The Sixer Sense
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76ers fans need to take a collective chill pill

By Alec Liebsch

PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 20: Philadelphia 76ers fans react during the game against the Boston Celtics at the Wells Fargo Center on October 20, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Celtics defeated the 76ers 102-92. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 20: Philadelphia 76ers fans react during the game against the Boston Celtics at the Wells Fargo Center on October 20, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Celtics defeated the 76ers 102-92. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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As the season heats up, the temperature cools down. However, a huge faction of the Philadelphia 76ers‘ fan base has associated with the former in the shape of impatience, when they really should be coinciding with the contrary latter.

What happened to Trusting the Process? It seems as though the fan base no longer does so. Day after day, people are calling for someone’s head in the Philadelphia 76ers organization, as evidenced by our own Christopher Kline.

But why? Is it really that unbearable that the team is barely under .500 with so few quality basketball players?

People are forgetting the long term outlook of this franchise. The Process was never about 2017 or 2018.

Joel Embiid has yet to play a full season of basketball and he’s already an arguable top-25 player. When he is in the game, the atmosphere drastically changes. Ben Simmons is not too far behind, as long as he keeps expanding his range. Heck, he might not even need to for a few years, given what players like Giannis Antentokoumnpo can do.

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Markelle Fultz has barely played any NBA minutes, and people are already calling him a bust (really, people? Really?). He also has yet to work through his rookie struggles, so that will be another roadblock before the franchise’s ascension to greatness.

Robert Covington, despite his recent struggles, is a legitimate 3-and-D basketball player. It’s not his fault the roster makeup allows defenses to center in on him.

The roster clearly does not have enough shooters. When plays designed for J.J. Redick are a team’s best chance to get a bucket in rhythm, that’s the roster’s fault.

However, this is not an attack on Colangelo’s transactions either. He can only do so much in the transition stage of a rebuild, when the team is not so much a free agent destination, but more so a paradise of overcompensation for veterans.

Did anyone really expect a team coming off 28 wins to make such a gargantuan leap to be immediately competitive? Go down the depth chart, player by player, and that expectations get tapered down.

2017-18 was never about full-blown contention. That is, quite simply, impossible without compromising the long-term outlook. Most moves in the short term that make the team immediately will cost some sort of future asset, a la the Trevor Booker trade.

So again, allow me to emphasize: let’s all take a chill pill and look at the team through the long view.

Next: 2018 NBA Mock Draft 2.0

Let the kids work through their struggles, with one eye on the current development, and another on the ultimate prize.