Recent decisions by the Philadelphia 76ers ownership group has made it clear that the franchise would probably be better off if owned by someone else.
There are some really bad owners in the NBA. James Dolan of the New York Knicks, Robert Sarver of the Phoenix Suns and Glen Taylor of the Minnesota Timberwolves are easily the three worst. While Philadelphia 76ers majority owner Josh Harris isn’t nearly as bad as the three previously mentioned owners, it’s clear that the Sixers would probably be in better hands if he sold the franchise.
This isn’t just a reaction to his horrendous choice to try to cut the pay of his employees, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. He and the other minority owners rescinded that decision after the outcry against the idea from the public and with star center Joel Embiid preparing to step up to help said, employees.
It should be noted that AJ Iezzi of The Sixer Sense called for Harris to sell the team at the end of his critical article about how Harris handled this most recent situation.
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First off, good on Embiid for doing the right thing and secondly, this incident was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Harris and company don’t have the best track record as owners prior to this PR nightmare, despite the Sixers being a playoff team in the last three seasons.
Soon after buying the 76ers in 2011, Harris embraced the idea of a multi-year rebuild, headed by first time general manager (GM) Same Hinkie in 2013. Despite “The Process” yielding positive results, in the end, it wasn’t a popular idea at the time and was met with some backlash.
It wasn’t “The Process” itself that was bad, it’s how it was finished. After talking to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Harris brought in NBA lifer Jerry Colangelo. It almost seemed that the NBA forced Philly to end “The Process”. It didn’t help that the Sixers hired Colangelo’s son, Bryan Colangelo as president of basketball operations, who replaced Hinkie. These sequence of events made Harris look weak as an owner.
After the scandal that forced the younger Colangelo’s out of the franchise, there was a void in the front office. The smart thing to do was to probably bring in someone from the outside and start off with a new staff. Instead, Harris not only elected to keep Colangelo’s staff but also to hire one of the least experienced people in that group in former player Elton Brand as the new GM.
Brand’s track record has had some big failures in it, like signing Al Horford. Now Brand has used up most of the Sixers assets, which has resulted in the roster being unbalanced and underperforming. While Brand made the decisions to put the 76ers where they are now, he clearly didn’t have enough experience to lead a front office of a team with championship aspirations to begin with and that goes back on Harris.
This most recent incident was only the final nail in the coffin that Harris should sell. The good news for him is that if he sold, he’d make a profit. He bought the team for $280 million and the franchise is currently worth $2 billion, according to Forbes. It’s not like Harris would be walking away with nothing if he sold.
Despite Harris’ recent claims that he won’t sell the Philadelphia 76ers, now it’s become clearer now more than ever that he should sell the team. However, only time will tell if Harris decides to sell the franchise.