“Winning culture” has been in the Philadelphia headlines often, but to the Philadelphia 76ers, it’s not just in the headlines, its in the process as well.
It had to change. For a period in the 2015-2016 season, the team’s woes were not ending on the basketball court. When the wave of new hopeful NBA prospects joined the league as Philadelphia 76ers, they wanted to see how well they measured up. After a 1 win 30 loss streak, the feedback was awfully difficult to bear. That had to change.
It did.
It’s just the next step in the process. Build momentum. Show progress. Lay the table with enough improvement later in the season to translate into wild optimism for next season. It’s important to the fans, to the sports analysts, and to perspective free agents. Perhaps the key element of Jerry Colangelo’s advisor role is to bring about that euphoric element to the locker room.
Jerry Colangelo said top priority for Sixers is to create a culture that makes team appealing destination for players. Cited Suns, Team USA.
— brianseltzer (@brianseltzer) February 2, 2016
It happened before, when Jerry Colangelo was the general manager and eventually owner of the Phoenix Suns. He understands basketball team dynamics. That’s valuable to have in the front office as the Philadelphia 76ers pursue their own version of building a winner.
"“I think one of the things that we need to do, and I’m a firm believer of this, because I really tried to do this in Phoenix and I think we did, we created a culture, we created a place where players wanted to come to, and so, you can make it appealing. I think that the new training (Camden New Jersey based) facility is going to be terrific. It’s going to be the best in the business, and that’s a plus. You need to eventually add players that appeal to other players that they want to play with, and that’s how all these pieces come together, I saw a lot of that take place in USA Basketball with Dwyane Wade, and [Chris] Bosh, and LeBron [James]. Guys start talking about, ‘Hey, let’s do it together.” Colangelo shared with Sixers.com report Brian Seltzer"
It’s that “add players that appeal to other players” as the Sixers near the deadline that is the most intriguing. But how far off is that addition of more players? If you focus on Jerry Colangelo, it’s next season.
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If you focus on Sam Hinkie, its this deadline:
"We’re still looking for talented players that can carry us deep. That’s critical. We have several on the roster, we’ll need more. We’ll need more. There’s not any one position or any one type of player. We’ll need talented players to take us to the next level. I think the core group is a little bit more stable than what you might’ve seen in the past,” said Hinkie. “At the same time, our job is to always look for ways to improve the team. So we’ve got to remain open-minded. No one likes a revolving door, but at the same time, our job is to build a team that can compete deep into May and June. That will require lots of tough decisions, probably more to come.” – Sam Hinkie in interview with Brian Seltzer"
The next move is clear. From this point in time, the team will be swapping players for players. This team roster is congealing, the shape is beginning to form. I cannot see the team shedding players for draft picks any longer. Perhaps that is the key to the winning culture. When the front office begins to believe in the current roster, or pieces of it, the team begins to feel good about itself and that is what attracts other players.
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The Philadelphia 76ers are trying to build a winner, which requires both players and team to have self-confidence and a desire to play together. That’s not only key to this team today, but essential if the team plans to add impactful free agents going forward.