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Jun 2024

It always starts with ownership and Harris is not a good one though I think Michael Rubin leaving was probably a plus. And The Process wasn't going to work out either way it seems, nor would Hinkie have been able to be run the post-Process team. I mean, we ultimately hired his mentor and he's not that great either (here or in Houston. Good, but not great).

But the key failure points - Simmons, Fultz (bad trade but justifiable pick), picking Harris (and Ben) over Butler all probably still would have happened without the incompetence of the Colangelos. The no-GM year (when they traded Mikal Bridges) and Brand tenure were probably worse (but never would have happened if not for the original sin of Colangelo, and no good GM wanting to work for Harris until Morey wanted out of Houston).

Nor is the reality of Joel anything that could be changed (and we don't even get to pick him if he's fully healthy at the time).

But hey, they did draft Maxey.

The Fultz trade and pick by the Colangelos did absolute damage to the organization.

If Tatum is drafted instead, we likely have a ring and the process is chalked up as a failed experiment that required fixing by more experienced leaders i.e. the Colangelos and Harris comes out smelling like roses.

You're right that post-Colangelos was just as bad. We already had Embiid who eventually stayed healthy enough. My issue with their handling of Simmons is not so much the drafting, but the lack of development/accountability and then not trading him once you knew he was never going to change, but before the rest of the league caught on. Denying reality and holding onto a rapidly declining asset was total malpractice.

The trade of Bridges, picking Harris & Ben over Butler, the trade/signing of Harden were all bad, but stemmed from that original sin of the hiring of the Colangelos and subsequent Fultz mistake.

I just don't know that Fultz was a mistake. He seemed like the right fit (of course so was Jrue Holiday as it turns out. Heck the player they thought Fultz was going to be has still been missing from this team.). The mistake was getting fooled by the Celtics (in two different ways if you also think the Sixers should have picked Tatum to begin with).

The fact that Ben is still the second-best high pick of the era is crazy.

I don't think you can leave Brett Brown out of the equation either. Good enough coach but he's really the one who should have known better about Ben, either in the first place or towards the end.

I do think it's better now with a decent GM and coach who actually are in charge. It's a star player's league but for a few years there the chain of command really was Harris/Rubin straight to the locker room (or whatever party the players and owners were at together). Unfortunately there is little chance of an ownership change or culture change a la the Phillies or (hopefully) the Flyers.

Hinkie wasn't the genius is cracked up to be by some. The Process may have been the right idea but his execution of it was not good. He didn't draft well. Embiid was his only great pick and him being picked by the Sixers was something of a fluke.

Colangelo really had an illustrious run in American basketball. But it's ending with the Sixers was quite ignominious. A guy who should have stayed retired.

If the Sixers get that new arena, Harris will probably cash out at that point.

Jerry didn't run the Sixers, he just advised Harris to hire a really bad person to do so (I.e. his son). And of course the NBA forced all of that to happen, and Harris let it.

I doubt Harris sees the arena deal as his chance to sell high. More like, that's the business he and his partners have actually wanted to be in all along. But that's also 15 years away if it happens.

Best scenario is he's too busy running the football team he loves most in the region he is actually from and the Sixers can operate more normally. I think that has probably already happened to some extent tbh, with Tad Brown coming over from Houston as CEO. This is his and Morey's show now, and there's only a few performances left.

I still feel like he was lol, he just wasn't allowed to follow through. To me, that's like saying ranger didn't get the job done in the post season when Thomson pulled him in the third inning.

He would not have traded two first round picks for Fultz. His whole philosophy was acquire as many lottery tickets as possible, he said they would not all hit but the more he had the greater chance they had of hitting the lottery.

When the NBA influenced the sixers to run him off and put an unqualified GM in place, the unqualified GM did the exact opposite and unloaded valuable assets for one shot.

The anti-process trade giving up 2017 (Tatum #3) & 2019 firsts for a 2017 first (Fultz #1) as well as selling 2nd round picks for $1m and not using them to circumvent the salary cap trade rules were real blunders.

He traded a future first and a second for a conditional first that turned into a second (Orlando).
He traded Nerlens Noel for a protected first that turned into 2 seconds (dallas)

The franchise philosophy went from assigning value to everything to assigning no value on anything and losing on big trades. It was a painful reign.

OKC shows how to run the "Process," it's not just accumulating draft picks, it's scouting and player development that mesh, and a long-term strategy.

Morey is looking more and more like a dinosaur who wants to build a team for last decade.

OKC did it by trading everything...the sixers could certainly replicate that "process" if they'd like.

Trade Embiid and Maxey for picks.

Morey has not had the chance to actually build the team he wants because of the contracts he inherited.

There isn't one way to build a champion. The Celtics got Tatum and Brown in the draft and then went out and got the right dinosaurs to support them.

That's a lot more than Zhaire Smith

BREAKING: The Brooklyn Nets have agreed in principle on a trade to send F Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-round picks, a protected first-round pick via Bucks, an unprotected pick swap and a second-rounder, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/TEGsIpoa3b1

— Adrian Wojnarowski ( @wojespn ) June 26, 2024

Wow. Bridges for that many picks. Crazy, he is good, but not top 5 type player.

Yeah it doesn't sound like there was any opportunity for the Sixers to get him but you still probably don't do that. Of course we may wish they had when they do it for Ingram instead.

With the Knicks as now constituted, those first round picks are not worth what we think of as a typical "first round pick". Knicks' picks are probably bottom 5 or so for the near future--good team, money, and a place players will be likely to want to play.

Well, when you argue it that way you are saying the the Knicks are now one of the two best teams in the East, maybe third in a bad year. So what are the Sixers and what are they supposed to do?

Half the picks are between 2028 and 2031 (two picks and one swap) so who knows.

Sixers not mentioned as one of the other teams (Memphis, Utah) in the mix here.

Knicks were suppose to be very good for most of the last 20 years (or more). I am confident in their ability to stay in the bottom half of the league, they might sneak up for a year or two, but some of these picks are going to be lottery picks.

Basing your belief on the past and not what you see in front of you is an odd take.

The Knicks have built a team that at it's worst over the next few years, will be a lower playoff seed. In todays NBA, no one trades picks they are afraid will be lottery picks.

You never know with the Knicks ownership. But you could say the same about the Sixers too. And right now they seem to have a settled group (president, GM, coach) after some bumps.

They might be lottery picks in 2030 or 2031 but I don't think the Knicks would care at that point (nor will they belong to the Nets by then).

True, and every franchise eventually turns things around, but you must admit some do have a knack for losing. Expos always found a way to have the most talent but no money so they sold it off. Redskins have found a way to consistently lose despite high draft picks and a semi-mentally ill ex-owner that landed the #1 FA year after year.

Even with Ewing the Knicks always found a way to underachieve. Porzingas was going to be the savior, until he wasn’t.

I think its important to look at the ages of their core players. A lot of teams sell the farm for a core on the wrong side of 30, I could see them keeping this group together before the last pick is made in this trade.

OG is 26 (presuming they resign him)
Brunson 27.
Bidges 27.
DiVincenzo 27.
Randle 29.