For the last few seasons, the Philadelphia 76ers have been the laughing stock of the NBA. After they fired head coach Doug Collins, who had brought the team to the playoffs in two out of his three seasons as coach, Philly made a concerted effort to…lose. A lot. The strategy quickly became to get rid of the players that took up a significant portion of the team’s salary, and look to the future. The problem is, that strategy has seemed to take on a life of its own, and now Philadelphia finds themselves in the perpetual rebuilding stage. How did they get here, and does anyone know what the 76ers are trying to accomplish here?
The transformation from marginal playoff contender to bottom dweller began when the 76ers front office, led by General Manager Sam Hinkie and owner Joshua Harris, began getting rid of the team that seemed to show some promise just a year prior. In the 2011-12 season, the 76ers upset the Bulls (when Derrick Rose got injured), and then took the Celtics to game seven in the Eastern conference semis. One year later, the mass exodus began. Spencer Hawes, Evan Turner, Jrue Holiday, Nick Young, and Dorell Wright all exited. The 76ers famously traded Holiday in a package that landed them Nerlens Noel, who was already expected to miss the entire season with a torn ACL. At this point in time, however, the strategy still seemed to make sense. Noel could be a future game-changing presence, and the 76ers replaced Holiday with rookie Michael Carter-Williams.
Carter-Williams then went on to win the Rookie of the Year award, in a season that yielded little else of note. The 19-63 record in the 2013-14 season netted them the third overall pick, as they missed out on freshman sensations Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker. Now, the moves stopped making much sense. Rather than starting to build the team up again, Hinkie continued the decimation. Despite Philly fielding a roster that resembled more of a D-League squad than an NBA team, the front office traded away Thaddeus Young, who had had his best season as a pro that year. Young was the final piece in the LeBron James trade, in which the Sixers received next to nothing and a draft pick.
Around the same time was the NBA draft, in which the Sixers had the aforementioned third overall pick. Despite the risks involved and the unlikeliness that it would work twice, Philadelphia went with Joel Embiid, another freshman who would most likely miss the whole season with a leg injury. So now Philadelphia was in the middle of a “rebuild” anchored around two players who would miss their entire first season, delaying the process even further. True to form, Embiid has not played at all this year, and the Sixers have nothing to show for their turmoil last season. In last year’s draft, Philadelphia had seven draft picks. Of those seven, only two remain on the roster, and only one has actually played this season. So much for a rebuild.
To make matters more confusing, puzzling, or however you want to describe it, this season’s trade deadline did the 76ers faithful no favors. For whatever reason, Sam Hinkie decided that Carter-Williams was no longer the point guard of his future. Despite MCW coming off a ROY campaign, he was dealt to the Milwaukee Bucks in a deal that landed Philly…a draft pick. If I were a 76ers season ticket holder, I would demand a refund for the entire season, and cancel my tickets immediately. The team also traded away promising rookie K.J. McDaniels, an exciting young player who was tremendously athletic. The only positive move the team made was taking on JaVale McGee’s expiring contract and receiving a first round pick for essentially nothing. At the same time, they now have JaVale McGee on their roster.
The overarching theme for the Philadelphia 76ers is that the team no longer has a viable plan. Having double-digit draft picks in next year’s draft and stashing picks for the years to come are certainly useful, but at some point those picks have to be turned into actual players. When those players are consistently traded away, everyone is left scratching their heads. The current roster is probably worse than it was a year ago, and when the team started 0-17, people legitimately wondered if the Kentucky Wildcats could beat them (no, they couldn’t). The charade put forth by the 76ers front office has run its course, and it’s time that owner Joshua Harris looks in a different direction. Unless the team has a secret plan to relocate, so they’re driving all the fans away on purpose, this course of action no longer makes sense. LeBron James is not walking through the NBA draft any time soon, and no free agent wants to come play for this sad sack of a franchise. It’s time for some serious changes in the city of brotherly love, because no one seems to know what the Philadelphia 76ers are doing anymore.