Philadelphia 76ers Will Vacate NBA Basement This Season

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Mar 11, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown argues a call with referee Lauren Holtkamp (7) during the fourth quarter of the game against the Brooklyn Nets at the Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia 76ers won 95-89. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports /

It comes as no surprise that the ESPN experts have declared the Philadelphia 76ers basement dwellers once more. What must the 76ers do to escape last place?

Of course the obvious answer is to win more games, right? But what is the story in that? Let’s review why a bad team in the NBA suddenly became very bad. After we address that, we can look for trends, changes in the team that would lead to a conclusion that this team is on a positive trend. Finally, we can examine the roster moves so far and what those moves mean in terms of position and production.

Let’s get to it.

The Philadelphia 76ers have not been a good team for a very long time. You can find plenty of articles about the state of the organization, and why the team’s outlook of grim and hopeless paved the way for the hiring of president Sam Hinkie.

So many conclude that Sam Hinkie’s goal was to erode the team to the point where the Philadelphia 76ers would eventually get the top selection of the NBA draft. Ultimately the motivation was more complex than that. Hinkie simply lowered the priority of “win now”, and elevated the priority of refocusing the teams efforts on the NBA draft.

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