Looking good, they were.

Still, Nurse hedged.

“We’ve learned a lot about our team,” he said. “I think we’ve played a pretty good variety of teams. But I think we are going to see some different opponents and things coming up. So after 20 games, we will see if our stats hold up.”

So he was seeing something – and then, he would see more. That night, the Sixers would fall in overtime at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who would be without Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert. The next night, Joel Embiid didn’t play – so much for that nonsensical buzz that he was motivated to make 82 starts this season – and they lost by 13 on the road in Minnesota. With that, they had lost four of six, including a home game to the Celtics, who were without Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis.

None of that is a catastrophe – though it did conspire to bounce the Sixers from the money round of the in-season tournament, costing each player up half-a-mil apiece. But after that quick 8-1 start and the corresponding feel-goods, a predictable issue has begun to become a problem.

That bench.

What in the world is that all about?

In the 53-minute Cleveland game, on a night when both teams played with higher-than-usual-November fury in the in-season tournament spirit, the Sixers received six field goals and 16 total points from their reserves. That rose to 30 in the Minnesota game, but only because Nurse was willing to give more players more minutes on the second night of a back-to-back.

As they headed to Oklahoma City for a Saturday game, the Sixers were last in the NBA in bench offense, with an average of 21.7 points per game. That Boston was next-to-last did suggest that the stronger a starting lineup, the less likely a team is to require reserve scoring. But through 82 games, there will be injuries and managed loads and other reasons to require bench oomph – yet there is Nurse, stuck with half-a-G-League roster.

One reason for that is because Kelly Oubre is out with ribs broken in a reported hit-and-run accident, nudging the Sixers’ most valuable reserve – De’Anthony Melton – up to the starting five. But where is Nurse supposed to go from there? There’s Paul Reed, who can score a little whenever Embiid is resting. Danuel House Jr. appears to have some game, but he’s on his second Sixers coach who hasn’t been real quick to give him lengthy shifts. Then what? The Sixers like to tout Patrick Beverley’s understated values on and off the court, but stated values are consequential in the NBA too, and he can’t score. Robert Covington is not even what he was during the process tour. Marcus Morris is too old. Mo Bamba can not play. Furkan Korkmaz has missed too many chances to graduate from roster-filler to meaningful piece. Jaden Springer will never rise to his first-round-pick pedigree.

With Embiid dominant, Tyrese Maxey about to be an All-Star and Tobias Harris consistently supplying beautiful, fundamental basketball laced with contract-year jump, the Sixers can beat anyone. But with no support from the bench, the starters will be exhausted by Groundhog Day, the team that hasn’t won a championship since 1983 should pardon the expression. And Nurse has to know he is one unfortunate injury away from a flirtation with the draft lottery.

Fortunately for the Sixers, there are some escape routes. Zach LaVine has begun to wiggle his way out of Chicago, and there was a reason Daryl Morey brought back so many draft choices in the Harden yard sale. It’s almost certain he will move some of those and more for a high-scoring starter, if not LaVine, then someone else. That, with the anticipated return soon of Oubre, would add both Melton and Nicolas Batum to the bench. If Morey can pick up a veteran backup point guard at the deadline – and he must – then a bench that also includes Reed, Batum, Melton and House should begin to show value.

“You start kind of forming your identity and learning who we are,” Nurse said. “Then you start fixing some of the things you want to improve.”

That must begin with the bench. If not, a chance at a satisfying season will pass before that next 20-game checkpoint.

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com

Through the Sixers’ first 13 games with Maxey running the offense, there was growth – and very few, if any pains.

Why?

“He’s really, really good,” Nurse said. “That’s the first answer.”

The second?

“He’s really, really good.”

That established, Nurse has been around the pro game long enough not to scrawl declarations in cement before Thanksgiving. So after reminding that Maxey appeared a little uneasy in the Opening Night loss in Milwaukee, the Sixers’ coach warned of some possible remaining tests.

“That was a rough kind of deal,” he said of the opener. “And we maybe we’re not as organized as we wanted to be and things like that. So I think he’s getting there with that stuff.

“There’s still a long list of things that he’s got to be able to go ‘up’ with. And he is able to go up, in my opinion. So we’ll just keep working on them. I just think his sheer, sheer approach to everything – along with his talent – is probably why he avoided some of those growing pains.”

So where does he still need to grow, painfully or otherwise?

“There’s a couple of things that are up there,” Nurse said. “But I am going to keep them to myself right now.”

• • •

The Sixers reported Tuesday that Kelly Oubre Jr. “continues to recover from a fractured rib,” and that he has participated in some individual workouts.

Oubre was injured in a reported hit-and-run accident in downtown Philadelphia Nov. 11 and was expected to be missing for a month. The report had Nurse encouraged that his preferred starting wing guard could return to action after being re-evaluated next week.

“I think there’s a chance,” he said. “I think we’re still at a stage where we don’t know how he is going to handle the contact part of it. That is going to determine when he plays.”

Nurse is pleased that Oubre has rejoined the team, even on a low-impact basis.

“It’s been good,” he said. “He has been in good spirits and very energetic.”

Oubre is averaging 16.2 points.

• • •

It may have sounded odd in November, but Nurse agreed that the Tuesday game against Cleveland was of the must-win variety.

“For sure,” he said.

Such is the nature of the in-season tournament, which was born to manufacture such drama. The Sixers were 2-1 in East Group A, and needed the pool-play victory to remain in contention for the knockout round.

“If we want to stay alive, we’ll need this one,” he said. “And possibly point-differential will come into play for us.”

Since that point differential would be among the wild-card tiebreakers, Nurse even admitted he would continue to stalk points in the fourth quarter, even were the Sixers to be comfortably ahead. Even with the Sixers due to play in Minnesota Wednesday night, Nurse was plotting no back-to-back substitution-pattern hedges.

“It’s all on this one,” he said. “You know what I say: Start your ace and pray for rain.”

While that would be a sturdy coaching philosophy in any circumstance, Nurse knew it was necessary for one reason: The players are committed to winning $500,000 apiece, the prize money that will go to the tournament champions.

“I’ve said it before,” Nurse said. “Our guys are interested in this tournament and they want to keep it going. So they’re really into it, for sure.”

• • •

The Sixers’ Dec. 1 game in Boston has been picked up by ESPN, replacing the originally scheduled Memphis-Dallas game.

John Tortorella should be Coach of the Year in the NHL.

Nick Nurse should be Coach of the Year in the NBA.

Jim Curtin is the sitting MLS Coach of the Year.

All right, it’s early, even in an NFL season with 41 percent of the games still to play. At that level, all coaches are one losing streak away from a plane dragging a banner demanding that so-and-so must go. But on a weekend set aside for the purpose, Philadelphia sports fans should be thankful for such a rare convergence of coaching wisdom on Pattison Ave., west of Broad.

Not that Doc Rivers didn’t win games, but Nurse has bettered the locker-room atmosphere, defensive commitment and ball-movement to set the Sixers on an early pace to win 63 games.

Not that the Flyers are ready to inspire the placement of tin-foil Stanley Cups on every lawn in the region, but Tortorella has taken less than two years to rid his roster of players otherwise assumed to be special while pushing his club close to the front of the Metro division race.

Sirianni wins all the time and, with a victory in Kansas City, has shown his team is championship-ready.

Curtin has done more with less for 10 years than any other coach in his league and in modern Philadelphia sports history.

A title from one of them would not be rejected. But that takes a little luck. All that has been proven recently, though, is that Philadelphia has assembled enough sports brainiacs to preserve that hope.

• • •

You get the lion up on his hind legs featured in every family crest?

• • •

Unless the NFL forgets why it exists, the tush-push will become illegal by next season.

Nothing against the Eagles, who have run it to near-perfection for two years, but the short-yardage endeavor has robbed fans of a genuine football treat: A tense, evenly matched, fourth-and-inches defensive stand.

If the rule is not changed, every coach will find a way to run the play as successfully as the Eagles. It’s just how natural selection works in sports. But the NFL – and all pro and high-level college sports – exists to provide entertaining suspense. Once that begins to be chipped away, there is less reason to charge admission.

Free the goal-line stand.

• • •

John Middleton this week invested $172,000,000 in a 30-year-old 12-9 pitcher with a 4.46 ERA who just surrendered 32 home runs in 32 starts and has a history of fading late in seasons.

Aaron Nola is a good teammate with strikeout stuff who would not be out of place in any championship-level rotation. So good for him – and good for Phillies fans – that ownership will overspend for a pitcher inching closer to No.3 status than to re-establishing himself as an ace.

• Mere days after the Phillies were ousted from the NLCS because Rob Thomson wouldn’t budge from his agenda, Johan Rojas was essentially demoted to the bush leagues and Craig Kimbrel was effectively told to schedule an Uber.

That’s the same Rojas who Thomson refused to pinch-hit for in Game 7, and the same Kimbrel he insisted on using in late-season, high-leverage situations to disastrous results.

In related news, Thomson will be allowed to wander into the 2024 season on an expiring contract.

• • •

If you have to promote yourself in the process, giving away Thanksgiving turkeys is not an act of generosity. It is an over-played publicity stunt.

• • •

Head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended for three games after the Big Ten ended an investigation into an alleged University of Michigan football signal-stealing scheme.

But no matter what allegations strike certain college sports programs, the boosters will demand more. That is, whatever Michigan – for instance – is accused of doing, 107,601 will show up at the next game, buy overpriced swag and make fun of the losing team that didn’t steal any signs.

The only way bad deportment will end is if it proves to be humiliating, not worthy of celebration. As if.

• • •

If there is no traffic around the airport on a holiday travel weekend, that’s a story. TV stations have it backwards.

• • •

As the uncomfortable front man for a weird rebuilding endeavor, former 76ers coach Brett Brown routinely promised that by the time Ben Simmons was 26, he would be a useful distance shooter. Simmons is 27 and had not attempted a three-pointer all season through last weekend.

Time’s up.

Shot clock violation.

• If the Sixers are better this season – and they are – it is largely because Daryl Morey was able to rid his roster of a certain player early in the season. Now, P.J. Tucker – you were thinking someone else? – is averaging less than two points a game in Los Angeles.

• And how long before someone points out that one team scored 124 points in the paint and the other had 120 in an NBA game on one of those colorized in-season tournament courts?

• • •

Charging shoppers for a bag to carry home the items they just purchased … I don’t get it.

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com

Tyrese Maxey finished with 25 points and 10 assists, and De’Anthony Melton scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting for his fifth straight double-figure scoring game.

“He’s such a good shooter, a good player,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said of Melton. “It’s huge for us because there should be a lot of crowded paint, so we’re going to need to shoot over the top of those sometimes.”

The 76ers (10-3) shot 45.7% from 3-point range in their ninth straight victory over Brooklyn, including a four-game sweep in last season’s Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Philadelphia also won its fifth straight in Brooklyn.

Lonnie Walker IV came off the bench to lead Brooklyn with 26 points and six rebounds. Mikal Bridges scored 18 points and Nic Claxton added 10 points and nine rebounds. Brooklyn (6-7) lost its second straight and had its three-game home win streak halted.

“It was a solid game, but it’s a loss, so it really doesn’t mean anything,” Walker said. “I don’t think the points truly translated if we lost by 20-plus points. I was feeling it. I was within the groove of the game, but we lost.”

The Sixers closed the second quarter with a 23-7 run. The Sixers scored 15 straight points in a span of 3:11 and turned a three-point deficit into a 12-point lead.

“It started on defense. We got a few stops,” Embiid said. “We were able to run in transition and then went small and we took advantage with a bunch of high-lows.”

Brooklyn was victimized by a half-closing run for the second straight game; Miami went on a 14-0 run on Thursday on the way to a 122-115 win.

“Teams are doing different things to us at the end of quarters to disrupt (us), so you have to have a poise about you,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said. “We’re still searching for that. We’ll continue to work on that and get better, but you see how those momentum plays make a difference, especially at the end of quarters.”

Maxey, who entered play 10th in the NBA in points per game (26.9), had 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting in the first half. He warmed up in the third quarter, scoring nine points and finishing with 14 points in the second half while shooting 4 for 7 from 3-point range.

The 76ers forced seven turnovers in the third quarter and led by 27 points at 92-65. Philadelphia outscored Brooklyn 33-23 in the third and held the Nets to their lowest scoring output of the season.

“We’re just working together,” Embiid said. “We’re doing a great job playing together.”

Three players scored for the Sixers in the first quarter. Maxey had just two points on 1-of-4 shooting. But Embiid scored 13 points in the first, and Melton chipped in eight, helping Philadelphia build an early 10-point lead.

“Melt’s a great shooter,” Maxey said. “He did great. He’s great defensively. We know what he brings to the table there, and when he’s making shots, he takes us to a whole new level.”

The Nets started 1 for 7 from the field, but closed the frame on an 8-2 run, cutting the 76ers’ lead to 23-22 after one. The Nets held Philadelphia scoreless for three-plus minutes and used a 16-5 run in the second quarter to build their largest lead at 42-38.

“Early in the game we probably took too many mid-range shots just because (Embiid was) at the rim,” Vaughn said. “That’s where the premium comes with us getting out in transition, when we were able to get them cross-matched, you get opportunities.”

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76ers: Host Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.

One.

Tyrese Maxey, maybe.

Maybe he could play the position while Harden effectively went on strike, then keep the job whenever an inevitable trade occurred.

Maybe?

“I think he will get the ball in his hands a lot more,” Nurse said at the time. “That automatically will give him opportunities for pace and for offensive creation, both for himself and his teammates. He’ll be able to go through a learning curve. He’ll see different schemes and match-ups that will look different to him than they did a year ago. But I think the short answer is, he is going to get more chances.”

That was it, at the time — the short answer, as the new coach said, implying it was hardly a season-long vow. While never really appearing comfortable when asked to play there in his first three NBA seasons, Maxey would be asked to try the point, to get more people involved in the offense but also to continue his growth as a volume point-producer and effective three-point shooter.

Nurse even had a description at the time: Plan B, he called his post-Harden plans. But was he convinced that handing the ball to Maxey was in the best interests of the team and the player, who had done enough last season to bob into All-Star conversation? Well, as recently as a week ago, there was Nurse wondering out loud about that Plan B, insisting that the lab report was not ready for publication.

“I’ve said this a lot, that I want him to be more aggressive than he’s being,” Nurse said. “I think he’s a prolific scorer. He’s got burner speed going to the basket. He’s got the deep three-ball. And he’s got to take those chances more often.

“He’s kind of running a pretty good floor game right now. He’s going to what’s open. And I think that was everybody’s question: Can he create for somebody else?”

But that night, Maxey was the best player on the floor in a victory over the Celtics, creating fastbreaks, hitting open shots and open men, defending with passion. By Sunday, he would go for half-a-hundred in a triumph over Indiana. On Tuesday, even in a loss to the Pacers, he supplied 27 points and five assists — the sixth time in the Sixers’ first 10 games that he had at least 25 and five, tying for second in the NBA.

And isn’t that what he predicted if not promised when the season began?

“I’m ready for whatever,” Maxey had said. “They were talking about Plan A or Plan B, but I’m ready for Plan C, D and, all the way down to Z. I’ve been doing a lot of things to find ways to be the best version of Tyrese Maxey I can be.”

Since camp, Nurse has requested a 20-game grace period before all of his decisions and results could be accurately critiqued. Yet there he was Tuesday basically declaring the Maxey issue closed, just a week after expressing a preference to keep it open.

“I think our biggest challenge going into this thing was what he was going to look like with the ball in his hands, over and over and over and over, high-volume things,” Nurse said. “Usually, when you have those high-volume things happen and you’ve got the ball so much, you are going to get assists almost by default, just because you’ve got it and guys are making shots. And you are going to turn it over, almost by default, sometimes.

“But he’s been great. I think he’s just made the easy plays. He’s not trying to thread the needle. He’s not trying to razzle-dazzle with his passes. He’s just making the plays that are in front of him, and that’s just solid basketball.”

That’s it, the secret to the position. When Maxey should shoot, he shoots. When he should handle, he handles. When a teammate is open, he passes the ball that way without thinking. It’s not the only reason the Sixers had played .800 basketball through 10 games — that J. Hans Embiid has a chance to be pretty good, too — but it is why they didn’t play .500 basketball.

“I thought we would see more way-ups and way-downs with this thing,” Nurse said. “But he has made a lot of progress in these games running the team. We just seem a lot more organized than we were on Opening Night. So maybe he was a little closer to a point guard than we all thought he was. Because he sure looks like a very, very good one now.”

There is no maybe about that.

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@delcotimes.com