Both the End and the Beginning of an Era

By Sean Kennedy

The NBA playoffs start today and (Spoiler Alert) the Sixers will not be participating for the second consecutive season. However, unlike last summer when the majority of Sixers nation was down on the franchise (people were exasperated with all the Andrew Bynum nonsense, the Doug Collins shtick had worn thin, etc.), this time around the response is overwhelmingly positive, despite the fact that the team finished with 15 fewer wins than a year ago. The reason behind that dramatic shift in outlook is that the average fan has bought into what Sixers management is selling and the long-term vision for the franchise, trusting that this season will be a necessary first step for an eventual perennial contender. While the end of this regular season denotes the end of the tanking era, it’s only just the beginning for what will hopefully be an elite team in the not-too-distant future.

How successful this bottoming out process will be is still yet to be determined based upon the results of next month’s NBA Draft lottery. Approximately a 4% chance still exists that the Pelicans pick moves into the top 3 and New Orleans keeps their selection, and while the Sixers have a 19.9% chance at the first overall pick, there is still as much as a 12.3% chance that they tumble down to 5. Wherever they pick, management will have to draft the right players, as a repeat of taking Evan Turner at second overall would likely lead the team right back where it started. It would also help if the organization unearths at least one quality rotation player from the 5 second-round draft picks they’ve accrued (or use some of the picks as part of a bigger deal). Still, when you really think about it, even given the uncertainty of the route Sam Hinkie and company have taken, it’s preferable to the alternative.

Let’s pull a Gwyneth Paltrow and Sliding Doors our way into assuming the Sixers never went full rebuild during last summer’s draft. They keep Jrue Holiday and with a young point guard already in place, don’t draft Michael Carter-Williams, instead opting for Steven Adams, who went one pick later to the Thunder and the Sixers were said to be high on. Then, instead of keeping all the cap space in the world and signing undrafted free agents and d-leaguers, the team rounds out the roster with actual NBA players (maybe a couple that can actually hit an outside shot). A team of Jrue, Turner, competent Free Agent X, Thad, and Hawes, with Adams, Lavoy Allen, and competent Free Agents Y and Z probably make the playoffs (we’ll assume Jrue doesn’t break his leg in this alternate reality). The Hawks secured the 8th spot in the East with 38 wins and the Sixers won 34 games the year before, despite Bynum casting a pall over the season and the entire team tuning out Collins. A Sixers team committed to winning in the short-term this season makes the playoffs in the dumpster fire that was the Eastern Conference.

So you have to ask yourself, is making the playoffs and losing in 5 or 6 games to the Pacers worth staying on the treadmill of mediocrity? Would you rather have Jrue Holiday, Steven Adams, and the 15th pick in this year’s draft, or Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel, two lottery picks in this draft, and cap space as far as the eye can see? For me, the answer is pretty obvious.

Do a little dance Sixers fans, the future is bright.

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