Is Michael Carter-Williams Holding The Sixers Back?

Last year, the 76ers’ point guard was Jrue Holiday. Holiday had an amazing season for them, and you can look at that amazing season in two ways:

1. He was preventing the 76ers from getting a great pick in the draft. 
2. He proved himself to be a player to build around in the future.

The 76ers’ new general manager Sam Hinkie decided to look at it the first way. So what did he do? He traded Holiday to the Pelicans, for Nerlens Noel and a first round pick. This move made it obvious that the 76ers are going to tank this season. Without Jrue Holiday, there is no way that the 76ers are going to win anything this season, right? Not necessarily.

The 76ers have won the first three games of the season this year, and it’s not like they played bad teams. They played the Miami Heat, the Washington Wizards, and the Chicago Bulls. All three of these teams are above average teams. How are the 76ers doing this without Jrue Holiday? Their first round pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Michael Carter-Williams, is doing very well. He is averaging 20.7 points, 9 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.3 steals per game. Now Carter-Williams was expected to do well this season, but I can guarantee you that nobody expected this. Last year with the 76ers, Jrue Holiday averaged 17.7 points, 8 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game. Michael Carter-Williams is doing much better this season that Holiday last season, so now I raise the question: If Jrue Holiday was holding the 76ers back last season, Is Michael Carter-Williams Holding The Sixers Back this season? I would definitely say so! It’s not like Carter-Williams has an advantage this season, because he is surrounded by almost the exact same players that Jrue Holiday was last season. If the 76ers were to not get a good pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, then this would seem like a fail of a season, because this draft class is one of the best that the NBA has ever seen. The 76ers need to get a good pick this season, or else they’re going to enter a new era of mediocrity, just like when the Sixers had Jrue Holiday. So yes, Michael Carter-Williams is holding the 76ers back.

Now I realize that Carter-Williams’ success has come in a small sample size, but he has looked great, and even head coach Brett Brown is in on the Carter-Williams bandwagon; in the post game press conference after the Sixers’ win over the Bulls last night, Brown said that he thinks that Carter-Williams is for real, and most 76ers fans agree with that. The 76ers are doing really well this season, because of Michael Carter-Williams, but I think it’s best to stick to the long term plan, and tank. Brett Brown is very much against tanking, so I guess the 76ers are just doing it all wrong this season. General manager Sam Hinkie is going to have to find a way to stop the 76ers’ success right now, but not hurt Michael Carter-Williams’ growth, and one of the only ways to do that is to trade Spencer Hawes, Evan Turner, or Thaddeus Young. It’ll be interesting to see how Hinkie handles this situation.