The Sixer Sense
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Sixers Struggling With Situations That Shouldn’t Even Exist

By Josh Wilson

Nov 19, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown reacts during the second half against the Phoenix Suns at Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia 76ers won 120-105. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 19, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown reacts during the second half against the Phoenix Suns at Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia 76ers won 120-105. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Philadelphia 76ers are under an immense amount of pressure regarding their big man situation, but it’s a situation that should have been avoided.

Over the last three seasons, there have been a lot of situations that seem like they would have been hard enough for Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown to exclaim that the team was going through a tough period.

He never did.

Brown maintained, over the first few full seasons of the rebuilding process, an attitude of positivity, gratitude for his job, and happiness with what his players were able to do, despite the fact that their abilities were almost never able to result in wins. Maneuvering interesting roster makeups and lineups dictated by injuries to key players never was an issue for Brown, until now.

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On Wednesday, talking to the media after practice, Brown said, “We are going through one of the most challenging times that I have had since I have been here.”

The main situation that’s causing comments such as this is the current situation with the big men. The Sixers have had just a few games so far where they have had all three big-name big men available to play (Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid) and the team has been unable to figure out how to cater to each player.

Embiid, of course, will get minutes no matter what. Noel has seemed like he is the odd man out, and because of that, the team has seemingly given him a backseat in order to give Embiid and Okfaor more playing time together, despite the appeal of a defensive anchoring that is clearly possible from Embiid and Noel (although Noel and Embiid did see the court together for the first time on Friday night in a loss against the Phoenix Suns).

When asked about the morale and the friendships between the players despite them all competing for the same minutes, Brown said, “That’s real. It’s not their fault that they are in this situation. We are trying to figure it all out together.”

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It’s not Brown’s fault either. So whose fault is it?

Is it Hinkie’s? After all, he was the one who drafted best player available even though the best player available was a center over and over and over. But Hinkie wasn’t the man running the show this past year. in fact, it’s been over a year since Jerry Colangelo came in to work alongside Hinkie, and nearly a year since Hinkie resigned from his post completely, letting Bryan Colangelo take over.

That’s almost a year for Colangelo to figure out something to do with the big man situation. But he sat back and did nothing.

Of course, Colangelo certainly didn’t do nothing with the situation (at least, let’s hope not). Hopefully he brainstormed solutions, and hopefully he at least picked up the phone to talk to other teams about possible trades for the big men.

As far as actual action, though, Colangelo has done nothing. And he has shown no real drive to do anything, either. Earlier last week he had a 50-minute conversation with the media about the state of the Sixers and very plainly said that there was zero rush to make a trade.

Yet, he has his head coach scrambling to make pieces fit together that do not fit, and for what? It’s not as if the Sixers will try to run the three big men with each other long-term. That seems like a recipe for disaster.

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Colangelo has not been as bad as a general manager as some Sixers fans anticipated him being, but in regards to the big man situation, he has been terrible. It’s time for the Sixers to rectify the situation and move a big. The situation was avoidable from the start, but now that it has occurred, all Colangelo can do is fix it late.