Three years in, and the Sixers are behind schedule
It's Year 3 of the project, and by almost any measurement, the perception is that the 76ers are behind schedule in their rebuilding.
It's Year 3 of the project, and by almost any measurement, the perception is that the 76ers are behind schedule in their rebuilding.
They may have a couple of pieces in post players Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, but everyone else - especially Joel Embiid and Dario Saric - are total unknowns.
Where the franchise stands heading into another lottery-pick-targeted season depends on the person you're speaking to.
The Sixers say the perception they are failing is inaccurate. They're excited about using sports science in their training, a yet-to-open state-of-the-art practice facility, and a chance at four first-round picks in the 2016 NBA draft.
But several league executives told The Inquirer the rebuilding is "flawed" and "a failure" that's bad for basketball.
The Sixers have acquired Noel (sixth overall pick, 2013), Michael Carter-Williams (11th, 2013), Embiid (third, 2014), Saric (12th, 2014), and Okafor (third, 2015) in the lottery during the rebuilding process.
Carter-Williams was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for what will be the Los Angeles Lakers' top-three-protected pick in the 2016 draft.
Embiid will miss his second consecutive season after a second surgery to repair the navicular bone in his right foot. It's a career-threatening injury, and there's a chance the 7-footer may never play.
During the summer, Saric was unable to get out of the three-year contract he signed before the 2014 draft with Andolus Efes of the Turkish Basketball League. With a player option in the third season of his contract, Saric could join the Sixers for the 2016-17 campaign. However, there's a chance he might decide to stay another season.
"How many lottery picks have they had? What do they have to show for it?" asked one executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Noel is a good player, not a franchise player. I don't think Okafor is going to be a franchise player. He will be OK."
A defensive wizard with gazelle-like quickness and an improved shot, Noel has the potential to prove the executive wrong and blossom into a perennial NBA all-star. Last season as a rookie, the 6-11, 223-pounder became the first player to average at least 9.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.8 blocks since Andrei Kirilenko in 2003-04.
We probably won't know for a few seasons whether Okafor can also develop into a potential all-star.
But the Sixers contend that Okafor and Noel aren't the only solid building blocks on the roster.
"I understand that from their profile," Sixers coach Brett Brown said of focusing on the two post players.
The coach still believes that Embiid and Saric will be key contributors. He also thinks the team has acquired real players in Robert Covington, Hollis Thompson, Nik Stauskas, Jerami Grant, and JaKarr Sampson.
"I would suspect that a few of those people that I just mentioned will end up surviving and being long-term NBA players," he said. "To just say it's just Jahlil and Nerlens is unfair. And we haven't even talked about the prospect of four first-round draft picks next year."
The Sixers could receive the Miami Heat's top-10-protected pick and the Oklahoma City Thunder's top-15-protected pick in addition to their selection and the Lakers' protected pick.
"Those picks aren't going to be great picks," a second league executive said.
He said teams and agents have general manager Sam Hinkie figured out. He said all potential trade partners have to do is throw a second-round pick at the Sixers, and Hinkie will bite.
The Sixers' dealings with JaVale McGee and Gerald Wallace, after acquiring both in trades, were not handled well. The Sixers were unable to trade or buy out McGee last season. The belief around the league is the Sixers failed to do the same with Wallace after acquiring him in a trade this past summer.
The team ended up waiving both players and paying the full value of their contracts - $22.2 million - for this season.
"That's just a misconnect, if you will, of knowing the league, knowing market value, and having a feel," one executive said.
And they've also been burned a few times in their dealings with second-round selections.
K.J. McDaniels refused to sign a multiyear, partially guaranteed deal in 2014, took a one-year deal, and was traded to the Houston Rockets in February.
This summer, Jordan McRae and J.P. Tokoto followed McDaniels' lead and signed one-year deals. There's a good chance both players could be released on Monday. McRae, who was acquired with the 58th pick in 2014, spent last season overseas and with the Delaware 87ers. Tokoto was this summer's 58th pick. The team had earlier relinquished the rights to another second-round pick, Arsalan Kazemi - who played the last two seasons overseas - meaning they were basically wasted selections.
Meanwhile, it will be very difficult to persuade franchise-altering free agents to play for the team, which won't have its own practice facility, to be built in Camden, until the 2016-17 season.
"We have people all the time question what we are doing," Brown said. "We understand that. . . . We are not claiming this is going to work perfectly.
"But if you really want to have annual success and you want to knock on the door of championships down the road, well, you are going to have to make the bold moves that we have made."
The Sixers insist that they have made major improvement since the start of the 2013-14 season, and that it just hasn't been visible.
"I feel like our machine behind the scenes runs in a way that it just didn't before," Hinkie said at the start of training camp.
But the ways things are going, the Sixers are probably five or six seasons away from being a respected contender.
"If this all of a sudden works and 10 teams try to do it that aren't that good, it's going to be horrible for basketball," one league executive said.
People with the Sixers realize many around the league feel that way. But it won't deter the franchise from pursuing its ultimate goal, no matter how long it takes.
@PompeyOnSixers