When the Philadelphia 76ers committed to a complete rebuild three years ago it was a sign that one of the league’s proudest franchises had resigned to starting over from scratch and building a contender from within. Fast-forward to the present day and it’s clear that this rebuild has been built around the art of tanking.
The 76ers have done an excellent job of dumping their best players, acquiring as many top draft picks as possible, and drafting with an eye towards the long-term future rather than for immediate needs. Hence why they drafted centers in back-to-back years that were not able to play in their entire rookie season.
While we’re only a handful of games into the 2014-15 NBA season, the 76ers are already pathetic in terms of wins and losses and head coach Brett Brown has come out to publicly defend the fact that his team is trying and they’re not tanking. That’s hard to believe.
Challenging The Worst Start In NBA History
The Philadelphia 76ers very nearly set the record for the worst start in NBA history with 17 straight losses before they finally found the win column at the start of December. Two wins in three games offered optimism that the 76ers would put together a little run of mediocrity but that might be too much to ask of a team that is completely focused on tanking now.
It’s hard to believe Brown because the Sixers were hardly even competitive during the 17-game losing streak. It’s one thing to endure a losing streak and suffer some bad beats in the mix but the Sixers were getting blown off the court.
There’s bad teams in the NBA every single season but usually, you can tell that they’re clawing, scrapping and trying to scratch out wins. The 76ers haven’t shown that type of effort very often this season.
Numbers Don’t Lie
One of the toughest reasons for Brown to defend that his team isn’t tanking is because the numbers say otherwise. They’re dead last in points per game at just 90.4 and they allow 102.9, which is 24th. They are losing by an average of 12.5 points per game, which is two points worse than any other team. That’s incredible. They’re last in turnovers, second-last in rebound differential and 25th in free throws made. It’s hard to argue with that.
Brighter Future On The Horizon?
The 76ers proved they were willing to be bad now in order to have a brighter future when they decided to draft Nerlens Noel a couple of years ago, after it was already clear he would miss a full season with injury. Then they did the same thing this season with Joel Embiid. Philadelphia’s commitment to a long-term rebuild allowed them the flexibility to draft Noel and Embiid, and give him the year to rehabilitate.
With Tony Wroten, Michael Carter-Williams, Noel, and K.J. McDaniels in the fold, as well as another top draft pick this year, the 76ers are compiling a long list of assets that they could use as they see fit. While they would love to have every one of their picks work out as long term stars they can also benefit by moving them in order to acquire some veteran help when they feel they are ready to contend.
However, Philadelphia won’t waste money in order to add veteran players now since it will cost them both financially and in terms of falling in the draft if those veterans perform well. The 76ers are fully committed to tanking right now as a key to their long-term rebuild and if it helps them become a perennial playoff team in the near future it won’t be surprising to see several more teams take the same route as the look to compete in a league where there really isn’t a lot of parity.
