Philadelphia 76ers Are Now Phoenix Suns II

With Jerry Colangelo’s arrival, the Philadelphia 76ers became “old school” vs. “new school”. Unfortunately, “old school” has won.

You’ve seen the science-fiction movies. A scientist or engineer makes a great discovery, years of intensive focused sacrifice to invent a device “for the good of man”. Ultimately, the government powers that be determine the device is too powerful to remain in private hands, and takes the device as part of eminent domain. We know the carnage that happens next.  In similar fashion, Jerry Colangelo, a man of distinction arrived to the Philadelphia 76ers organization at the insistance of majority owner Joshua Harris.  His goal was formally announced as Chairman of Basketball Operations, and casually described as a go between from the doings of the team to detail the front office actions to increasingly nervous ownership.

Apparently “Trust The Process” was never more than a marketing campaign to either Jerry Colangelo nor to the owners.

When Jerry Colangelo arrived to the Philadelphia 76ers, the first rumors to follow along behind him were that he would supplant then current president and general manager Sam Hinkie with his son, Bryan Colangelo. But that rumor subsided as the trilogy of Sam Hinkie, Jerry Colangelo, and Brett Brown seemed to find a sort of symbiosis – a relative matter of mutual respect for where the Philadelphia 76ers were and where they intended to go.  Then, on April 6, 2016, everything began to spiral out of control.

You see, this is the home stretch, virtually the first off-season where the team would no longer take a long-term approach.  In the coming months, words fell from all of the Sixers who mattered that this would be an off-season with free agency.   We already know that both Dario Saric and Joel Embiid, each a first round draft choice from the 2014 NBA draft, will be joining the team.  And then the final element of bright hope – as many as four first round NBA draft picks in the 2016 NBA draft.  We know that Sam Hinkie has loaded up the current roster with developing talent, talent which many scoff at on the Sixers roster, but that same talent continues to find a home on basketball courts worldwide.  Apparently Sam Hinkie has two incredible talents.  He finds basketball talent in overlooked places and signs the players to very team friendly contracts.  The other talent?  He has amassed so many assets for the team heading into the 2016 off-season that he has been deemed “unworthy” of handling this any further.

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