The time has come in the Philadelphia 76ers season. The on-court reality says so. The draft-night probabilities suggest so.
In a season where injuries have robbed the 76ers of so much agency, here finally is a chance to choose a direction and be empowered to chase it.
It’s time … to tank.
Trying to win basketball games has not worked. So, a franchise in this position because it once chose to lose like no franchise before or since must find whatever implement is nearby to break glass in this case of emergency and press that button again.
The 76ers have lost five straight games, the last a 100-96 decision to Brooklyn, which is actively trying (and failing) to lose. They’ve lost seven of eight, which follows a four-game winning streak, which followed a seven-game losing streak, which followed 12 wins in 17 games, which followed a 3-14 start.
Like most roller coasters, this one has returned the 76ers back to where they began, disgorging the unlucky and slightly nauseated riders no closer to the stated goal of championship contention.
Just when the 76ers seemed to have bottomed out at 12 games under .500, they responded to the trade deadline by tunneling deeper, losing at home to Toronto on Tuesday and then at the Nets. They are tied with Brooklyn for 11th in the East, 1.5 games behind Chicago (also actively rebuilding) for the 10th spot to reach the play-in, and 8.5 behind sixth-place Detroit for sixth.
At a certain point, the reality must set in: If you’re surrounded in the standings by so many rebuilding teams — and consistently fail to beat them when you’re trying to reach the playoffs and they aren’t — perhaps that’s the sign that you, too, should rebuild.
This is not idle caprice at a team that enters the All-Star Break with a full 20 percent of its wins coming against Charlotte. It is becoming, by the game, the only sensible strategy.
Paul George is not right. Without Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid Wednesday, he scored two points on 1-for-7 shooting in 37 minutes. His shooting percentages are well below career averages.
The most available fix is to address the tendon damage in his left pinkie and hope you can wring one more borderline all-star season out of him. The sooner the fix, the better.
Embiid has played 17 games this season and barely 40 in the last 53 weeks since his left meniscus surgery. Embiid created the out on Super Bowl Sunday by admitting to ESPN that he may need another cleanup surgery. He never got a full recovery, rushing back for the playoffs, then choosing to play in the Olympics.
Shut him down, clean up the knee, and hope he’s got one more MVP-type season left on the far side of 30.
Then there’s the draft logic.
The 76ers will only keep their first-round pick if it’s in the top six. Otherwise it goes to Oklahoma City, thanks to the 2020 trade that ended the catastrophe of Al Horford’s tenure here.
The Nets and 76ers are tied for the sixth-worst record. As of Thursday, the 76ers have a 56.6 percent chance of losing the pick to Oklahoma City.
Daryl Morey, speaking after the trade deadline last Friday, restated his faith that a team led by Embiid can fight for a title. The goal, he said, is to get in the playoffs by any means, play with house money then reevaluate the supporting cast.
“We’re building around Joel,” he said. “We’ve built around Joel. We continue to plan to build around Joel, because he’s the special player that can help us win the championship.”
That, though, was four rather significant losses ago.
Morey has softly punted on this season, getting out from under the luxury tax by offloading Caleb Martin and KJ Martin, not using the trade exception created by the latter’s contract to add more salary. They’ve turned those players into Quentin Grimes and Jared Butler, who can do similar things for cheaper.
Among the failures, the 76ers have done some things very well this year: Jared McCain looks like a steal, Justin Edwards is an NBA contributor plucked as an undrafted free agent and Guerschon Yabusele is worth keeping around.
That level of talent evaluation is even more reason to believe a top-six pick can be a significant addition.
The framework for next season is sound.
It’s rendered obsolete if George and Embiid have awful years, of course, though that’s the deal most NBA teams sign for with their stars.
But Maxey is an All-Star on the rise. Add McCain, Gordon, Grimes, Ricky Council and Edwards, and you have eight rotation pieces set before having to decide on Yabusele or wait out Kelly Oubre’s player option.
Add a top-six pick and a backup center healthier than Andre Drummond, maybe a little veteran presence to the backcourt to replace Kyle Lowry.
It’s not enough for the Eagles community relations staff to unprompted share their parade logistics with the brain trust in Camden. But it’s a plan less reliant on magical thinking than this year’s.
“We think that having three elite players like Paul, Joel and Tyrese is the way to go, because we see our job as finding the Yabus, finding the Justins,” Morey said. “Those things you can find. You can’t find Paul Georges, you can’t find Joel Embiids, you can’t find Tyrese Maxeys. What you can do is have a front office and a coaching staff that works tirelessly to find these guys who can then fit around it.”
The only thing the 76ers can do in the present to facilitate that is to race to the bottom, keep their pick and do what it takes to get George and Embiid healthy.
Contact Matthew De George at mdegeorge@delcotimes.com.
Source: Berkshire mont