Summer ’13 – Summer ’17: The Process
Doug Collins had been well on his way out by the midpoint of the previous season. The Sixers were interviewing new head coaching candidates not long after the 2012-13 season concluded. When all was said and done, they emerged with a man whom I condemned at first but grew to love and respect over time: Brett Brown.
I frantically scrolled through my Twitter feed looking to find the details of what had happened. All I knew was this: Nerlens Noel was headed to the Sixers via the Pelicans in a trade involving Jrue Holiday. I was shocked and upset, yet energized and excited. Noel was supposed to be one of the top-three picks in the draft prior to tearing an ACL at Kentucky. While he would miss the whole 2013-14 season, the potential to be a franchise player was there if Noel put in the work. While the Bynum-Holiday era was over before it ever began, it was time to be excited about a new era: ‘The Process’.
I knew it would be bad that season, but I didn’t really understand how bad it was going to be until I saw the final roster after all of the preseason modifications had been made. The most notable players were Thaddeus Young, Jason Richardson, Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes. I knew nothing about rookie Michael Carter-Williams. The only thing I knew about Tony Wroten was that he couldn’t even break the Memphis Grizzlies’ rotation in previous years. I had never heard of the rest of the players on the team.
The Sixers opened the season with a 19-0 run against the defending-champion Miami Heat. The Heat would battle all the way back to lead by as many as 8 points in the third quarter, but the rookie Carter-Williams stripped LeBron James late in the fourth quarter and score on the other end to seal the victory in the first game under Brown. Carter-Williams had a historic debut, finishing with 22 points, 12 assists, nine steals (NBA rookie debut record) and seven rebounds.
While I had no expectations at all, the excitement and energy was there. The players, who, mind you, were all playing for their NBA futures, were excited for one another and never stopped competing on either end of the floor. While the game had been ugly at times, everyone made plays and shots. Ironically, it was the Sixers’ first and only regular season win against the Heat during the ‘Big Three’ era.
The next two games were unbelievable. The Sixers overcame a 14-point road deficit to shock the Wizards. The very next night, Spencer Hawes knocked down a long mid-range jumper to beat the shot clock out of a pick-and-pop play with Carter-Williams to cap off a 20-point comeback against the Bulls in Philly. For the first time in all of my years as a fan, the Sixers were 3-0. Go figure.
Other than a pair of Evan Turner game-winning shots at the buzzer to beat the Nets and Celtics, things got ugly fast. The Sixers would tie the NBA record for consecutive losses with 26 and finish the season with a 19-63 record.
While all of the excitement in the 2014 draft surrounded Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker, the Sixers received the third overall pick. With that pick, they selected center Joel Embiid. While Wiggins and Parker were said to be the prizes, Embiid would have garnered first-pick discussion had it not been for a concerning foot fracture. Embiid would miss the entire 2014-15 season to rehab the foot.
The Sixers picked back up where the 2013-14 season ended. They lost their first 17 games of the 2014-15 season and finished 18-64. If nothing else, Sixers fans got their first taste of Nerlens Noel and discovered Robert Covington. While incredibly raw, Noel’s athleticism, length, and defensive ability showcased the potential he had. As for Covington, it became clear that other teams had dismissed a gem on the wing with tremendous 3-and-D potential.
Despite their woes, the Sixers could do no better than the third overall pick once again. This time, they selected the previous season’s top high school recruit in the country: Jahlil Okafor.
Embiid would miss the entire 2015-16 season with another foot injury, giving the keys to Okafor and Noel, and, boy, was it ugly. The Sixers would start 0-18 before winning their first game, defeating the Lakers in Kobe Bryant‘s last game in Philly. In the midst of all of the losing, general manager Sam Hinkie “stepped down” from his position, and Chairman of Basketball Operations Jerry Colangelo named his son, Bryan Colangelo, the franchise’s new general manager. Finishing the season with a 10-72 record, the basketball gods acquiesced to the Sixers. Having finally won the lottery, the Sixers selected Ben Simmons with the first pick.
While the Sixers finally got Embiid, the pattern of losing rookies for entire seasons continued — Ben Simmons broke his foot in training camp and missed the whole campaign. In his debut, Embiid dazzled in Philly against the Thunder. He finished with 20 points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes of play.
For his first NBA bucket, Embiid pulled the trigger on a free throw line turn-around jumper after a shimmy, and followed it up with a rejection at the rim on the other end. I looked around and observed the Wells Fargo Center in pandemonium. Sitting in section 106, I could feel the building shaking. The excitement was palpable. It felt as if a player had finally been as good as advertised, as if the Sixers finally had a real star, as if ‘the process’ was finally getting somewhere.
The Sixers would begin the 2016-17 season with an 0-7 record, recording a home win in overtime against the Pacers. Yes, it was 1-7. Yes, 1-7 is better than 0-18. There would be numerous other memorable wins along the way. T.J. McConnell made a turn-around jumper on the baseline to beat the Knicks at the buzzer, Dario Saric (who finally came over) threw an alley-oop to Covington to beat the Timberwolves with 0.1 seconds left and Covington knocked down a heavily-contested three-pointer to beat the Blazers with four seconds left.
Embiid would end up missing the final 37 games of the season with a torn meniscus (51 games missed total) in the most notable of a string of PR failures under Colangelo. While the Sixers eventually gave up on winning and finished with a 28-54 record, the progress was there. The optimism was growing.
In his most notable move as general manager, Colangelo traded the third overall pick in that summer’s draft, as well as the rights to the Kings’ pick in this summer’s draft, to the Celtics for the first overall pick. With that pick, Colangelo selected Markelle Fultz. Finally, the Sixers landed an impactful free agent, signing sharpshooter J.J. Redick to a one-year, $24 million deal. With the likes of Embiid, Simmons, Saric, Covington, Redick, and Fultz, it looked like the Sixers finally had the personnel to win — dare I say — 44 games.