Back in the 70s, I used to hate the Sixers so hard that I didn't have room for any hatred in my heart for the Lakers until the 90s. World B. Free, Andrew Toney, Bobby Jones, McGinnis, Dr. J., Moses, Iavaroni, Caldwell Jones -- not to mention Larry Brown and Billy Cunningham -- wow! [Mo Cheeks was cool though, for some reason.]
And Philly sports fans are easy to hate (as, one must admit, are Boston sports fans) and the events of February 2018 did nothing to tamp that down.
But I don't really get the hate for the current Sixers. Embiid strikes me as intelligent, funny, and deserving of respect for having overcome a lot (physical and cultural) to get where he is today. Simmons is a talent to be respected, and hasn't done anything contemptible aside from maybe being prematurely anointed as the chosen one. Brent Brown is a nothing burger from Maine -- if your last name isn't LePage, how do you hate somebody from Maine? Markelle Fultz deserves sympathy (and thanks) more than hate. McConnell is an overachiever in a good way, and the only reason I hate Redick is because he went to Duke -- by all accounts he's a well-respected guy. [The Duke thing is a fireable offense, but, well, Tatum.]
All that sanguinity goes out the door if they add Lebron, of course. [Not that I even dislike Lebron, it just seems like an unnecessary gilding of the lily.] But I'd love to see a developing Celtics team continuing along with the current core and some great new draft picks compete over the next 4-5 years with a developing Sixers team with their current core and some great new draft picks. Could be fun.