Bucky

The Process is no more. The Process was a failed attempt at thinking you can shortcut your way to building a championship team. To think that all you need is a high draft pick a few years in a row is asinine. With the people in charge on their way out, it’s only fair to gossip about the disgrace, the insult to the league that was The Process. A team tanking so well, their drafts netted Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, it fooled us into believing. But one look around the organization tells the true story of a failure years in the making.

The Draft

Probably the closest The Process came to finding success, in hindsight, it still doesn’t meet satisfaction. They did get two all-star caliber players from the draft–although I personally don’t think Simmons is an all-star–but it only happened because they had so many attempts to get one right. Here’s a list of the first round draft picks they made between 2014-2017 and where they are now:

  • Joel Embiid – 209 games played, 274 games missed
  • Dario Saric – Traded after 2+ seasons
  • Jahlil Okafor – Traded after 2+ seasons
  • Ben Simmons – Can’t score outside the restricted-area
  • Timothe Luwawu-Carbarrot – not resigned after 2nd season
  • Furkan Korkmaz – Good role player(!!)
  • Markelle Fultz – traded after playing 33 games

I’d hesitate in calling that a success. Name recognition? Sure. Actual translation to the NBA hardwood?

Player Development

As Philadelphia learned, high draft picks don’t mean much when in the wrong hands. Most just one season removed from their high school court, development is more crucial than every in today’s NBA. Ben Simmons is the perfect example; Simmons has improved his IQ, passing, rebounding, and defense. Yet we are here at the end of year four now, and he has only made 50 shots from outside the paint in his entire career. A poor free throw shooter, in an era of high scoring affairs, Simmons is the least shooting savvy guard of an all-star caliber.

Then there is Markelle Fultz. This was as close to ending a career as it could get. First, there was misdiagnosing the injury he suffered. Then, there was the part where they were leading off the misdiagnosis and completely changed the way he shot the ball, which worsened his injury. I was watching Game 4 of the Bucks-Magic and the commentators relayed a quote where Steve Clifford, head coach of the Magic, mentioned how when Markelle got to Orlando, he couldn’t even shoot from the free throw line. More than just assistants were to blame, but it follows a dangerous trend of incompetence throughout a failing organization.

There’s a very good reason as to how the San Antonio Spurs made twenty-two consecutive playoff appearances. Just as there’s a good reason as to how the Toronto Raptors could lose Kawhi Leonard, a generational talent, yet post their highest regular season win percentage in franchise history. Not only are teams like the Spurs and Raptors able to identify talent at a terrific rate, but they’re willing to take chances, understanding the growth process and what it takes to create NBA-worthy talent.

Coaching

When it comes to the X’s and O’s, it’s up to the head coach to identify strengths and weaknesses that play to the team’s best ability. Especially this season, Brett Brown failed at that task. With extremely poor lineups essentially running with two centers, it forced Tobias Harris to play Small Forward, a player better suited to be a Power Forward. Lineups also included extremely fluctuating minutes for Brown’s best rookie Matisse Thybulle. The list of uninspired and questionable moves was lengthy and a changing of the guard was well overdue.

Poor Management

Credit where credit is due for Elton Brand; he made risk-heavy decisions in 2019 to contend, trading for Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris, both on expiring contracts. Butler hightailed it to Miami after the season’s conclusion based on the lack of a winning mentality in Philly’s locker room. Butler leaving was one of the risks that Brand accounted for, but it was the moves in consequence that have since warmed the seat underneath Brand. Signing Ben Simmons–a guard not trusted by his own team down the stretch as a primary ball handler–to a rookie-max contract is number one on that list. Re-signing Tobias Harris to a max deal as well as signing Al Horford to a head-scratching 4 years/$109 million contract follow suit.

Signing these three guys for that much money to 4 or 5 year deals provides almost no flexibility and non-existent room to actually improve the roster. And when then things inevitably don’t go their way, there’s no magic fairy dust to sprinkle on their issues. Blowing it up all over again is the next step at that point. So now if the 76ers want to move forward they have to move backwards and move one of those players with a big contract–which is much more difficult than just letting them walk in free agency.

Conclusion

There is a huge difference between being bad and being bad on purpose. There is more than just having a top pick multiple years in a row to select the best player available at that time.

You need:

  • to have a good coach who can utilize the players he has to the best of his ability.
  • a coaching staff to help improve every aspect of a players game–not just the things he’s already good at.
  • a medical staff who can worry more about their players long-term instead of band-aid solutions.
  • front office who keeps the door open for possible improvement instead of making multiple incredibly short-sighted decisions and essentially making a team stuck with a certain corps that may or may not work.

There are several teams better representing of The Process than the lowly Sixers. The Miami Heat come to mind; they took Bam Adebayo, a prototypical scorer under the basket and rebounding big. Miami turned him into one of the best passing bigs in the game, who can run the fast break occasionally, slowly developing his jump shot. They had rookies Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Kendrick Nunn make immediate impacts. They have a coach and veteran players who give the vibe of a winning culture.

That’s why they got Jimmy Butler and why the 76ers didn’t. Look at the Raptors who turned Pascal Siakam into a potential two-time Most Improved Player award winner. The franchise turned guys like Fred VanVleet, Norman Powell, and OG Anunoby into strong contributors on a championship team. In addition to finding rookies and future key contributors Matt Thomas and Terrance Davis, THAT is your best examples of teams embracing and trusting the process.

The 76ers are merely just the dollar general version.