Ben and Rich Paul backed into a corner

[Moranis]

Not many teams are interested in giving up the farm and 140 million for a basketball Dinosaur that can't stretch the floor to save his life.

I think the idea that all big men need to stretch the floor is wrong-minded.  A big who can score inside, pass like a point guard, and defend both the interior and perimeter is quite valuable.

Simmons’ problems are that he’s a terrible FT shooter, and that he mentally can’t handle 4th quarter pressure.  Sitting out won’t help that perception, but Philly needs to understand that teams won’t give up full value for a guy with suspect mental skills.

 True however he's got to get the idea that he's a PG out of his head. He will never make All Star at wing or big man.  That's okay.  Embrace your height and strengths Ben. Your not a point guard.

He needs to play like Sabonis in Indiana. Put him on the box and surround him with shooters.

The problem with putting Simmons in the box is that it prevents Embiid from going in the box as well.  Embiid would kill as  a back to the basket player and I am glad that Philly has not yet realized this. 

I bet he winds up with the Lakers at the trade deadline.  Westbrook won't work with LeBron because he is not a shooter and he is ball dominant.

Simmons is going elsewhere....

If the process turned into a bloated cap with embid harris and Westbrook I would laugh for quite some time.

Serves them right for being the Seventy Stinkers for so long. Tanking by the FO and stinking up the league and cheating their fans and the league’s fans for so long!

Karma is that female dog.

They tanked for 3 years and were bad for 1 additional year.  It wasn't a decade.  It was 4 seasons.  They've been essentially a 50+ win team for the last 4 seasons as well.  So they didn't just go to barely making the playoffs.  Would you rather have them be the Kings, Hornets, Pistons, or some team like that.

Sure, it wasn't a decade, but we aren't going to pretend that they were just your typical losing franchise, are we? They clearly had a shameless plan to throw away season after season in order to gain a draft advantage. And if they got a decent - but not franchise player - they traded him away. Any way you describe it, it was dirty. Even though the rules at the time allowed it, the league never thought a team would take it that far. It's fine if you are playing NBA2K and can simulate seasons, but it not only affected Philly's fandom, but also ticket sales across the league when the Sixers would come to town. It was a problem.

except it didn't really affect much of anything other than perception.  They weren't the first team to tank over multiple seasons and they won't be the last one to do it either, because that quite simply works better than being a team like the Kings.  A team that hasn't made the playoffs since 2006 because they never quite bottomed out.  You can't win if you consistently draft in the 5-10 range.  All you do is keep yourself drafting in the 5-10 range forever.  Heck the Sixers only had the worst record in the league 1 season.  They don't even have the worst 3 year record in the sport (Dallas is worse, maybe others as I didn't check).  They were honest about it which makes them different than others, but this isn't uncommon.  Teams tank all of the time because it works.  And the NBA has known this for years, which is why they developed the lottery i.e. to try and stop teams from tanking.

[Moranis]

And for the record, the 10 win Sixer team in 2015-16 only has 3 of the top 11 in minutes not still in the league (so it wasn't quite as devoid of talent that I think the perception is) and also had Christian Wood (16th in minutes that season).  Embiid was also on the roster but that one of the years he missed to start his career.  The players were all young, but even without Embiid there was talent on that team.  The guard talent is weak as McConnell and Smith are pretty much it, but Covington at the 3 and a lot of big man depth on that team (Wood, Grant, Holmes, Noel, Sampson, Okafor).

Hinkie was looking for gems and absolutely didn't keep useless veterans around like many teams do, but Hinkie also found a lot of gems with that strategy.  Some of the darts he was throwing around actually landed.  Christian Wood, Jerami Grant, Robert Covington, TJ McConnell, and Richaun Holmes are all good (and Wood might be great) players.  Hinkie found them on the scrap heap and created or revived their careers (Ish Smith as well is a useful bench guard). 

I'd have been fascinated to see if Hinkie could have actually built the team once they started the team building phase.  Instead the Sixers were pressured into hiring Colangelo and that ended up a disaster for them because Colangelo is just awful. 

[Kernewek]

I'd have been fascinated to see if Hinkie could have actually built the team once they started the team building phase. 

I don't think this was ever in the cards, to be honest. The guy essentially staked his entire reputation in an NBA front office on burning any illusion of competition to the ground and acting as if it was revolutionary. Very novel, especially considering he used to work in private equity.

We can hindsight his drafting for the three and a half years he was GM ad nauseum, but there are just as many misses as hits. He's not going to come out looking exceptional.

To put it another way: there's no evidence that Hinkie's front office would have been any better at putting together a functional NBA team than the Kings, because Hinkie never presided over an NBA team that was supposed to win basketball games. It's Schrodinger's Front Office.

[bdm860]

You can't win if you consistently draft in the 5-10 range.  All you do is keep yourself drafting in the 5-10 range forever. 

Sure nobody can win if your own pick is consistently landing in 5-10 (because that means you continually suck).  But you can draft in 5-10 and turn your team around.  This idea that only way to win is to draft high is nonsense.  Look at the champions, these aren't teams built off successfully drafting higher than 5.

Bucks ('21), Raptors ('19), Warriors ('15, '17-'18), Heat ('06, '12-'13), Mavericks ('11), Lakers ('09-'10), Celtics ('08), Pistons ('04).

Who are the best teams based on last season:

Sixers - high picks
Nets - desirable destination
Bucks - smart/lucky drafting
Knicks - high pick, free agents off the trash heap after being scorned by top free agents
Hawks - traded away their top pick to move down in the draft
Heat - desirable destination signing free agents, smart drafting/signing

Jazz - smart drafting
Suns - smart drafting, trades, top pick
Denver - smart/lucky drafting
LAC - desirable destination
DAL - smart drafting/trades
POR - smart drafting
LAL - desirable destination + high picks to trade for superstar demanding to be traded there
GS - smart drafting
MEM - high picks


Looks like there's a whole lot of ways to win, and any team can win with smart drafting/trading.


The last guy picked higher than 5 that significantly contributed to the team that drafted them winning a championship is who, Kyrie in '11 and then Duncan in '97?  That's a pretty short list.  Then we have to go back another 10 years before it happens again (David Robinson ('87) and that took 12 years to pay off.

High draft picks is the only way to win is outdated thinking, especially in the player empowerment era.

High draft picks being the easiest way to win is arguable, but plenty of examples of why it's far from full proof and may be better to go other routes.

[Moranis]

You can't win if you consistently draft in the 5-10 range.  All you do is keep yourself drafting in the 5-10 range forever. 

Sure nobody can win if your own pick is consistently landing in 5-10 (because that means you continually suck).  But you can draft in 5-10 and turn your team around.  This idea that only way to win is to draft high is nonsense.  Look at the champions, these aren't teams built off successfully drafting higher than 5.

Bucks ('21), Raptors ('19), Warriors ('15, '17-'18), Heat ('06, '12-'13), Mavericks ('11), Lakers ('09-'10), Celtics ('08), Pistons ('04).

Who are the best teams based on last season:

Sixers - high picks
Nets - desirable destination
Bucks - smart/lucky drafting
Knicks - high pick, free agents off the trash heap after being scorned by top free agents
Hawks - traded away their top pick to move down in the draft
Heat - desirable destination signing free agents, smart drafting/signing

Jazz - smart drafting
Suns - smart drafting, trades, top pick
Denver - smart/lucky drafting
LAC - desirable destination
DAL - smart drafting/trades
POR - smart drafting
LAL - desirable destination + high picks to trade for superstar demanding to be traded there
GS - smart drafting
MEM - high picks


Looks like there's a whole lot of ways to win, and any team can win with smart drafting/trading.


The last guy picked higher than 5 that significantly contributed to the team that drafted them winning a championship is who, Kyrie in '11 and then Duncan in '97?  That's a pretty short list.  Then we have to go back another 10 years before it happens again (David Robinson ('87) and that took 12 years to pay off.

High draft picks is the only way to win is outdated thinking, especially in the player empowerment era.

High draft picks being the easiest way to win is arguable, but plenty of examples of why it's far from full proof and may be better to go other routes.

Duncan won 5 titles as his team's best player.  Wade won 3 titles as a top 2 player on his team. 

If you go through the best players on championship teams and actually figure out who was winning championships where their best player was drafted by the team and drafted outside the top 5, you can count those teams on your hand since basically the Sonics won in the 70's (it really just is the 21 Bucks, the 15 Warriors, the 11 Mavericks, and if you want to count Kobe as a draft pick of the Lakers, the 09 and 10 Lakers, though Kobe was actually drafted by the Hornets.)  Every other championship winning team, the best player was either drafted in the top 5 or acquired by the team in free agency or trades and the VAST majority of those acquired players were top 5 picks (not all like Kawhi with the Raptors or Big Ben's Pistons, just almost all).

Sure you can win the lottery and end up with someone like Giannis, Curry, Dirk, Kobe, or Kawhi, but it is winning the lottery.  The absolute best way for a team not in NY or LA to win a championship is to have multiple seasons of top 5 picks because that greatly increases your chances of landing a premier franchise altering talent (which you generally have for 7 to 8 seasons).  This isn't rocket science and it isn't a new development.  It has been this way since the inception of the league, and will continue that way until the league ends because talent wins championship and the VAST majority of the talent is recognized as such before they ever step foot in the league and thus are in fact a very high draft pick.  And frankly with the way they do scouting now there is little question that both Dirk and Kobe would have been top 5 picks, teams just didn't scout or draft the foreign and high school players back then like they do now (and Dirk was far more ready physically than someone like Giannis - the C's wanted him badly but "settled" for Pierce).

[celticsclay]

Why are people still talking about the process like it worked? They never made it out of the second round. Have gone through the first 6 years of an often injured centers career never making it out of the second round. Celtics made 3 ecf during this span and knocked the 76ers out repeatedly. Now they have a malcontent second best player forcing his way out an overpaid harris and a genuine mess.

[Celtics2021]

Why are people still talking about the process like it worked? They never made it out of the second round. Have gone through the first 6 years of an often injured centers career never making it out of the second round. Celtics made 3 ecf during this span and knocked the 76ers out repeatedly. Now they have a malcontent second best player forcing his way out an overpaid harris and a genuine mess.

Exactly this.  The process started in earnest for the 2013-2014 season.  6 of the 14 teams who missed the playoffs that year have advanced to at least the conference finals since then.  The Sixers, despite their “process” that was supposed to deliver deep playoff runs and championships, haven’t done that now 8 seasons after it began.  In no way can this be considered anything near having worked, when practically half of the non-Process teams have all exceeded what you’ve done in the same timeframe.

[Moranis]

Why are people still talking about the process like it worked? They never made it out of the second round. Have gone through the first 6 years of an often injured centers career never making it out of the second round. Celtics made 3 ecf during this span and knocked the 76ers out repeatedly. Now they have a malcontent second best player forcing his way out an overpaid harris and a genuine mess.

Exactly this.  The process started in earnest for the 2013-2014 season.  6 of the 14 teams who missed the playoffs that year have advanced to at least the conference finals since then.  The Sixers, despite their “process” that was supposed to deliver deep playoff runs and championships, haven’t done that now 8 seasons after it began.  In no way can this be considered anything near having worked, when practically half of the non-Process teams have all exceeded what you’ve done in the same timeframe.

I wouldn't exactly count the Celtics, Lakers, and Cavaliers as typical (Nets trade, L.A., and Lebron's home).  That sort of thing just isn't easy to duplicate.  The Suns had an excellent season, but it is also their first playoff appearance during that time and if Davis doesn't get hurt, they almost certainly would have lost to the Lakers in the 1st round. So that really just leaves the Bucks and Nuggets. Giannis was a rookie that season and the Nuggets got there via similar means by landing a talented, but raw, European later than their talent should have yielded.  I'm not sure you can rely on skinny raw European developing into a MVP as a realistic way to do well, but it has been done so it is obviously possible and replicable.

The "Process" was about landing a franchise level talent to build around and the Sixers did that.  They've had basically four 50 win seasons, something they haven't done since the 80's.  They were literally a bounce of a basketball away from the ECF and lost to the eventual champion.  They didn't keep that team together letting its 2nd best player walk in free agency.  The Process wasn't the problem, it was the post-process execution that failed the Sixers.  And all that said, Embiid is still just 27 years old.  He could obviously suffer another injury at any time, but he also presumably has 5 good years left.  The Process isn't done yet.

And as we discussed for years, what exactly would you have done with the Sixers coming off of the 2013 season?  You were a 34 win team whose best players were Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, and Thad Young.  You didn't have all of your future 1st's and had no extra 1st's.  So you become the GM of the Sixers that year, what are you doing?

[nickagneta]

Yup. Let's pretend that The Process was to get just 1 franchise cornerstone talent and get to 50 wins in a few seasons. Yup, that's definitely what The Process was supposed to accomplish....I'm sure their fans are satisfied with that. Can't get past the 2nd round or beat their biggest rivals in the playoffs during that time. 76er fans must be rejoicing.

[Celtics2021]

Why are people still talking about the process like it worked? They never made it out of the second round. Have gone through the first 6 years of an often injured centers career never making it out of the second round. Celtics made 3 ecf during this span and knocked the 76ers out repeatedly. Now they have a malcontent second best player forcing his way out an overpaid harris and a genuine mess.

Exactly this.  The process started in earnest for the 2013-2014 season.  6 of the 14 teams who missed the playoffs that year have advanced to at least the conference finals since then.  The Sixers, despite their “process” that was supposed to deliver deep playoff runs and championships, haven’t done that now 8 seasons after it began.  In no way can this be considered anything near having worked, when practically half of the non-Process teams have all exceeded what you’ve done in the same timeframe.

I wouldn't exactly count the Celtics, Lakers, and Cavaliers as typical (Nets trade, L.A., and Lebron's home).  That sort of thing just isn't easy to duplicate.  The Suns had an excellent season, but it is also their first playoff appearance during that time and if Davis doesn't get hurt, they almost certainly would have lost to the Lakers in the 1st round. So that really just leaves the Bucks and Nuggets. Giannis was a rookie that season and the Nuggets got there via similar means by landing a talented, but raw, European later than their talent should have yielded.  I'm not sure you can rely on skinny raw European developing into a MVP as a realistic way to do well, but it has been done so it is obviously possible and replicable.

The "Process" was about landing a franchise level talent to build around and the Sixers did that.  They've had basically four 50 win seasons, something they haven't done since the 80's.  They were literally a bounce of a basketball away from the ECF and lost to the eventual champion.  They didn't keep that team together letting its 2nd best player walk in free agency.  The Process wasn't the problem, it was the post-process execution that failed the Sixers.  And all that said, Embiid is still just 27 years old.  He could obviously suffer another injury at any time, but he also presumably has 5 good years left.  The Process isn't done yet.

And as we discussed for years, what exactly would you have done with the Sixers coming off of the 2013 season?  You were a 34 win team whose best players were Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, and Thad Young.  You didn't have all of your future 1st's and had no extra 1st's.  So you become the GM of the Sixers that year, what are you doing?

The Process wasn’t just about landing a franchise talent.  It was about extended runs in the playoffs.  In Hinkie’s own words:

We're focused on how to put the building blocks in place that have a chance to compete in May. Those teams win in the high-50s. They don't win in the teens and they don't add two or three wins a year and they don't add a win a month for a little while to try and get to where they're going. They get all the way to the 50s.

The Sixers simply haven’t done that, and it’s 8 years in.  Because it was terrible team-building.  He got his franchise talent in Embiid, who couldn’t play next to Nerlens Noel, drafted #6 only the year before, who he then held too long such that his value tanked.  And before he traded Noel, he drafted Jahlil Okafor at #3, who couldn’t play next to either of the two, and then he drafted Simmons, who is a poor fit with Embiid (and Okafor).

Meanwhile, other teams got competitive through free agency (Cavs), trades/free agency (Lakers and Celtics — note that the C’s first conference finals had little to do with the Nets trade), and drafting/player development (Nuggets, Suns, Bucks).

And that list ignores the Jazz (drafting/player development), who look to be in a better spot than Philly.  Not to mention the Heat, who had to restart after the Sixers, and the Hawks who also tore down their entire team only to get to the conference finals faster than Philly.

Also, the Raptors were 34-48 the same year Philly was when the Process started, and they’ve won a title.

[celticsclay]

Yup. Let's pretend that The Process was to get just 1 franchise cornerstone talent and get to 50 wins in a few seasons. Yup, that's definitely what The Process was supposed to accomplish....I'm sure their fans are satisfied with that. Can't get past the 2nd round or beat their biggest rivals in the playoffs during that time. 76er fans must be rejoicing.

Absolutely Nick. Tp. Somebody get this guy a job with the New England revolution cause he is amazing at moving the goal posts. 76ers literally wanted to avoid being the “treadmill” hawks.  Hawks made the ecf at least! Let’s just sit back and enjoy it. It’s been a failure.

[celticsclay]

Why are people still talking about the process like it worked? They never made it out of the second round. Have gone through the first 6 years of an often injured centers career never making it out of the second round. Celtics made 3 ecf during this span and knocked the 76ers out repeatedly. Now they have a malcontent second best player forcing his way out an overpaid harris and a genuine mess.

Exactly this.  The process started in earnest for the 2013-2014 season.  6 of the 14 teams who missed the playoffs that year have advanced to at least the conference finals since then.  The Sixers, despite their “process” that was supposed to deliver deep playoff runs and championships, haven’t done that now 8 seasons after it began.  In no way can this be considered anything near having worked, when practically half of the non-Process teams have all exceeded what you’ve done in the same timeframe.

I wouldn't exactly count the Celtics, Lakers, and Cavaliers as typical (Nets trade, L.A., and Lebron's home).  That sort of thing just isn't easy to duplicate.  The Suns had an excellent season, but it is also their first playoff appearance during that time and if Davis doesn't get hurt, they almost certainly would have lost to the Lakers in the 1st round. So that really just leaves the Bucks and Nuggets. Giannis was a rookie that season and the Nuggets got there via similar means by landing a talented, but raw, European later than their talent should have yielded.  I'm not sure you can rely on skinny raw European developing into a MVP as a realistic way to do well, but it has been done so it is obviously possible and replicable.

The "Process" was about landing a franchise level talent to build around and the Sixers did that.  They've had basically four 50 win seasons, something they haven't done since the 80's.  They were literally a bounce of a basketball away from the ECF and lost to the eventual champion.  They didn't keep that team together letting its 2nd best player walk in free agency.  The Process wasn't the problem, it was the post-process execution that failed the Sixers.  And all that said, Embiid is still just 27 years old.  He could obviously suffer another injury at any time, but he also presumably has 5 good years left.  The Process isn't done yet.

And as we discussed for years, what exactly would you have done with the Sixers coming off of the 2013 season?  You were a 34 win team whose best players were Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, and Thad Young.  You didn't have all of your future 1st's and had no extra 1st's.  So you become the GM of the Sixers that year, what are you doing?

The Process wasn’t just about landing a franchise talent.  It was about extended runs in the playoffs.  In Hinkie’s own words:

We're focused on how to put the building blocks in place that have a chance to compete in May. Those teams win in the high-50s. They don't win in the teens and they don't add two or three wins a year and they don't add a win a month for a little while to try and get to where they're going. They get all the way to the 50s.

The Sixers simply haven’t done that, and it’s 8 years in.  Because it was terrible team-building.  He got his franchise talent in Embiid, who couldn’t play next to Nerlens Noel, drafted #6 only the year before, who he then held too long such that his value tanked.  And before he traded Noel, he drafted Jahlil Okafor at #3, who couldn’t play next to either of the two, and then he drafted Simmons, who is a poor fit with Embiid (and Okafor).

Meanwhile, other teams got competitive through free agency (Cavs), trades/free agency (Lakers and Celtics — note that the C’s first conference finals had little to do with the Nets trade), and drafting/player development (Nuggets, Suns, Bucks).

And that list ignores the Jazz (drafting/player development), who look to be in a better spot than Philly.  Not to mention the Heat, who had to restart after the Sixers, and the Hawks who also tore down their entire team only to get to the conference finals faster than Philly.

Also, the Raptors were 34-48 the same year Philly was when the Process started, and they’ve won a title.

I agree with all of this 100% and you can even ask the question if they are in a better position than a team like Dallas that has a more elite talent (who is younger with less injury risk).

[Muzzy66]

Not many teams are interested in giving up the farm and 140 million for a basketball Dinosaur that can't stretch the floor to save his life.

I think the idea that all big men need to stretch the floor is wrong-minded.  A big who can score inside, pass like a point guard, and defend both the interior and perimeter is quite valuable.

Simmons’ problems are that he’s a terrible FT shooter, and that he mentally can’t handle 4th quarter pressure.  Sitting out won’t help that perception, but Philly needs to understand that teams won’t give up full value for a guy with suspect mental skills.

 True however he's got to get the idea that he's a PG out of his head. He will never make All Star at wing or big man.  That's okay.  Embrace your height and strengths Ben. Your not a point guard.

He needs to play like Sabonis in Indiana. Put him on the box and surround him with shooters.

The problem with putting Simmons in the box is that it prevents Embiid from going in the box as well.  Embiid would kill as  a back to the basket player and I am glad that Philly has not yet realized this. 

I don't think the issue is that the Sixers haven't realised it. 

It think the issue is that Embiid has the Basketball IQ of a cup full of quacamole - the man has an ego the size of the sun and a brain the size of a peanut.  If you told him he could win every single game if he played inside all the time, he's probably still run around the perimeter chucking threes and bricking fade-away jumpers while simultaneously running around yelling to the world it needs to worship his greatness.

[Kernewek]

Not many teams are interested in giving up the farm and 140 million for a basketball Dinosaur that can't stretch the floor to save his life.

I think the idea that all big men need to stretch the floor is wrong-minded.  A big who can score inside, pass like a point guard, and defend both the interior and perimeter is quite valuable.

Simmons’ problems are that he’s a terrible FT shooter, and that he mentally can’t handle 4th quarter pressure.  Sitting out won’t help that perception, but Philly needs to understand that teams won’t give up full value for a guy with suspect mental skills.

 True however he's got to get the idea that he's a PG out of his head. He will never make All Star at wing or big man.  That's okay.  Embrace your height and strengths Ben. Your not a point guard.

He needs to play like Sabonis in Indiana. Put him on the box and surround him with shooters.

The problem with putting Simmons in the box is that it prevents Embiid from going in the box as well.  Embiid would kill as  a back to the basket player and I am glad that Philly has not yet realized this. 

I don't think the issue is that the Sixers haven't realised it. 

It think the issue is that Embiid has the Basketball IQ of a cup full of quacamole - the man has an ego the size of the sun and a brain the size of a peanut.  If you told him he could win every single game if he played inside all the time, he's probably still run around the perimeter chucking threes and bricking fade-away jumpers while simultaneously running around yelling to the world it needs to worship his greatness.

Not to reign in the vitriol or anything but I would say it's hard to claim he's chucking threes when he averaged 3 per game last season (approx 17% of his total shots) and made them at a slightly above average clip:

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/joel-embiid-shot-chart-by-season
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/embiijo01.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html

Not nearly as much of a problem is as the fact that he can't stay on the floor, either because of injuries or conditioning. At the same time, he is only 26, and he's on fairly fresh legs (if you can say that about someone who's sat so long because of injuries).

On the process: I think Celtics2021 nailed it, to be honest. I don't have much more to add, except for the fact that it was also a terrible situation for anyone who was drafted by Philadelphia. Possibly the worst situation, team-wise, since the Arenas/Young/Wall/McGee Wizards.

[Moranis]

Why are people still talking about the process like it worked? They never made it out of the second round. Have gone through the first 6 years of an often injured centers career never making it out of the second round. Celtics made 3 ecf during this span and knocked the 76ers out repeatedly. Now they have a malcontent second best player forcing his way out an overpaid harris and a genuine mess.

Exactly this.  The process started in earnest for the 2013-2014 season.  6 of the 14 teams who missed the playoffs that year have advanced to at least the conference finals since then.  The Sixers, despite their “process” that was supposed to deliver deep playoff runs and championships, haven’t done that now 8 seasons after it began.  In no way can this be considered anything near having worked, when practically half of the non-Process teams have all exceeded what you’ve done in the same timeframe.

I wouldn't exactly count the Celtics, Lakers, and Cavaliers as typical (Nets trade, L.A., and Lebron's home).  That sort of thing just isn't easy to duplicate.  The Suns had an excellent season, but it is also their first playoff appearance during that time and if Davis doesn't get hurt, they almost certainly would have lost to the Lakers in the 1st round. So that really just leaves the Bucks and Nuggets. Giannis was a rookie that season and the Nuggets got there via similar means by landing a talented, but raw, European later than their talent should have yielded.  I'm not sure you can rely on skinny raw European developing into a MVP as a realistic way to do well, but it has been done so it is obviously possible and replicable.

The "Process" was about landing a franchise level talent to build around and the Sixers did that.  They've had basically four 50 win seasons, something they haven't done since the 80's.  They were literally a bounce of a basketball away from the ECF and lost to the eventual champion.  They didn't keep that team together letting its 2nd best player walk in free agency.  The Process wasn't the problem, it was the post-process execution that failed the Sixers.  And all that said, Embiid is still just 27 years old.  He could obviously suffer another injury at any time, but he also presumably has 5 good years left.  The Process isn't done yet.

And as we discussed for years, what exactly would you have done with the Sixers coming off of the 2013 season?  You were a 34 win team whose best players were Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, and Thad Young.  You didn't have all of your future 1st's and had no extra 1st's.  So you become the GM of the Sixers that year, what are you doing?

The Process wasn’t just about landing a franchise talent.  It was about extended runs in the playoffs.  In Hinkie’s own words:

We're focused on how to put the building blocks in place that have a chance to compete in May. Those teams win in the high-50s. They don't win in the teens and they don't add two or three wins a year and they don't add a win a month for a little while to try and get to where they're going. They get all the way to the 50s.

The Sixers simply haven’t done that, and it’s 8 years in.  Because it was terrible team-building.  He got his franchise talent in Embiid, who couldn’t play next to Nerlens Noel, drafted #6 only the year before, who he then held too long such that his value tanked.  And before he traded Noel, he drafted Jahlil Okafor at #3, who couldn’t play next to either of the two, and then he drafted Simmons, who is a poor fit with Embiid (and Okafor).

Meanwhile, other teams got competitive through free agency (Cavs), trades/free agency (Lakers and Celtics — note that the C’s first conference finals had little to do with the Nets trade), and drafting/player development (Nuggets, Suns, Bucks).

And that list ignores the Jazz (drafting/player development), who look to be in a better spot than Philly.  Not to mention the Heat, who had to restart after the Sixers, and the Hawks who also tore down their entire team only to get to the conference finals faster than Philly.

Also, the Raptors were 34-48 the same year Philly was when the Process started, and they’ve won a title.

Hinkie was gone by the time of the Simmons draft.  Colangelo completely mismanaged that team.  The Butler fiasco ruined that team.  They'd have been much better off not making that trade, but once making that trade they couldn't just let him walk. 

And even with all of that, they are coming off a 56 win pace season where they were the top seed in the Eastern Conference.  And they jumped from 28 wins to 52 wins and have been basically a 50+ win team for 4 years.  That is exactly what Hinkie was talking about.  Elevating the team into true contender status by getting the foundational piece.  They've done that.  Embiid is not a generational talent, but he most certainly is a franchise talent capable of being the best player on a title team.  Philly's gross mismanagement of the roster and coaching staff has caused far more problems than anything Hinkie did.