The Philadelphia 76ers finally went off road and abandoned, at least in this instance, the rebuilding technique of their franchise love to call “Trust The Process”.
Trading for Jimmy Butler showed they are now willing bring in veterans and create a mix with their prized finds, Center Joel Embiid and Guard Ben Simmons.
Are you with me and many others who are wondering whether the Sixers are interested in keeping Butler for the long haul and will they now totally abandon “Trust The Process”? How do you rate this technique of the Sixers to rebuild their roster?
Philadelphia took a long and arduous route by intentionally losing games in the regular season to get a favorable position in the drafting order in hopes of acquiring players to turn around their fortunes.
They tried to make it sound and look good by calling it “Trust The Process”.
I am with those pundits who called it tanking. There is no other way to put it mildly.
Before I rate this process, let me vent on it.
I hate it. For the Philadelphia fans and for all those who love the game.
I am with all who opined that this move impugns the integrity of the game.
More so, I find it bad-tasting when they deliberately offer the bad product to their loyal, paying customers because, according to them, the losing would make them better. I find that there is no absolute truth in there. It is more of a gamble than a strategy.
No matter how sound a scouting team is, there is always a big possibility that a talent potential will not pan out. How many tries will one team have in order to fill out a roster with decent players who can carry a team to becoming playoff contenders is the question here.
And there is no definite answer, thus, more of a gamble than a strategy.
As a result, the 76er fans stomached 19-63, 18-64, 10-72 and 28-54 seasons, four losing years of hoops, while waiting for the franchise to assemble their line-up of the future.
Hah, Now to the ratings.
I always thought the “Trust The Process” is just a gimmick that make the losing thing sound good.
Tell me if you have any idea who these players are: Isaiah Canaan, Richaun Holmes, Ish Smith, Jerimi Grant, Hollis Thompson, Nik Stauskas, Tony Wroten, Michael Carter Williams, Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Dario Saric, T.J. Mcconnell, Robert Covington, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid.
These were the players who the Sixers drafted during those tanking years. Not many sound familiar, don’t they?
Of course, we know Embiid and Simmons.
We know bits and pieces about Carter Williams, Noel, Saric, and Covington, all are now not with the Sixers anymore.
That’s a failure. If a team has to loss that much, then the return should be much more than just this one.
I would rate it at a 75. Just barely passing the okay mark.
The Sixers gambled. And they just came out okay. They were even some sort of lucky that Embiid’s injury that sidelined him for his first two seasons is seemingly not the career-ending injury a lot feared.
This is why I loved the Jimmy Butler trade.
It was proven time and time again that young talent, no matter how much potential it packs, will take time before one can see its full realization.
Some may not even pan out as perceived. I hate reminding them of Markelle Fultz, who could easily be today’s Boston Celtic Jayson Tatum had their scouting been otherwise perfect.
(Relating to this, I would like to see the Sixers be patient with Fultz, the number one draftee they went after by swapping picks with the Celtics to get him. He is still young, and whatever ails him can easily be curable given his age. I’m quite certain they saw something in him that they were willing to exchanged two draft picks just to land him.)
And, unless one gets so lucky in the draft, there is no better way to rebuild than mix veterans with young talent.
In completing the process, the Sixers got two good talents that can carry their franchise for a long, long time in Embiid and Simmons.
But, no matter how these two perform, they will most likely be eliminated in the immediate playoffs if they chose to stick with Robert Covington and Dario Saric as their wings, also newbies.
It is not always the case, but it is often occurring that veteran presence is a necessity for playoff success.
Is Butler the right man to exchanged for Convington and Saric is a topic for another day.
But what happened recently will give the Sixers the x-factor they need to push them deeper in the playoffs.
The challenge now for the Sixers is to make a decision: Which one amongst Embiid, Simmons or Butler will they build the franchise around?
I could not see Butler the right man making a good mix with the prize Sixer young players because of the red flags he displayed while he was still in Chicago and Minnesota.
I feel that Embiid and Simmons should still be the rocks to build upon in Philly for their future team, not Butler.
But I am willing to give it time for this Philly trio to combine and run the Sixer show before making an evaluation.
I just relished the fact that we can watch the NBA Eastern Conference with more fervor because Milwaukee, Boston and Toronto are no longer alone as the favorites to win the East like they were earlier in the season because the East just got tougher.
The East this year as a whole even compared last year even looks tougher despite Lebron James taking his talents to Los Angeles.
By: ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS
