How the Sixers became the NBA’s biggest disappointment of the season

How the Sixers became the NBA’s biggest disappointment of the season

How the Sixers became the NBA’s biggest disappointment of the season
NBA

How the Sixers became the NBA’s biggest disappointment of the season

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The Philadelphia 76ers are exactly where they shouldn’t be months away from the NBA playoffs that are supposed to validate The Process.

Injuries are at the center of everything that’s wrong with the team, which scares all fanbases, but strikes a particular fright in Philly faithful. Ben Simmons is sidelined for the foreseeable future after the team played him through a back injury that’s now worsened, and Joel Embiid will miss time with a sprained shoulder, too. The team many (including all of us) thought would win the East sits in fifth place and could fall further without its two stars.

The not-so-secret reality is injuries weren’t the only issue. Even healthy, this wasn’t the Sixers team they “processed” for years to get. Simmons’ and Embiid’s absences only amplify what Philly’s botched over the last year.

So how’d the Sixers get here?

Their all-in trade swings last year didn’t work out as planned
There’s a lot of bad that went on before this time: the overthrowing of Sam Hinkie, the Bryan Colangelo Twitter debacle, the disastrous Markelle Fultz era, and Zhaire Smith’s odd allergy are just a few. Those hiccups led to the decisions made in February of 2019.

New general manager Elton Brand searched for a go-to wing scorer and paid a premium to get it in order to jump-start the Sixers’ title contention.

First, there’s the Jimmy Butler trade.

Brand unloaded the 76ers’ asset cupboard for two similar players who ultimately didn’t push Philly over the top.

The first domino to fall was Butler, who wanted out of Minnesota. Brand surrendered Dario Saric, who the team wasn’t going to keep long-term anyway, and Jerryd Bayless. But most importantly, Philly also traded Robert Covington, a quality two-way wing player without Butler’s pedigree, but with the guarantees Butler couldn’t bring. While Butler’s contract was expiring and his desire to stay in Philly long term was unclear, Covington was signed for three more seasons on one of the league’s most team-friendly contracts.

 

Then, there’s the Tobias Harris trade.

Two months later, the Sixers dealt Landry Shamet — a floor-spacing wing on a rookie contract that the team could use right now — along with other role players and two first-round picks to land Harris, a sweet-shooting forward whose skills were always limited.

Now that the team’s given him a five-year, $180 million contract, he’s a really expensive piece given that he’s producing just 19 points and three assists per game on 36 percent three-point shooting this season.

The Kawhi Leonard shot
In an alternate world, maybe we’re viewing the Sixers in the same regard as the current-day Raptors, who spent their asset bank to land a short-term star in Leonard and came away with a title. But we’re not, because this shot went in:There’s no telling how the rest of the postseason plays out. Maybe the 76ers beat Milwaukee just like the Raptors did. If so, who knows how an NBA Finals between the Sixers and Warriors would’ve played out. Maybe Kevin Durant doesn’t tear his Achilles. Maybe Klay Thompson doesn’t tear his ACL. Maybe the Sixers win it all.

Who knows. But Leonard’s shot bouncing in undoubtedly damaged the Sixers.

Butler leaving
The single most crushing moment of last summer’s free agency was when Butler left for Miami. It’s still unclear why Philly wasn’t able to re-sign him. Maybe Butler wanted out. Maybe the Sixers didn’t want to dish a max contract to a soon-to-be 30-year-old.

“Stuff just don’t work out,” Butler said on Chris Haynes’ podcast on Yahoo! Sports. “Nobody knows what really went on in Philly and we’re going to leave it that way. But it was a great opportunity for me (to move to Miami).”

Butler ultimately departed in a sign-and-trade deal that netted Philly Josh Richardson, a two-way wing who’s solid at his best, but can be wildly inconsistent. He’s a downgrade from Butler, and arguably also a drop-off from even Covington, the original player in his role before the Butler trade.

The Sixers went on a winding road, dishing several of its best young pieces to land players who either left or weren’t difference-makers.

The Al Horford panic signing
Last summer’s free agency saw two top-tier teams net star-level talent that didn’t fit just because they could. The Warriors recouped D’Angelo Russell — an ill-fitting all-star — in a sign-and-trade for Kevin Durant because they believed that was better than losing Durant for nothing. Philadelphia did the same when it used cap space that would’ve gone to Butler and/or shooting guard J.J. Redick to sign unrestricted free agent Horford, a modern center whose place next to Joel Embiid made little sense.

 

The Warriors were able to move Russell for Andrew Wiggins. Philly is stuck with a piece that doesn’t fit. The 33-year-old Horford, in the first year of a four-year, $97 million contract, is shooting a career-worst 43 percent from the field, and a paltry 32 percent from three-point range.

Horford and Embiid are a clunky offensive duo whose defensive redundancies make it hard to overcome what’s missing on the other end. The Sixers don’t have enough playmaking beyond Simmons or shooting from deep to save their mismatched roster. It’s become so bad that Horford now comes off the bench as the league’s most over-qualified backup.

The Sixers trapped themselves by launching into win-now mode early and gunning for uncertain stars. Horford is only the latest mistake made to try and patch up holes creates months prior.

Everything above has led to what we’re seeing now
Each Sixers mistake has been an overcorrection from one made in the past. Take the decision to play Simmons through a back injury. Simmons injured his back in practice on Feb. 19 and was ruled out for the team’s game against the Nets on Feb. 20. Because Philly invested so much money in Horford, it didn’t have enough left over to sign competent playmaking guards and wings to spell Simmons. They couldn’t afford to rest him more, so he played through the injury on Feb. 21 against the Bucks on national TV.

Simmons was supposed to get treatment on his back every time he subbed out, but instead pulled himself from the game after just five minutes. His status is unclear: he’ll be re-evaluated in two weeks, but he’s expected to miss more time than that, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Five days later, in a stroke of bad luck, Embiid suffered what the team is calling a strain in his left shoulder. Now the 76ers are without both of their stars, each pushed into heavier duty because of the shortcomings of the rest of the roster.

The Sixers’ season isn’t over, but it appears doomed in the immediate future. Horford has a chance to play savior, as he’ll be freed from playing alongside Embiid. But as a whole, Philly lacks the depth to lose one of its best two guys, better yet two.

The Sixers cycle of compounding their own mistakes has found its next chapter. From mismanaging Fultz, to paying too steep a price for Harris, to gambling and losing on Butler, and now struggling to address a self-created Horford problem, the Sixers keep stepping on their own toes.