Sixers fans, it has finally come to this. About five years ago, then Sixers’ General Manager Sam Hinkie hired a coach with a unique accent named Brett Brown who had experience as both the head of player development and an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs. This was the man Hinkie believed could take Philadelphia to the promised land, “I was pretty candid with Brett throughout the process, about the challenges ahead. There has to be trust,” Hinkie said.
After a losing season in which the team failed to reach 20 wins during the 2013-2014 season, the idea that the Sixers were losing on purpose started to get thrown around in the national media. As both fans and pundits started to criticize the organization, Twitter users and podcasts such as The Rights to Ricky Sanchez took to defending the team and general manager by advocating for the same hopeful sentiment Hinkie originally gave Brown upon hiring him: trust.
Then, on Jan. 5, 2015, in an interview with ESPN’s Pablo Torre, Sixers point guard Tony Wroten officially dropped the phrase that would be a rallying cry for the city of Philadelphia for the next three years, “They tell us every game, every day, ‘Trust the Process.’ Just continue to build.”
Well, three years and over 200 hundred losses later and the Process has come to fruition. When the Sixers signed Jimmy Butler on Nov. 12, 2018, they completed a journey that has revolved around consistent improvement and the consistent addition of top draft picks. Between the 2014 and 2018 seasons, the Sixers were able to acquire a total of 9 first round picks in the NBA Draft, four of which were top three picks. Of those first round picks, Philadelphia has retained the likes of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz, Furkan Korkmaz, Zhaire Smith and Landry Shamat. With the exception of Smith who is currently out with a foot injury and the ever-confusing saga of Markelle Fultz, four of those players currently have had a major impact on the team’s rising success this season.
Add in Butler who is a four-time NBA All-Star and the winner of the 2015 Most Improved Player Award, and it seems that the culmination of Hinkie’s vision is a legitimate Eastern Conference contender built around three proven all-stars, rising young talent and personnel who believe in the Process. Even the current general manager, Elton Brand, was a center for the Sixers during the 2015-2016 season.
So now that it seems like the days of tanking and breaking records for longest consecutive losing streaks are behind the city of Philadelphia, I would like to take a moment to reflect on some of my favorite parts of the Process that I hopefully will never see again as a fan of the Philadelphia 76ers.
First off, the ticket prices for games during the worst parts of the Process were historically low. Fans looking to see a professional basketball game during the winter of 2015 could probably get seats in the upper level of Wells Fargo Center for the hefty price of about five bucks .
I can remember seeing my first Sixers game against the Boston Celtics with my best friend Samara and paying more for parking than what the two of us paid for our tickets. And, while it was almost guaranteed that anyone who bought tickets during the Process were paying to see a loss, the Sixers often kept it relatively close (usually losing by about 10 points at all times), so the couple bucks spent was worth the hope of seeing one of Philly’s rare victories. Want tickets to a Sixers vs Celtics game now? Tickets start at 50 dollars for nosebleeds on Stubhub.
In addition to the cheap seats, I can honestly say that I will truly miss the mini-heart attacks that happened everytime Philly’s favorite should-be-G-Leaguer, Robert Covington, took a three point shot. Covington’s inconsistency was a thing of mystifying beauty. When it dropped, it looked like vintage Kyle Korver in the 2004 Three Point Contest. But when he missed, you wanted to pull your hair out and send him down to Delaware.
In 297 games as a 76er, Covington made 707 three pointers out of 1967 three point attempts and became one of the league’s best defenders. He is a representation of everything the Process stood for: grit, potential and an absolute gamble. He will surely deserve a standing ovation when the Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Wells Fargo Center on Jan. 15, 2019.
Last but not least, the buzzer beaters by T.J McConnell will forever be ingrained in the hearts of true Sixers fans as tangible retribution for all the mediocre players that came through the organization during the past five years. Names like Ish Smith, Nik Stauskus and Timothe Luawaue Cabarot will come and go, but the legend of McConnell’s turnaround jumper over Carmelo Anthony to beat the New York Knicks on Jan. 11, 2017 was a turning point for the organization.
At a deceptive 6’2, the undrafted point guard out of the University of Arizona was the heart of the Process. Like Hinkie and The Process, McConnell has defied all the odds through his relentless hustle, cunning basketball intelligence and a desire to win that has withstood even the most humiliating defeats (he once was carded by a bouncer at Xfinity Live who didn’t believe he played basketball). When he made that shot, the Sixers proved that the waiting was going to pay off, and when he did it again a month later against the Orlando Magic, Joel Embiid called McConnell, “The clutchest player in the history of the NBA.”
However, now that Jimmy “Buckets” Butler has already made two game-winning three pointers since becoming a 76er, Brown has plenty of options when the game is on the line. Trust the Process, witness the results.
Andrew Heller is a second-year graduate student majoring in English. AH804286@wcupa.edu