Philadelphia 76ers: Not Even Luck Can Win a Title

The Orlando Magic had the top overall pick two years in a row, and still didn’t win a title. The Philadelphia 76ers will need more than just luck.

Saturday morning was good to me. Things couldn’t have gone more perfectly. I had off from my job at the grocery store for the day, and I woke up at 7 am to tutor some high school students in physics, only to receive a text that they wouldn’t be able to make it to the appointment. No biggie, I only had 40 minutes left in the last episode of the newest season of House of Cards to finish, so I filled my morning rather (un)productively.

Once I finished that, I was left with the ever so difficult question of what to watch next on Netflix. Since some of ESPN’s 30 for 30 films are on there, I decided to see what was available in that realm. I stumbled upon This Magic Moment, which chronicles the rise and fall of the Orlando Magic’s beginning chapters as a franchise. Growing up as a Miami Heat fan solely because of Shaquille O’Neal, I definitely wanted to watch this. I didn’t start intently watching basketball until the 2004-2005 season, so it was a bit of a history lesson for me. It was a great film, by the way, as most of the 30 for 30s are.

I was reminded throughout my watching of the Philadelphia 76ers, rebuilding a basketball team, and the idea that a little bit of luck can put you in a position to win an NBA title. I was also reminded of the idea that that’s not always how it works out.

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The Orlando Magic sort of jump-started the NBA as it is today. Their in-game entertainment and excitement from fans is how we know live basketball to be in most arenas today.

They also jump-started, in a way (and a bit unintentionally) the idea of building through the lottery. The Magic, being an expansion team, didn’t have much of an option other than to take what the lottery and the draft gave them. Their initial plan was to get a solid player at each position through the draft, and scatter in some free agents as well.

Within the team’s first three years they had three lottery picks, but no picks better than fourth overall. Finally, in 1992, the Magic would win the NBA Draft Lottery (they had the best odds at doing so that particular year) and select Shaquille O’Neal with the top overall pick. Now, that’s not particularly lucky, given that the Magic had better odds than any other team at winning the lottery that year, but the following year was where the luck really started to kick in.

Despite Shaq having a huge season, winning the Rookie of the Year award and pushing the Magic to 20 more wins than the year before, the Magic would end up missing the playoffs, and becoming a lottery team once again.

Since they just barely missed the lottery, the Magic had the worst overall odds at winning the top overall pick out of all teams included in the lottery. To everyone’s surprise, however, the Magic jumped all the way up to obtain the top overall pick in the NBA Draft for the second consecutive season.

The Magic would draft Chris Webber out of Michigan with this pick, but traded him to the Golden State Warriors for now four-time All Star Anfernee Hardaway, (better known as Penny Hardaway)who was Shaq’s preferred player.

Hardaway and Shaq led the Magic to some great seasons. They lost in the first round of the playoffs in their first season together, and then were swept by the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals the very next season. The following year, the Magic went to the Eastern Conference Finals, and then had just one more year in the playoffs (exiting yet again in the first round) before things would really fall apart for the team.

This team was built to win, particularly through the lottery, similar to how the Philadelphia 76ers have been built. Looking at the basis of their roster, it’s consisted of Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, and Dario Saric. All four of those players were obtained with lottery picks in the last three NBA Drafts.

As said many times in the film, the Magic team was young, immature, and didn’t know how to handle some situations filled with adversity, which was a huge part of their downfall. Shaq and Penny reminisced within the film, talking about how they thought that if they happened to pull it together and win that title against the Rockets, they would have won several more as a result.

It just goes to show that luck isn’t the only thing that builds a title. The Magic had an immense amount of luck — much more than the Sixers have had over the last several seasons — and still couldn’t use that to win a title. To this day, that franchise has not won a title.

Additionally, it points to the idea that having so many young players on a team can be troubling.

The Houston Rockets were credited with a win in that sweep of a series because of their experience, and because of the drive that the veterans had on that team to win now instead of hoping they would make it back to the Finals the next year. The Magic seemed to have an attitude of “we’ll get it done next season,” and that hurt them.

Moving forward, the Sixers have a lot to nail down. Offensive schemes, defensive strategies, and which players will actually stick around. The Sixers need to utilize free agency and trades to build a roster that will function well in the playoffs. Banking on luck any further is not going to cut it, and hoping that their luck alone from this year’s lottery will boost them into the playoffs is not good thinking.

It’s not a sure thing, though, even once they make the playoffs. Even once they are a top seed in the East, they will likely have a team give them a run for their money not only in their own conference, but once they make it to the NBA Finals as well.

Next: Sixers May Need to Choose Lesser of Two Drawbacks

The playoffs are a long, grueling process, and the Sixers will need much more than a bit of luck to set them up for a title. Hopefully Bryan is accounting for that in his plan.