The 76ers' offseason has been filled with dysfunction since disgruntled star James Harden requested a trade away from the organization in June. Harden skipped out on Philadelphia’s media day on Monday and missed the team’s practice on Tuesday. However, the 10-time All-Star is slated to join the team while actively seeking a trade.
While the Sixers run their training camp at Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colo., the team traveled a little over an hour to Boulder to visit Colorado football coach Deion Sanders. Always the coach, Sanders provided the team with advice on eliminating distractions and dysfunction to achieve a goal.
Looks like the entire Sixers roster took a trip to hang with Coach Prime
— Sean Barnard (@Sean_Barnard1) October 4, 2023
Deion Sanders daps up each member of the team here. Very cool stuff pic.twitter.com/EhOLjQVU9s
“I’m loyal and I’m faithful to winning — not a man,” Sanders said during a dinner meeting with the team, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I’m faithful to winning. So I’m going to do whatever I gotta do to win. So if me and your relationship gotta end, I’m going to win. God bless you. Now, I’ll see you, because we’re going to win. And I’m going to do whatever I gotta do to get it.”
While Sanders pointed out the team’s “new pieces” added during the offseason, the Pro Football Hall of Famer discussed accountability and the need for star players like reigning MVP Joel Embiid to play in primetime head-to-head matchups on television.
Deion Sanders giving out free game to the Sixers 👀🎯 pic.twitter.com/EEE7XbGNmK
— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) October 4, 2023
“When we came up, MJ [Michael Jordan] wanted that smoke. He wasn’t ducking whoever was that dude. He was going to get it. …I had Jerry [Rice]," Sanders added. "We wasn’t kicking on the side. … A lot of folks duck that smoke, they wanna be Tarzan on paper. Don't sell me the game then when I turn on the TV, I don't get that. If [Joel] Embiid playing the Joker [Nikola Jokić], then I wanna see that. … Nobody else guarding Joker, I'll watch BET awards.”
The Sixers open preseason action on Sunday against the Celtics in Boston. Philadelphia will kick off the regular season on Oct. 26 against the Bucks.
