Philadelphia 76ers Will Vacate NBA Basement This Season

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
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
2 of 7
Feb 10, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie prior to a game against the Sacramento Kings at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 10, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie prior to a game against the Sacramento Kings at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Feels Drafty In Here

Frequency, quantity, and hopefully, quality of the NBA draft would fix the team.   But that would impact the team’s competitiveness in two ways.  In the first way, more draft picks than the standard two per team would drive the age of the team younger and towards less experience. That lack of experience would hurt the team, creating more and more difficulty to finding victories.

The second negative impact is that the team roster was built to facilitate getting more draft picks. That meant lots of salary cap space, only paying for players at a discount, and opening the roster to undrafted free agents. Consider the most important position to head coach Brett Brown, the point guard, and the gyrations of the team to fill the void.  Would the season have been different if Tony Wroten and Robert Covington were healthy all season?  Likely.  But in the void, T.J. McConnell started – an undrafted free agent rookie – and did well enough for the team.

National media will never invest indepth analysis into a team until that team warrants it.  Once bad, media will not cover the story until that team improves.  Similarly, good teams get greater exposure when they begin to struggle.

In Philadelphia basketball, that translates into perception of a last place team until something changes that perception.

Next: Times Are A'Changing