Twitter: @CozzyNick
Piece BY Nicholas Cosmai
“Trust the Process”, the words that the Philadelphia 76ers have known for almost a decade. Originally it was brought in to change the culture and the attitude of the entire organization. It has been further emphasized in periods of on court struggle, which now is what star player Joel Embiid is commonly known for. Joel Embiid was the 3rd overall selection back in the 2014 NBA Draft, so it is very weird that the 76ers may now be looking to reshape their roster.
Between 2014 and 2017, the Philadelphia 76ers had two 3rd overall selections and two 1st overall selections. One might wonder with these picks why they are not currently dominating the league. This is because at the moment only two of those players remain. As previously mentioned, Joel Embiid was the first of these four selections, after a 19-win season. Embiid has clearly been the best of the four players so far.
In 2015, Philly won just 18 games and with the 3rd pick that draft, they selected the worst of the four players, Jahill Okafor. After a good rookie season, earning a first team all-rookie selection, it was all downhill for Okafor. In 2017, he was traded for a second-round pick to Brooklyn, he currently now is in Detroit and for the most part has been a backup option.
The struggles continued for the 76ers the following season, they had won just 10 games and had the first pick in the 2016 draft. The Sixers drafted the second player that still is on their roster, Ben Simmons. The expectations that Simmons has carried is why the NBA world currently is highly criticizing him. Is he good enough to be a number one pick? Most people would say no, and these expectations have overshadowed his current CV to date. A three-time all-star, Rookie of The Year, two time All-Defensive first team selections along with being the steals leader in 2020 and the Defensive Player of the Year runner up this season.
Things in 2017 started to trend north for Philly gradually, 28 wins for the season and got the 3rd overall pick in the upcoming draft. Before that draft, the Sixers dealt the Celtics a pick swap, pick three and another first round pick for pick one, meaning they had the first pick for the 2nd consecutive season. With that pick they selected Markelle Fultz, who had a horrible run with injuries pretty much before stepping on the court. He sustained a shoulder injury so bad that when he fully recovered from it, it changed the mechanics of how he shoots the ball. Likewise with Okafor, it did not work out, in 2019 he was traded to Orlando for a first and second round pick.
With only two of these four selections working out in Philadelphia, it did take a while for them to get going. Finally in 2018 they made the playoffs and have made them every season since. Unfortunately, they have not been able to reach an eastern conference final. Yes, if it were not for Kawhi’s bouncing game 7 winner, they would have made it in 2019, but the fact still remains. In that season, they had traded for Jimmy Butler from Minnesota who only spent one season in Philly before signing with Miami in that off season.
Throughout this four-year stretch, the 76ers have best tried to build the best squad around Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. As the season’s went on, the reasonings for why this team has not taken the next step has changed. The first victim of this was Ben Brown who was the coach that brought Philly up through the process from 2013. Many blamed him for ‘not being able to make it work’ which maybe true but it seems that the same problems have reoccurred for Philly since Brown’s sacking.
Philadelphia’s new coach for this season was Doc Rivers, who was sacked by the Clippers last season. Rivers actually coached this team to the number seed in the east which is something they had not achieved since 2001. Yet again, the regular season was not the problem for them, but the post season was.
A second-round exit to the Atlanta Hawks once again led them to finger pointing and the biggest target has been Ben Simmons. His lack of scoring and aggressiveness in particular has been magnified, only shooting a combined 3/3 from the field in all last quarters for the series. Simmons is currently on a max contract, so it seems fair for his criticism. From a broader perspective, two main areas are what lost Philadelphia the series, consecutive leads dropped and Joel Embiid being restricted with a torn meniscus. During the series Joel Embiid did sustain a torn meniscus which did impact what they were able to do. Nevertheless though, the series was under control, then came around game four and five. The Sixers blew consecutive 20-point leads, instead of holding onto those leads and winning the series in five games, they fell behind 3-2.
Another off season where the NBA world and Philadelphia fans are needing someone to blame again for another premature exit. Doc Rivers now has two really bad post season records. The first he already had was the most loses for a series when up 3-1. Now he has the most loses in all elimination/closeout games. Ideally, the Sixers should be in the Eastern Conference Finals and maybe even the NAB Finals. Ben Simmons is this someone that has been blamed and there is a very good chance that he will be traded before the start of next season. Will the 76ers go and get another star or do we need to still trust the process?