Despite landing another top pick and having a ton of cap space, there isn’t much reason to expect any different results from the team this season. The 76ers remain committed to a long-term rebuild that General Manager Sam Hinkie believes is the only way that he can build a championship contender.
That means tanking – again – to acquire a boatload of high draft picks while trading any and all assets that don’t fit the club’s plan for success. Being patient is becoming a more and more challenging proposition for Sixers fans as it’s clear the team they’re fielding this season isn’t NBA-level. Here’s why:
Joel Embiid Will Miss Another Season
How important is a top pick that spends his first two NBA seasons watching patiently from the sidelines? Very important for Hinkie and the 76ers, who will get to bide their time and wait for the right moment for Embiid to step in and earn a big contract when they are ready for him to do so. The club announced that the third-overall pick from the 2014 NBA Draft will miss the entire year despite some talk that he could be ready to play at some point this season.
It’s clear they want to avoid him risking further injury and keep him on the bench for as long as possible. Still, this is a big blow to the team as he was expected to be a foundational piece this season.
Lack Of Free Agent Activity
Hinkie’s process of ridding the team of quality NBA talent has worked out seemingly exactly the way he has wanted it to, so his lack of free agent signings should not have surprised anyone. Rookie first-round pick Jahlil Okafor and fellow first-round pick Nerlens Noel will be worth watching to see how they perform together but Nik Stauskas, Kendall Marshall and Robert Covington round out the starting five. That’s pretty sad. Stauskas and Marshall are both former first-round picks but both are high selections that have been rejected by their original teams.
Beyond that, Hinkie did virtually nothing to bring in players that can help this team compete for a playoff spot. There isn’t much quality talent in the starting lineup or on the bench. Philadelphia is all-in on this long-term rebuild and this could be the least talented team that Hinkie has ever assembled.
Hinkie’s Long-Term Process
The most interesting aspect of the 76ers’ rebuild is that it requires Hinkie seeing things through until they finally reach the point where they are a championship contender, which even the casual observer can understand might never happen.
Trading the reigning Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams was testament to the fact that Hinkie didn’t want to have any players he felt were above average but bound to demand big contracts based on inflated statistics rather than being true superstars…if that makes sense. Now the roster has been almost completely purged of legitimate NBA talent with the exception of Philadelphia’s recent draft picks, whom they hope can be superstars.
The 76ers are going to be terrible again this season not by mistake, but because Hinkie’s long-term process demands that they be.
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Improvement At The Bottom
With the 76ers doing everything they can to tank and the rest of the league trying to improve, it’s no surprise that Philadelphia should be the worst team in the NBA this season. The New York Knicks are the only team from the Eastern Conference that finished with a worse record but they reloaded with a pair of first-round picks and a strong cast of free agent signings including Robin Lopez, Arron Afflalo, Derrick Williams.
Having a healthy Carmelo Anthony will make a big difference too. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who were the worst team in the West, have the reigning Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins, this year’s first-overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns and an improving supporting cast so they too appear poised to take a step forward. Almost everyone that kept the 76ers company in the NBA’s basement last year has made strikes to improve while the 76ers are the only team from the group that was terrible and is actually trying to get worse.
