Sixers will be remembered for underachieving if season doesn’t resume | Keith Pompey

Underachievers.

That’s how the 76ers will be remembered if this season doesn’t resume because of the coronavirus pandemic. They were expected to compete for one of the top spots in the Eastern Conference. Yet, the Sixers (39-26) were in sixth place, 14 games out of first, when the season was suspended March 11.

Failure to live up to the preseason hype has a lot to do with how the team is constructed.

Al Horford is not a good fit alongside Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. The Sixers also don’t have a closer and lacked consistent outside shooting and a dependable bench for much of the season.

One can make a strong argument that last season’s team was better. That team had only two more wins (41-24) through 65 games. However, it had one of the league’s best closers in Jimmy Butler and one of the top three-point shooters in JJ Redick.

Players don’t know their roles. There have been times when it’s hard to tell who’s the go-to guy, especially on the road, where the team is 10-24.

In addition to roster construction, one could argue that believing too much of their own hype also contributed to this season’s struggles.

The Sixers were a four-bounce basket away from taking the eventual NBA champion Toronto Raptors to overtime in Game 7 of last season’s conference semifinals.

Because of that finish and the addition of Horford, the Sixers were regarded among the favorites to not only reach the Finals but win the fourth title in franchise history. Some of them drank the hype Kool-Aid and spoke of being an elite team instead of putting in offseason work.

But it was obvious from the beginning that their best players didn’t make the changes needed to make up for the losses of Butler and Redick.

The Sixers boasted that Joel Embiid had his best offseason in regard to conditioning. Once again, however, he showed up out of shape in the preseason.

Meanwhile, Ben Simmons remained hesitant to shoot three-pointers despite video footage that showed him working on his perimeter game over the summer.

So the Sixers don’t bring back Redick and Butler. Simmons still shies away from shooting from the perimeter, and Embiid’s conditioning is still a hot topic.

In retrospect, the coaching staff’s reluctance to bring back Butler also set the team back.

I get it. Butler’s personality isn’t for everyone. As the primary ballhandler, he also took the ball out of Simmons’ hands in the Raptors series. So the Sixers definitely had a decision to make.

The problem is, the team misses what Butler and Redick brought last season. One could argue the Sixers wouldn’t have taken the Raptors to seven games without them. One could also argue that they would have been one of this season’s elite teams with them.

But the Sixers sent Butler to the Miami Heat in a sign-and-trade and acquired Josh Richardson in return. Redick went to the New Orleans Pelicans as a free agent, and the Sixers signed Al Horford to a four-year, $97 million guaranteed deal.

The Horford move turned out to be a huge miscalculation. The 33-year-old power forward/backup center is still a talented player, as is evident whenever he plays center in place of Embiid.

But he is just not a good fit when he, Embiid, and Simmons are on the floor together.

The team basically admitted that when Horford was demoted to the bench before the Feb. 11 game against the Los Angeles Clippers. He returned to the starting lineup three games later only because Simmons was sidelined with a pinched nerve in his lower back.

On the bright side, Horford, as planned, has been able to step in for Embiid, who has missed 21 games this season. But that’s a bad justification, considering the Sixers are basically paying $28 million this season to a backup center. They could have used some of that money to help upgrade their bench.

Sure, they filled a need in acquiring a solid perimeter defender in reserve guard Matisse Thybulle via the draft. The problem is, they don’t play him enough.

Another problem is that players don’t know their roles. There have been times when it’s hard to tell who’s the go-to guy, especially on the road, where the team is 10-24.

Some might point to a lack of cohesion due to injuries as a reason for the underachievement. Embiid has missed the most games. Richardson has missed 17. Simmons missed nine of the last 10.

But dealing with injuries is nothing new for this team. This season, it just exposed a lack of depth. And even when the Sixers had a full complement of players, spacing on the court was still a major problem.

So it’s easy to see why the Sixers have underachieved.