PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For the 40th season in a row, an NBA Champion was crowned who is not the Philadelphia 76ers.
Since 1983, 13 franchises in the league have gone all the way, and eight of them did it several times.
—L.A. Lakers, nine times
—Chicago Bulls, six times
—San Antonio Spurs, five times
—Golden State Warriors, four times
—Boston Celtics, three times
—Miami Heat, three times
—Detroit Pistons, three times
—Houston Rockets, twice
—Dallas Mavericks, once
—Cleveland Cavaliers, once
—Toronto Raptors, once
—Milwaukee Bucks, once
—Denver Nuggets, once
In addition to that, the Sixers as a franchise have made only one appearance at the NBA Finals since 1983 and just two trips to the Eastern Conference Finals. This is a franchise that, from 1977 through 1983, played in four Finals and six Conference Finals. It was an elite era of 76ers basketball, two generations ago.
The past 40 years have been … meh? The past 10 years have been known to some as the era of “The Process.”
“The Process” was the unofficial name given to former general manager Sam Hinkie’s decision to dramatically tear down and rebuild the perennially mediocre basketball he took over in 2013. As the name suggests, it would take time and be a “process.”
Some fans loved it — take, for example, “Rights To Ricky Sanchez Podcast” co-host Spike Eskin — because the Sixers needed stars. Other fans couldn’t stomach the idea of what some called “tanking” to get valuable draft picks that would hopefully turn into stars.
Hinkie resigned after three seasons when ownership brought Jerry Colangelo — and eventually his son, Bryan — into the front office. Since Hinkie, the Sixers have seen the Colangelos, head coach Brett Brown, Elton Brand and now Daryl Morey run basketball operations.
Only one of their draft picks became a superstar — Joel Embiid. He hasn’t been able to get past the second round, despite six playoff appearances in a row, most of them with very competitive and contending teams.
So, where did “The Process” go wrong? What are some reasons it hasn’t resulted in a championship?
“Ohhhh, there are so many,” Eskin told KYW Newsradio.
One of the biggest reasons he points to the lack of continuity in leadership between Hinkie’s exit in 2016 and Morey’s arrival in 2021.
“It’s very difficult to have sustained success in the league without consistent leadership,” says Eskin, who also believes trading up to draft Markelle Fultz in 2017 and later trading for Jimmy Butler were key moments “The Process” went wrong.
Eskin didn’t think the combination of Butler, former All-Star Ben Simmons and their young team was going to work.
Longtime Sixers beat reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer Keith Pompey, on the other hand, believes moving on from Butler after the 2018-19 season was a mistake because he was a winner. Butler has proven this in his four seasons with the Miami Heat, helping them win the Eastern Conference twice.
“That team, if they would have brought them back [after losing to Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors in the second round], I felt like that team would have won a championship,” Pompey told KYW.
He checks off three moments when “The Process” went wrong:
1. Hinkie drafting Jahlil Okafor third overall in 2015
2. Bryan Colangelo picking Fultz in 2017
3. The drama and culture issues that existed at the beginning
Pompey says the first-round picks and young guys were enabled to do whatever they wanted, because the team didn’t have the necessary veterans.
The lack of veterans improved over time, and the culture in the organization certainly did as well — especially under former head coach Doc Rivers. Brand hired Rivers to not only coach basketball, but to change the culture as well.
Rivers’ Sixers won 154 regular season games over three seasons and were very competitive, with Embiid as the main star. But when they lost in the second round for the third consecutive season, Morey fired him.
Rivers, in a recent interview with “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” from The Ringer, said the culture has improved, but it has to continue to improve even after his departure.
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Rivers had two years left on his contract when he was fired. You could argue Rivers was the fall guy for his players — like Embiid and James Harden — underperforming in huge postseason games.
“It wasn’t fair,” says Pompey, “but it’s also something that we knew coming in that was gonna happen [if they didn’t get out of the second round in his third season.]”
Now, the Sixers are welcoming former Raptors head coach Nick Nurse to follow Rivers. Ironically, Nurse’s Raptors beat Brown’s Sixers in the 2019 postseason on their way to the title that year.
“[The Nurse] hire is all about championship or bust [for the Sixers,]” Pompey explained. “And that’s what they want.”
But has the window closed? Is “The Process” over? Did it fail?
Pompey thinks the window to win a championship with Embiid is closing and Morey is going to need to work magic this off-season to improve the team, whether Harden stays or not. Harden has a player option that he is expected to decline.
Pompey believes “The Process” ended when Brown was fired in 2020. To him, that signaled its failure because Brown was the man Hinkie hired in 2013 at the beginning of that journey.
Eskin says it remains to be seen if “The Process” failed.
“I think we would all agree, from Colangelo until Daryl Morey, the organization was criminally mismanaged,” he said.
Eskin pointed out how they were up 3-2 on the Celtics with favorable championship odds before losing Games 6 and 7 this postseason.
“The setup was so good [from Hinkie’s first two years,] that it withstood everybody screwing it up afterwards and still gives them a chance,” says Eskin. “So no, I don’t think it was a failure, though, if they don’t win a title, it will certainly look to be one.”
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