Can We Still 'Trust the Process?'
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
June 27, 2013. The night that Philadelphia turned to "The Process."
Nearly five years later, and the Philadelphia 76ers fan base is still starving for success.
On that night, nearly five years ago, relatively unknown GM Sam Hinkie made a major splash by trading star point guard Jrue Holiday, and Pierre Jackson (the 42nd overall pick in 2013) to the newly-renamed New Orleans Pelicans. In exchange, the Sixers received Nerlens Noel, who many thought was the best prospect in the class, and a protected 2014 first-round pick. Before experts could have time to digest the significance of the move, the Sixers doubled-down on the move by selecting Syracuse University standout Michael Carter-Williams to be their future point guard with the 11th pick. The future seemed bright for a team, that seemingly just landed a pair of future stars to lead the team. Unfortunately, things would be slightly derailed when it was announced that Noel would miss the season while recovering from a torn ACL he suffered with Kentucky.
The Sixers first season under Hinkie ended with a miserable 19-63 record, thanks in part to the mid-season dumping of veterans such as Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes, and Thad Young. This record landed them the third pick in the 2014 draft -- a pick they used to grab Kansas star Joel Embiid. Much like Noel though, Embiid was dealing with a major injury suffered in college, and would end up missing the next two seasons. That draft also saw Philly land Dario Saric -- who would spend the next two years overseas -- K.J. McDaniels, Jerami Grant, Jordan McRae, Vasillije Micic, and re-acquired 2013 second-rounder Pierre Jackson. Once again, while the future was deemed "bright," the fans were forced to wait. Their subsequent season ended just like the previous year -- miserably. An 18-64 record secured them the third overall pick, which landed the highly-touted Jahlil Okafor out of Duke. However, they had previously offset the excitement from this pick by trading Michael Carter-Williams at the trade deadline in February. Yet again, it's a case of one-step forward....two-steps back.
Last season was arguably the low-point of this franchise, as they finished with a 10-72 record -- an atrocity that was seemingly the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, as Sam Hinkie would later resign as GM. Bryan Colangelo would be named as his replacement, some even insist through the demand of the NBA. The lone positive from this darkness was that they managed to land the top pick in this past June's draft -- securing their franchise cornerstone in Ben Simmons -- or, so we thought. Simmons was slated to make his debut along with Joel Embiid back in October. However, Simmons suffered a foot fracture in late-September. The initial diagnosis was that he would miss three-to-four months, but Colangelo confirmed today in a press conference, that Simmons would be shut down for the remainder of the year due to inadequate healing of the break. Additionally, Embiid -- who up to this point, has been fantastic -- has missed the last month with an undisclosed injury, turned bone bruise, which later include a slightly torn meniscus. Confused? Yeah, so are we.
It seemed like just yesterday that were whispers of a potentially unforeseen playoff-berth. Unfortunately, those talks dissipated in coordination with the injury to Embiid. That said, the team was still putting forth the effort, even though it was just coming short. Rather than allowing the team to further develop chemistry together, Colangelo decided to respond to the team's struggles by tearing things apart. Ersan Ilyasova was sent packing on Wednesday, as he was dealt to Atlanta for an expiring contract in Tiago Splitter, a second-round pick, and a swap of second-rounders. Thursday was even more perplexing, as Nerlens Noel was shipped to Dallas for an expiring contract in Andrew Bogut -- who's likely facing a buyout, -- a struggling sophomore wing in Justin Anderson, and a heavily-protected first-round pick -- one that's likely to convey in the form of a 2017 second-rounder and a 2018 second-rounder.
This is supposed to be a new regime, so I want to know where the difference is exactly between Colangelo and Hinkie? Both seem incredibly uncomfortable when speaking with the media, and , they each have a history of questionable trades. It's still a bit early into Colangelo's tenure to pinpoint his philosophy, although this summer will go a long ways towards determining that. For now though, it seems that we're still living in the same era.
The battle-cry this entire time has been to "Trust the Process." Nearly five years later though, we're seemingly in the same situation that we started with. A inexperienced, and rather thin-roster, star players on the shelf, a plethora of draft picks, and the likelihood of another top-five draft selection. With that said, I now ask the question to you Sixers fans, nearly half a decade later.....
