Is this year's Sixers team the worst NBA squad ever?

[tazzmaniac]

From Zach Lowe

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14287780/how-much-patience-sixer-fans-nba-process

About sums it up here:

Philly's failure to this point also doesn't mean they are misreading the league's incentive system or that tanking is dumb. The best way to win a championship is to land a top-10 overall player, and study after study has shown that the best way to find such a player is to draft him. The fact that most tanking teams never win a title doesn't invalidate the strategy. Most teams of all stripes never win the title. Every team-building strategy is a low-percentage play if the criteria is getting a ring.

Embiid's injury and Okafor's juvenile crap aren't evidence that Philly has botched The Process. They are blips baked into The Process. A longer tanking timeline allows for both risks and setbacks. If the Bobcats miss on Anthony Davis, they're done tanking. If the Sixers miss on Embiid and Okafor, they're going to take their best [dang] shot at Ben Simmons. If you really have this kind of patience, you can afford some misses. That's the entire point of the strategy. One hit, and the long-term outlook changes.

Next year will be very interesting, because I don't think it's at all likely they will still be in "lose every game" mode.

How come you didn't include the stuff about them being horrible with players including cutting one when he was on the team bus? Or brown lamenting their only veteran this year is Landry, who doesn't have the same voice because he doesn't play. I thought those were pretty big insights into some of their significant issues.

I didn't think either of those items were very insightful or significant.  Lamenting about losing Richardson (injured most of last year) and Mbah a Moute while only having Landry this year sounds rather silly.  Who in the heck even knows who Jorge Gutierrez is? 

Much more important was the stuff about the push to change the lottery because of the Sixers strategy.  With all the complaining about the Sixers, eleven other teams ended up siding with them.  The Sixers aren't the first team to tank and they won't be the last.  They are just the first team to take an analytical approach to tanking.  Quite a few GMs are probably jealous that they don't have ownership backing to try the same approach. 

[jdz101]

1-21 with a 50 point loss to the Spurs tonight.

Surely someone's getting fired for this right?

[jpotter33]

1-21 with a 50 point loss to the Spurs tonight.

Surely someone's getting fired for this right?

Haha I love that it was on the same day that the NBA commissioner basically made a play in the Sixers' front office, too. I mean, essentially, Hinkie was already demoted today.

[Ogaju]

YES YES YES IT IS

San Antonio just finished clowning them without Timmy Duncan.

[LarBrd33]

1-21 with a 50 point loss to the Spurs tonight.

Surely someone's getting fired for this right?

They are in this position by design.  They wouldn't have fielded a team primarily of D-leaguers had their ownership not signed off on it. 

Bringing in Jerry Colangelo as a "consultant" makes sense, though.  It lets them keep gleefully tanking for Ben Simmons and then this summer they can target free agents/vets by selling them on the "new regime"/"new focus on winning"/"new direction". 

I just wonder... if they succeed in putting together a decent team using their bounty of top-level assets, will Colangelo get the credit for the "miracle turnaround"?  They've amassed a staggering collection of assets.  Philly will look completely different next year.

[Denis998]

1-21 with a 50 point loss to the Spurs tonight.

Surely someone's getting fired for this right?

They are in this position by design.  They wouldn't have fielded a team primarily of D-leaguers had their ownership not signed off on it. 

Bringing in Jerry Colangelo as a "consultant" makes sense, though.  It lets them keep gleefully tanking for Ben Simmons and then this summer they can target free agents/vets by selling them on the "new regime"/"new focus on winning"/"new direction". 

I just wonder... if they succeed in putting together a decent team using their bounty of top-level assets, will Colangelo get the credit for the "miracle turnaround"?  They've amassed a staggering collection of assets.  Philly will look completely different next year.

be it by design or not, they still are the worst team in NBA history, the individual players might have talent, but it stops there. The organization and management earned the the "worst team in NBA history" tag. There is like only 4 NBA caliber players on that team right now. Essentially what they are doing is cycling through D-League players by the handful, trying to stumble on the next Hassan Whiteside type of talent.

[MBunge]

1-21 with a 50 point loss to the Spurs tonight.

Surely someone's getting fired for this right?

They are in this position by design.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say no, they didn't expect or intend to be in THIS position.  They're not running to Colangelo if everything was going according to plan.  Three years in and a grand total of two NBA quality players on the roster, and those two really can't play together?  That's like having Wile E. Coyote as your GM.

Mike

[Emmette Bryant]

This is from Wojo

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--despite-front-office-change--76ers-discussing-extension-for-coach-brett-brown-222754461.html

[celticsclay]

This is from Wojo

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--despite-front-office-change--76ers-discussing-extension-for-coach-brett-brown-222754461.html

Larbrd said he was ml Carr the other day. brutal

[LarBrd33]

This is from Wojo

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--despite-front-office-change--76ers-discussing-extension-for-coach-brett-brown-222754461.html

From that article

Ownership short-circuited Hinkie’s tanking process on Monday

Yeah... i'll believe that when I see it.   Unless they are trading their own pick for a player like Cousins, I don't expect to see anything change this season.   As long as they own that pick, they'll be tanking for Ben Simmons this year.

[jdz101]

This is from Wojo

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--despite-front-office-change--76ers-discussing-extension-for-coach-brett-brown-222754461.html

Larbrd said he was ml Carr the other day. brutal

No coach could polish that turd.

Been a long time since I've seen a team this down.

[SHAQATTACK]

Every year there will be one superstar type kid ......at what point do,you get off the floor and say time to play basketball ?  If I'm a 76 ers fan I'm totally disgusted. .   

They have had tons of lottery picks and have plenty more ......why not play ball ?

The goal at the start of each season is too win .........anything else is cheating the fan base ....I could care less about the cyber fans .

NBA needs to stop multiple tanking seasons in a row .   Once you get a top five , then you go to the back of the line for the next year .

What a terrible mess the NBA has created letting teams THROW whole seasons and not even attempt to play professional ball.

[Emmette Bryant]

http://deadspin.com/anonymous-76er-throws-down-one-of-the-years-best-dunks-1748487500

[Donoghus]

http://deadspin.com/anonymous-76er-throws-down-one-of-the-years-best-dunks-1748487500

This quote got me:

Richaun Holmes, a second-round pick out of Bowling Green, is just one of the many anonymous puds that the Philadelphia 76ers are relying on to help the team lose as many games as possible