Philadelphia 76ers Fans Ask: How Much Longer?

So how long will it take?

History is no guarantee, but it does give a good indication of what the range of expectations could be. We know that the 2015-2016 Philadelphia 76ers were bad – but from many contributing factors. The team was riddled with injuries, was inexperienced, was undermanned all season, and had two players red-shirted in Joel Embiid and Dario Saric. While that all combined to cripple the team last season, it all reverses this year.

The Collins’ version of the 76ers needed time to bring talent to the team.  In a series of misses, the team eventually began to find some help.  This team is building differently, more rapidly.  Much of the trial and error happened in the three years of austerity.  With this team, there is a strong recognition of who each player is, and the team has plenty of talent in the pipeline in overseas play and in future draft picks to keep young talent incoming.

Much like Allen Iverson, it’s clear that the team has placed the future into the hands of Ben Simmons.  But unlike Iverson, the team will not just hand Simmons the ball, point to the basket, and let him work a one-man clinic on scoring.  This team will improve overall with the presence of Simmons on the court.

But if not Simmons, who can score on this offense?  The debut of both Joel Embiid and Dario Saric may help answer that question.  One of the two will have a solid season this year.  If both generate 15 or more points per game, that will be icing on the cake.

But just as the team will have fierce competition for starters, the bench will improve dramatically.  Many of the returning players from last season were forced into starting roles, and will find themselves in reserve roles this season.  While that is not an ideal situation for everyone, it will give this team a far better bench than last year’s record might indicate.  Depth on any basketball team is one of the last areas addressed by the  front office.  It plagued Iverson’s teams.  This year, it will be a strength.

We’ve discussed this season in the 30 win range, and added reasons why the team would end up there. But what about the following year?  By this time next year, the team will have committed to Ben Simmons in a point guard role, have determined which pair of Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, and Joel Embiid will remain with the team going forward, will have a more mature Furkan Korkmaz and a more experienced Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to join the team’s back court, and will have a good year to determine which players have improved to remain with the team going forward.

The 2017-2018 season, from this vantage point, truly appears to be the year for .500 or better play from this team, and a potential appearance in the playoffs.   Is it a sure thing?  No.  But if you check the history of the teams with a first round draft pick, you find it doesn’t take long if the team has the right pieces surrounding the player.  The Philadelphia 76ers have not only added the top pick, but have two other very talented players joining the team this year.

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The Philadelphia 76ers have been gathering those pieces for the past three years.