Breaking Loose the Myth of Pre-Hinkie Philadelphia 76ers Mediocrity

The Philadelphia 76ers tried to rebuild in the traditional way. It didn’t work.

The cult is wrong in one respect about the pre-honkie Philadelphia 76ers — they were not even mediocre, they were downright awful. The following might be an understatement:

"Spike Eskin: Sixers fans were sick of being average. Many people wanted them to tear it down, and build it up from scratch before Hinkie got here. When he got here, and he did it, I think there was sense of relief and hope. Building a champion in the NBA is difficult, so having someone commit to a path to get there has meant a lot of dedicated supporters.Spike Eskin: I don’t think mediocrity made their (the press) lives easier. I do think having a general manager who would speak to them on the record made their lives easier. I also think covering a team that wins 15 percent of their games would be pretty draining."

Let’s review a moment in time: June 1, 1983, the day after the last Philadelphia 76ers championship until May 14, 2013, the day Sam Hinkie entered Philadelphia.

Philly.com reports:

"One of the defenses I have heard of this nonsense about historic losing is the only way to be great is that the Sixers have not won a championship since 1983 doing it the traditional way.That thinking devalues the attempt, the journey, the team, the enjoyment. Who did not enjoy watching the Sixers with Charles Barkley or, later, Allen Iverson? Who did not get caught up in the Sixers run to the 2001 NBA finals? That team was this city. They didn’t win the championship, but does that really make them any less memorable. Does it make Iverson any less a Philly sports legend?"

Let’s put this thinking to the test with some trivia.

Question 1: How many seasons have the 76ers been under .500 in winning percentage since the last title and just before Hinkie?

Answer: 13 times; 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013 (including the Barkley Era, The Dark Ages, and The Iverson Era; for three of those years (1996, 1997, 1998) the team finished 14th, 14th and 15th going 71-175; not the two Hall of Fame members fault, but still.

Question 2: Who did the 76ers front office trade all the while?

Answer: Moses Malone, Terry Catledge, and two first-round picks, Charles Barkley (for Tim Perry, Andrew Lang and Jeff Hornacek), Brad Daugherty, and Andre Iguodala. The Sixers have a tradition of selling some its best players in history (Wilt Chamberlain) while receiving very little in return and while losing draft choices and space under the cap.

Question 3: How many head coaches have the 76ers from 1983-2013?

Answer: 15: a stunning number considering it is a major market city with a top-flight sports following and economic resources and advantages. Before Hinkie, coaches could not call this place home. And people want to run Brett Brown out of town?

Question 4: How have the 76ers done in the draft since 1983?

Answer: Not great. Their first round picks? Tom Sewell, Leon Wood, Christian Welp, Kenny Payne, Clarence Witherspoon, Shawn Bradley, B.J. Tyler, Sharone Wright, Shawn Bradley, Keith Van Horn, Speedy Claxton, Samuel Dalembert, and Marreese Speights. These are just some of their picks and obviously Iverson was an exception as a hall of famer and 76ers legend. Furthermore, the Sixers got caught in a violent perpetual NBA purgatory of draft bad/trade bad/waste money/lose games, concert of misery. You can mistrust Hinkie and his picks and ways of saving money, but notice the difference. For all of this time and these aforementioned picks, the Sixers were trying to win, not rebuild.

We need to fight 76ers historical amnesia and look at the Pre-Hinkie era with knowledge and truth.

Stay the course.

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