By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Philadelphia 76ers may have a lot of the same guys on their roster as last year, but they are a completely different team with Joel Embiid. In addition, Ersan Ilyasova has contributed to the offense since being acquired earlier in the year and the group is just playing good team basketball. After posting just 10 wins a season ago, the Sixers have 14 at this point, which still puts them towards the bottom of the conference, but there is just a brighter outlook.
Head coach Brett Brown has been and will be critisized for a lot. His inability to draw up successful late game plays earlier in the season had fans calling for his job, but the former Spurs assistant has kept the course and it is paying off, with the team posting a 7-3 record in January. The Sixers have the most go-ahead buckets within five seconds to go in the NBA (3) and Brown's former boss and mentor, Gregg Popovich, is taking notice of Philadelphia's new winning ways.
"It's one of my joys in life to watch them win basketball games because if there's any team that deserves it, it's those guys," Popovich told ESPN.
Philadelphia entered this season with a 47-199 record under Brown, but as most of us "process trusters" know, the win-loss total isn't nearly as important as the development of guys like Embiid, Dario Saric and Ben Simmons.
"They've had it really tough for all the obvious reasons," said Popovich, who worked with Brown from 2002-13. "There's nobody in our business that is more positive, and more day-to-day upbeat and ready to teach and love than Brett Brown. He's a unique, unique guy."
As Brown continues to develop the Sixers young core, Popovich continues to lead the Spurs to another successful season, something that Philadelphia looks to build to for years to come.
