Going back to my post two pages ago...
THE PROCESS was all about tanking to get multiple high draft picks and using those to build a great team. The first pick in THE PROCESS was just traded for an older bench warmer and two 2nd round picks
That's not accurate. Noel was not the effect of the process. He was part of the cause.
Noel was not Philly's draft pick. He never really mattered.
Philly gave up Jrue Holiday for assets that became:
- Dario Saric - likely R.O.Y frontrunner
- Richaun Holmes - quality back-up big who will get more minutes now
- Restored 1st round pick - Had Philly's pick fallen in the 12-30 range at any point in the next 3 years, the Magic would have got the pick. This eliminated that condition
- Justin Anderson - prototypical wing prospect who has a chance to blossom in Philly
- Multiple 2nd round picks.
Making that trade (for a prospect and 1st rounder that were not going to play that season), put Philly in position to bottom out. The was "the process". The result of the first year of "the process" was picking Joel Embiid with the #3 pick.
We've already seen enough from Philly this season to confidently say that a healthy Joel Embiid can carry a team to 50+ wins. Philly actually has a 13-11 record in 2017 even though Embiid has missed many of those games. They have played at a 50+ win pace with him on the court. Of course, the concerns about his health are the issue. But he alone vindicate anything Philly did during "the Process". It was about getting a guy like that. They got a guy like that.
The other "prizes" of the process were Jahlil Okafor and Ben Simmons.
Okafor - Yeah, that might end up being a failed pick. That happens. Philly knew this. Not every top 7 pick ends up a superstar. But we know that the majority of superstars are taken in those top 7 picks. That's been my philosophy on internet forums dating back to 1997. If you can't trade or a sign a star - the draft is your best hope. The higher the pick, the better your odds of striking big. Okafor, fwiw, still has star potential despite the mountains of hate he gets. His defense sucks. His rebounding sucks. His advanced stats are a joke. He might not fit the modern NBA. But he's got obvious potential and a couple years left of development before you can really give up on him.
Ben Simmons - Just announced today he'll miss the rest of the season. Another questionable lack of transparency from the 76ers. Footage shows Simmons dunking, yet he's not "fully healed". All too familiar story for Philly fans. Lack of clarity remains. But we've been hearing since day 1 that his Agent wanted him to miss the entire season. Partially because he gets a massive bonus from Nike if he wins Rookie of the Year - and you can't do that if you don't play enough games (hence why Saric and Brogdon are the two frontrunners this year - not Embiid). Jury will remain very out on how good that kid will be. Might he be rookie of the year next year? Unsure.
One more year of tanking is probably what ownership desires there. With a loaded draft on the way and prospects like Fultz and Ball potentially fitting in beautifully with their other elite prospects, I'm sure they are itching to remain in the Bottom 5. I'd expect Embiid to be shut down at some point as well.
Throughout "The Process" they have picked up several additional assets. That Laker 1st which is top 3 protected this year and unprotected next year. Swap rights with the Kings. The Kings unprotected 2019 pick. Mountains and mountains of 2nd round picks. Some interesting prospects like McConnell, Covington and Stauskas.
It still might all fail. At times I got carried away on this forum cheekily going back-and-forth with bitter 76er haters. That's been fun. It's been an entertaining ride and I think most people realized I was mostly just playing devil's advocate and acting as the foil to the majority opinion.... But big-picture, I still maintain - without any reverse jinxery or sarcasm - that "the process" was a worthwhile plan. That team wasn't going anywhere without it. They hadn't truly contended since the 1980s. Their last "superstar" might have been the most overrated player of the past 30 years (Iverson). They had already tried desperately to get a franchise big (Bynum) and it blew up in their faces at the expense of multiple 1st round picks and assets. Going all-in in an attempt to exploit the NBA's tank system made tons of sense. They now have a ton of hope for the future.
If healthy, I think they will be a playoff team next year. They have the talent on that roster already. Healthy Embiid is a game-changer. Everything else is gravy. How they manage the rest of the roster remains to be seen. I could see them throwing max contracts at restricted free agents like Otto Porter this Summer as well... so who knows what that roster will look like. Long-term, I would not be surprised if 5 years from now we met them in the Eastern Conference Finals - and perhaps again yearly for the next decade.
And with that, this is the final Philly-centric post you'll ever see from LarBrd33 on Celticsblog. It's been fun, fellas.