It has been roughly ten years since Sam Hinkie was hired to be the General Manager of the Philadelphia 76ers. Since then, the Sixers have been the center of various controversies every single year. The future is looking very bleak for what was once one of the most promising young teams in the league, and it is time to decide which Sixers’ mistakes were the most damaging.
For this exercise, there will be some parameters. For starters, it would be unfair to include decisions like passing up on Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, or anyone else who came out of left field. By using the same logic, they would have ended up drafting Bruno Caboclo. Instead, the decisions that were made that had a realistic alternative will be scrutinized. Additionally, some disasters were not completely the fault of the franchise. Markelle Fultz and Ben Simmons had completely unprecedented declines that the team cannot fully be blamed for.
There is also the “sliding doors” idea to consider. There are no guarantees that the “right moves” would work out had the Sixers made them, they also could have prevented future success from happening. The best example of this is Markelle Fultz. He was the obvious player to select in 2017 based on the makeup of the team, his ability at the time compared to the rest of the draft class, and the assets the Sixers had. Of course, he did not work in Philadelphia, but even with his value tanking, the Sixers managed to acquire the pick that became Tyrese Maxey for him. Though Fultz was a disaster, one could argue getting Maxey years later made it worthwhile.
With those disclaimers in mind, here is the list of the ten biggest mistakes the Sixers have made in the last ten years in descending order.