The Philadelphia 76ers players endured ridicule and losing games for years. Contrary to a “losing culture” perspective, this team forged players from around the world into one of the most formidable teams in the NBA today
There you are Philadelphia 76ers and fans. Take a bow. After all the anti-Sixers claims for years, those same Sixers are the first NBA Eastern Conference team to advance to round two. And so, ending a 52-30 season, the Philadelphia 76ers are in the NBA spotlight and deserve to be there. Concluding a decisive 4-1 series against a tough playoff-seasoned Miami Heat, the players, the coaches, and the fans enjoy post-season success. On one hand, never has such a difficult journey incorporated such a fundamental change. On the other hand, the NBA has never witnessed a franchise undertaking a complete top to bottom to top rebuild. And finally, no NBA team has ever subjected themselves to such ire, vitriol, and rejection by their own peers.
Yet there you are. Ahead of schedule and heading to round two.
Tired trolling cliche’s
For years, those who scoffed at the Philadelphia 76ers cited some tired cliches. After all, it was not just once. And not even twice. In fact, it was over four years where trolls aimed their worst thoughtless comments in social media at Philly. I’m certain you’d heard these before.
“Tanking has no place in the NBA”.
“Good? They haven’t even proven they can stay healthy?!?”
“Losing breeds a culture of losing that will never change.”
A team that wins just 10 games while losing 72 games makes few friends or advocates in this league. And there are plenty of moments throughout the past four years where is was clear to everyone that is was a small group of fans, players and team staff seemingly against the entire NBA. Few friends then, but each fan and player remembers that feeling.
Closeness through adversity
But something was happening through all that losing. 15 individuals endured adversity together. 15 young men with completely differing backgrounds, cultures, languages, and experiences were learning a very important lesson together. On one hand, winning is tough. On the other hand, winning in the NBA is tougher. Finally, winning NBA playoff games is tougher still. All the while, this team learned the importance and rarity of NBA success through experiencing so much NBA failure… together.
One of my favorite moments of the scene from the locker room: @rich_hofmann asks McConnell about being part of the transformation from 10-72 to where they are today, TJ looks him dead in the eye and goes, "That was a hard fought 10-72, by the way"
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) April 25, 2018
Such a Philly thing to say. Such an incredibly Philadelphia sports mentality. And he is 100 percent correct. Through all the losses, Philadelphia competed to the end. It was not by accident, mind you. That competitiveness originated with that patient head coach Brett Brown. But it was supported with a basketball analytics team who monitored practices in the gym. And the team recorded player effort each game for years, giving immediate feedback to each following each game. This team was about building a championship team. But it was building a championship team from the ground up.
Philadelphia never surrendered
The Philadelphia 76ers never quit or surrendered. Even in the midst of a ten win season, the team fought injuries as hard as they fought on the basketball court. Joel Embiid‘s second surgery aligned his return to the NBA to coincided with Dario Saric‘s arrival.
The 2015-2016 team was piloted by undrafted point guard T.J. McConnell, and the leading scorer was back-to-the-basket center Jahlil Okafor. The team’s injury list included Embiid, Robert Covington, Tony Wroten, Carl Landry, Kendall Marshall, and Nik Stauskas. Undermanned and outgunned, they played their hearts out.
@Sixers @Liberty_Ballers #ttp I love my 76ers. Never quit, always grinding pic.twitter.com/mpOx17poi0
— ashish desai (@ashishadesai) January 31, 2016
A team which never quits has significant upside when wins finally arrive.
Snake bit
It was a team fraught with banged up bodies. Was it by design, or just snake bit? After all, some players arrived to the team banged up. But other players were a complete surprise. Center Joel Embiid’s second surgery caught everyone by surprise. While that hurt the 2015-2016 team, it did lead to a domino effect of positives.
That 2016 team landed the team the top pick in 2016. We know that Ben Simmons came to Philadelphia 76ers as a point guard, and is the perfect fit for this team’s scheme. But even Ben Simmons sat a year. A year with 31 games of Joel Embiid and no Ben Simmons won 28 games. Still, this team could not settle for just any veteran additions.
Bench build seals the deal
The final pieces to this team arrived very late in the season. The Philadelphia 76ers bench before the trade deadline was underpowered. Nobody on the bench contributed better than 10 points per game or better. The best perimeter shooting was Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot at 33.5 percent. Trevor Booker simply did not deliver.
All in all, the 76ers bench was very concerning. But late season signings of Marco Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova landed two good scorers at just the right time. Then the team unveiled a now healthy Markelle Fultz to facilitate that bench scoring. The mix immediately found good team chemistry.
No quit and all fit
So how did they fit with this team? Ersan Ilyasova contributed to the Sixers in the 2016-2017 season. And Marco Belinelli shares a common experience with head coach Brett Brown as a former San Antonio Spurs player. In post season, Belinelli is averaging 16.6 points per game. Similarly, Ersan Ilyasova is averaging 10.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Both players are coming off the bench with those numbers. And both have good off-ball instincts too.
Next: Sixers advance to 2nd round with 104-91 victory over Miami Heat
But the addition of new scorers gives Brown so many options. He now has a defensive lineup, a speed lineup, an offensive lineup, and a tall ball lineup. With so many viable lineup options, the team now can counter whatever lineup they face in any given game. Ilyasova, Belinelli, and even veteran J.J. Redick sought the Philadelphia 76ers team as one with playoff potential. It’s clear in the way the Philadelphia 76ers have played that this team is selfless and focused on team victories. While there are no guarantees, two things are certain. This Philadelphia 76ers team will not be intimidated by any opponent. Secondly, this team gets better with each contest.