The Philadelphia 76ers may be out of the playoffs now, but the postseason is getting very close to its most climactic point. With only four teams left in the race to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy, the competition will only get more intense from here on out. Out West, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs will be duking it out for the right to represent the conference in the Finals. Having said that, the Philly faithful actually has a couple of reasons to tune in on that series.
Two players who once donned the 76ers colorways, Isaiah Joe and Julian Champagnie, will be key players for their respective squads in the WCF. However, fans in Philly will probably have more recollections of those players for no longer being part of the roster thanks to some major mistakes made by the front office over the years.
Joe was infamously cut by Daryl Morey to avoid paying the tax a few years ago, while Champagnie got waived for an more ludicrous reason (at least in hindsight), which was to have the roster spot to sign Mac McClung, who repped the 76ers in the Dunk Contest but barely even saw the floor.
The 76ers are about to get reminded of their brutal mistakes in the Western Conference Finals
The 76ers were not exactly purveyors of youth movement back when they cut both Joe and Champagnie. Obviously, that came back to bite them in the end as both players ended up being the exact kind of contributors this team badly needs. While they have their own quirks, both of them are sharpshooters who are very willing defenders — a player archetype this team is currently lacking.
Now, Oklahoma City and San Antonio keep reaping the benefits of Philadelphia blowing it with those young guns. These are just a couple of blunders in the long list of mistakes orchestrated by Morey and his cohorts, and while not the lone determining factors, they certainly did not help his case in the end as he got unceremoniously fired.
The 76ers are going to be an idle party until the start of the next campaign, but for now, all they can do is witness how these players, who were already in the fold not too long ago, can keep reminding them of their flawed design in recent years. Hopefully, this serves as a reminder for them to adopt a more inclusive approach to roster-building.
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