They are a head of us because they are in year 2 of the rebuild and we are in year 1.
Their two bigs have had serious injury's . Noel more than one torn ACL. And since he bases his game on athletics, who knows how that effect him.
Saric wont play for two years, and plays the PF, so Noel will have to be moved if they keep Saric. So that's a good trading piece for next season or the year after. They are about 4 or 5 years out of having a complete team to move forward the way they are doing it, unless they can get some FA's to sign.
Boston for young guns have, AB(maybe),Sully,KO,Pressy,Johnson,Fav,Smart,Young. You actually have a team with that. A great team, not really, but some really solid pieces. And who knows about Smart, could be a good corner piece like Sully, Young is only 18, and maned up in the tourney last year. He could be really good. DA did a good job with the jump start of the rebuild when he got Sully and KO. Then moving PP and KG for picks will help the rebuild faster.
In two years both teams could be fighting each other for playoff spots. So I wouldn't say Philly is WAY ahead of us. They might have a better piece in Embiid, but Smart will be no slouch, and could have better teammates around him.