The Sixers can take a lot of lessons from the Raptors in the NBA Finals, one in particular | David Murphy

This is one of those rare situations in which it makes sense to deal in counterfactuals. Not in any definitive sense, of course.

It would be an awful long stretch to award the 76ers a mythical NBA title even if we suppose that Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 buzzer beater had acted the way physics suggested it should have, and, further, that they would have outscored the Raptors in the ensuing overtime period.

The Bucks, you may recall, won more regular-season games than the Raptors, including two of the three that they played against the Sixers, who would have needed to beat Milwaukee in four out of seven without home-court advantage just to get to within three wins of where Toronto is now.

Yet while the transitive property may not apply to the NBA playoffs, where matchups are key and a singular talent like Kawhi Leonard can be the only thing standing between victory and defeat, it is most definitely something that the Sixers should consider as they finalize their plans for the upcoming offseason. Forget about what might have happened had Leonard’s shot not fallen, or if Joel Embiid or Jimmy Butler had hit just one of the 10 three-pointers that they missed (they combined to go 2-for-12). Forget about whether they would have beaten the Bucks, or taken three out of four from the Warriors to enter Monday with a chance to finish things off and claim an NBA title. What matters is what they did against the team that went on to do both of those things.

A month ago, the Sixers showed themselves to be every bit the team that the Raptors were. The thing that has changed between then and now is our understanding of just how good of a team that is. It starts with Leonard, and the transcendent nature of the ball he is currently playing. Only six players have finished a postseason with more points, and by the end of Game 5 on Monday night that list will likely have shrunk by at least one and perhaps two names. LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neal are the only players since Michael who have exerted the sort of will on a postseason the way Leonard has this spring.

To appreciate the magnitude of his production, consider this. Kobe Bryant’s highest scoring postseason saw him finish with 11 more points than Leonard has scored this postseason heading into Game 5. Not only did Bryant attempt 15 more shots, but Leonard currently has 18 more offensive rebounds than Bryant did that postseason.

When you consider the historic nature of Leonard’s dominance and the fact that the Sixers came within a possession of beating him in a series, it should seem ludicrous to enter the postseason thinking that they need to make substantive changes to their personnel. Yes, they need a backup center capable of protecting the rim. Yes, they could use a bench player with the ability to shoot and defend. Yes, there are several other complementary moves that they can make to put themselves in a better position to win.

But the thing that the Sixers and their fans should not lose sight of is just how good the team they had in place turned out to be. It took one of the most dominant postseason performances in history from a player who currently has his team on the verge of beating one of the most dominant NBA dynasties of all time -- albeit one that has suffered from a number of crucial injuries -- to stop the Sixers this postseason. And, even then, they were only stopped by inches.

There are other lessons the Sixers can heed from the way this NBA season is ending. One is that a dominant individual performance can trump even the most carefully laid and executed of long-term roster plans. In Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, they have two young players with the physical gifts to someday have that sort of impact on a series. Embiid isn’t going to get there if he can’t stay healthy and in shape, and Simmons isn’t going to get there if he does not expand his scoring ability to outside the paint. But, like Leonard and his cartoon-character hands and limbs and muscular strength, they have the physical potential, which is more than anybody who they might be traded for can say (to be clear, this point is most relevant to Simmons, although it is worth repeating to anybody who declares themselves frustrated with Embiid’s subpar series against the Raptors).

Another lesson is that the playoffs are all that matter, and keeping players healthy and optimized for the postseason should be as much of a concern during the regular season as winning games. Think you’ll hear any complaints from Raptors fans who happened to purchase tickets to one of the back-to-back games that Leonard sat out? Think any of them are currently wishing that he would have subjected his ailing knee to even more regular-season punishment? Think homecourt advantage is more important than protecting a star’s health?

If the Raptors do indeed claim their first-ever title on Monday, the considerations will only multiply from the Sixers’ standpoint. If Leonard re-signs with the Raptors, the Sixers could find themselves in annual confrontation with an object every bit immovable as LeBron used to be. But, then, that would only amplify the importance of the biggest lesson of this postseason: The Sixers were remarkably close from being that team.