Dave Uram
I’m not looking for an argument on which general manager would better serve the 76ers today. Even I, who couldn’t stomach what Sam Hinkie was doing, can concede that he wouldn’t make a trade as ridiculous as the one that sent Nerlens Noel to Dallas earlier today.
Noel, the sixth selection in the 2013 NBA Draft, who would’ve likely gone first overall if not for a long-term injury, was dealt to the Mavericks for Andrew Bogut, who will never play in a Sixers uniform, Justin Anderson and a top 18 protected first round pick that will certainly turn into two second round selections.
Regardless if Joel Embiid can be injury free from March 3rd on and Ben Simmons can be a superstar with him, the tanking “process” continues to be on a path to colossal failure, with no end in sight.
Between Hinkie and Bryan Colangelo, Noel and Michael Carter-Williams – two lottery picks – lasted no longer than four and a one-half losing seasons with the team. Jahlil Okafor, third overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, can’t play significant minutes if Embiid is healthy. Not to mention, Okafor’s trade value is probably worse than Noel’s, a restricted free agent to be.
On top of that, the Noel and Ersan Ilyasova trades are 100 percent rebuilding moves. The Sixers are still breaking things down in year four of their original rebuild?
Yikes! How can Joshua Harris stand for such low standards, when he’s so successful in his other profession that made him extraordinarily wealthy?
I reiterate, even if next season features a playoff berth with great upside, was this season and the previous three worth it? As a 76ers fan, have you enjoyed a combined record of 68-234 heading into Friday night against the Wizards? Did you feel like your time was well spent during the majority of those 302 games?
The reason I ask is because as of today, the Sixers are left with four of their six lottery picks from the time Hinkie took over. Amazingly, only one has a future that isn’t clouded with question marks.
Embiid, who is a superstar if healthy, is a walking injury. He’s had four of them, three to different parts of his body since the end of his freshman year at Kansas. How do we know he won’t become injured in other places? How do we know the Sixers’ medical staff and decision makers won’t continue to make poor decisions on handling his ailments and being transparent about them? Even Embiid himself publicly criticized the way his knee injury was relayed to the media.
Simmons should be great, but hasn’t played yet, and thus uncertainty exists with him. Okafor is the biggest mystery of them all. Will he be traded for peanuts like Noel? Can the 76ers improve his defense so he can stick around? Will he continue to ride the bench even though he was a top three pick?
It’s a mess.
Dario Saric, as sad as it is, is the only sure thing on this roster and he’s a more than solid role player.
Unlike the Thunder/Sonics rebuild, the 76ers missed on a third of draft picks while Oklahoma City/Seattle hit on Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, three superstars. The Warriors succeeded with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, players who weren’t picked in the top five. The Celtics tanked for only one season, picked a nice role player in Marcus Smart and hit the jackpot by trading for surprising superstar Isaiah Thomas.
Those rebuilds trounce what the 76ers did and are doing.
I’ll write this every time: I hope a year from now, I’m wrong and the Sixers are competing for a playoff spot. I hope the select Hinkie-ites that troll my Twitter account for negative Embiid and Saric tweets from a few years ago find this column and make a mockery of it. I hope you, the paying customer and fan, eventually benefit from this bad soap opera of losing and “maybes.”
Until then, this rebuilding “process” remains a joke. What’s there to trust?
Dave Uram is a weekly contributor to Philly Influencer. You can follow him on Twitter (@MrUram) and email him at [email protected].