I am not a huge fan of the NBA, haven’t been for quite some time. I don’t like the length of their season (way too long) and the product they put on the floor is simply horrendous! As it happens, I was flipping through the channels the other night and lo and behold, I come upon the Boston Celtics winning their eighteenth NBA title. The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw this, is there any NBA club who gets it wrong more often than the Philadelphia 76ers? Is there any other worse run organization than the Philadelphia 76ers? I don’t believe there is.
I was a huge 76ers fan when I was younger. The 1983 team is still, in my humble opinion, one of the best teams ever assembled. They should have won at least one more championship, but they didn’t, and its’ been all down hill since that time. It astounds me just how poorly this organization has been run for the last forty years. Let me see if I can put this is some perspective, let’s start with their horrible drafting of players.
Let me start with that 1983 club. The win the NBA title and bring the same great group of players back for another run in 1984. They lose to a horrible New Jersey Nets team in the first round of the playoffs but there is some hope on the horizon as the result of some keen front office moves, the 76ers have two top ten draft picks in the talent rich 1984 draft, the 5th and 10th pick. ( A little side note, with 10 games to go in the season, the 76ers had the number 1 overall pick, think Michael Jordan or Akeem Olajuwon but Houston tanked their last ten games and the 76ers fell to the 5th position.) They get Barkley at five and then totally bumble it from there and pick Leon Wood over John Stockton. Just think how this club would have looked, Malone, Erving, Toney, Cheeks, Jones and Barkley and Stockton, mind numbing but I digress from here on. In 1986, the have the number 1 pick overall again and trade it away, I’ll get to the bad trades next. From 1986 on, it’s a who’s who list of horrible draft selections. Clarence Weatherspoon, Sam Dalembert, Jiri Welsch, Maurice Harkless, Shawn Bradley, Evan Turner just to name a few and many of these picks were lottery picks. It’s a “How to Manual on how to screw up the draft”. Iverson is the lone standout in this group.
Then of course, we get to “The Process”. In 2015, the 76ers draft Jahlil Okafor over Kristaps Porzingis & Devin Booker, 2016, Ben Simmons over Jaylon Brown and 2017, Markelle Fultz over Jason Tatum. Jesus Christ, two back-to-back number 1’s overall and you get it wrong both times!
As bad as they are at drafting, they are even worse at trades. Moses Malone, two first round draft picks (86 & 88) for Cliff Robinson & Jeff Ruland, why would you trade your draft capital and best player for this? For the record, the 76ers could have drafted Mark Price or Dennis Rodman in 1986. They also traded away the number one overall selection Brad Daugherty for Roy Hinson. Daugherty would have helped Barkley immensely. Traded Barkley and received nothing of value, traded Iverson and received nothing of value. Jrue Holiday for Nerlens Noel, this team makes my head hurt!
Now, going forward, we have a 7’2 center with bad knees who prefers to take three-point shots over playing underneath the basket and Tyrese Maxey. The organization is making waves about acquiring some over the hill veterans to help Embiid but as I watch all these missed draft picks and ex-Sixers win an NBA title with the Celtics, I have no faith that this organization has any direction or team building ability to compete with anyone, let alone the Celtics.