In the NBA, while the Brooklyn Nets are a laughing stock this season, the crown solely lies with the Philadelphia 76ers...and it’s not even up for discussion.
It seems as if the Sixers have been in continual rebuild mode since their last playoff appearance in 2012. The team was 19-63 in 2013-14, 18-64 in 2014-15, and 10-72 last year. If you look over the 25 longest losing streaks in the NBA, Philadelphia holds four spots, including the longest in league history at 28.
With about 20 games left, the Sixers sit at 22-38 this year...a stellar improvement, but 6.5 games out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
People talk about how the Browns waste high draft picks since they returned to the NFL in 1999. However, you only need to look as far back as 2013 to see how Philadelphia turns gold into manure.
The Sixers drafted forward Michael Carter-Williams 11th in 2013, and also acquired the rights to center Nerlens Noel, who was selected sixth by the New Orleans Pelicans. Williams went onto win Rookie-of-the-Year honors in 2014, and was dealt to the Milwaukee Bucks in February 2015.
In 2014, the Sixers again went center in drafting Duke’s Joel Embiid. This was thought of by most as an attempt to recreate Houston’s “Twin Towers” philosophy, when the Rockets were using Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. Well, Noel tore is ACL during his lone year at Kentucky, and missed all of his rookie campaign recovering from surgery.
Embiid missed his first two years after breaking a navicular bone in his foot, and not recovering properly after surgery. He played 31 games this season, and was shut down for the rest of this season yesterday, after tearing the meniscus in his left knee.
Are you starting to see the pattern?
Philadelphia went center a third-straight year in selecting Jahlil Okafor from Duke with the third overall pick in 2015. Okafor only played 53 games last season, after tearing the meniscus in his right knee just after the All-Star break.
Then the Sixers had the top overall pick last June, and selected LSU freshman forward Ben Simmons. Simmons broke a bone in his foot in the Sixers’ final scrimmage of training camp. Expected to miss 3-4 months, he obviously went to the same doctor as Embiid, as the break did not heal correctly. He will also miss his entire rookie season.
Okafor was involved in trade rumors last week, but the Sixers moved Noel to Dallas instead. Noel did have an issue last season where he fell out of the starting rotation with head coach Brett Brown. Brown has been the coach since the rebuild began in 2013, and has a .191 winning percentage (47-199). The Sixers actually gave Brown a contract extension in the middle of last season. Before you ask, former Los Angeles Rams’ head coach Jeff Fisher and Brown have different agents. Fisher kept his job as long as he did because his agent is the father of Rams’ Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff.
Philly had the nerve to spend draft picks on three centers and a small forward in the past four years, thinking the scoring would improve. Even after dealing Noel, small forward Robert Covington leads the Sixers in scoring at a meager 12.1 points-per-game. Covington also leads the team in rebounds per game (6.3), blocks (48), steals (107) and minutes (31.4 per game). Sorry, but this isn’t Cleveland, Golden State, or even San Antonio, and one player should not be leading that many crucial categories, especially if that player is not at an elite level.
Chalk this one up to the hilarious variety of dysfunction.
-JC24