The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Philadelphia 76ers rebuilding process won’t be replicated in NBA

By Bret Stuter

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 16: The lottery drawing begins inside the lottery room during the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery at the New York Hilton in New York, New York. 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 16: The lottery drawing begins inside the lottery room during the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery at the New York Hilton in New York, New York. 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Philadelphia 76ers rebuilding process is still underway. But the NBA constructed barriers for the 2019 NBA Draft and beyond to prevent replication.

Tanking. Philadelphia 76ers. Sam Hinkie. Rebuild. One of these things do not belong. If you ask most of the Philadelphia 76ers fans, they will point to the term “tanking” as the outlier. If you ask fans of any other NBA team, there will be quite a bit of confusion. You see, the perspective from around the league is that the team tanked. Deliberately tried to lose to get a high draft pick.  But nothing could be further from the truth.

The reason for this is simply the priorities of the Philadelphia 76ers were less about “win now” than about “win it all”.  And for some national-media-driven-conclusion, that means the team tried purposefully to lose.  The actuality is that the history of this team was about winning, but identifying the players who could help them do so as quickly as possible.

Trust The Process meant patience for the rebuild

If you examine what “Trust The Process” actually stood for, it had nothing to do with losing. It was a rallying cry to fans to show patience as the team sorted through the young and inexperienced players in the search for NBA caliber talent.  If the Philadelphia 76ers truly stood for losing, they didn’t do a very good job of it in the long haul.

The team drafted third two seasons in a row.  Compare that to the Los Angeles Lakers picking second three consecutive season, despite having a much better record.  In 2014, the 76ers were 19-63 to the Lakers 27-55. And again, in 2015 the 76ers were 18-64 to the Lakers 21-61. In 2016, the 76ers fell to 10-72 to the Lakers 17-65. While the Philadelphia 76ers did score the top pick in that 2016 NBA Draft, they had already jettisoned the services of team executive Sam Hinkie.

Hinkie never selected higher than third in an NBA Draft. But he did plenty of selecting in the second round.