As the start of the NBA season approaches, it’s time to talk about the Philadelphia 76ers. The past ten seasons have been quite the struggle. The last time the 76ers made it out of the Eastern Conference was 2001. During the current Joel Embiid era, they have yet to make it out of the second round. We all remember the Ben Simmons drama, so I’m not gonna put more salt in the wound. Now they have one of the most bleak player opt-out situations in recent memory with James Harden. Who’s to blame for all of this turmoil? Can any one facet of this organization be blamed for the mess? I think it comes down to management and the abysmal job of assembling this team and culture.
The place you have to start when talking about the poor decisions made by management is the draft. They just always find a way to either draft the wrong guy, or not properly develop the guy they do draft. First you have 2015, where they drafted an unathletic and one-dimensional player in Jahlil Okafor, overall NBA-caliber player Devin Booker and all-star caliber Kristaps Porzingis. Then, you have 2016, where they drafted Ben Simmons. Typically, I wouldn’t fault an organization for a player lacking drive and work ethic, but there were multiple scouting reports saying this when he got drafted. Last year, the Sixers took Simmons over Jaylen Brown, an all-NBA player or Brandon Ingram, an all-star caliber player.
Now we arrive at the 2017 draft, which is a peculiarly bad case. They drafted Markelle Fultz first overall, knowing he had an injury to his shoulder, and thought he would be fine when he came back healthy. But it looked as if he forgot how to shoot when he came back. Many conflicting reports came out from sources around the Sixers saying that the training staff mishandled his injury and made it worse. Given Philly’s history of mismanaging injuries, with players like Ben Simmons and Kwame Brown, one has to believe the 76ers played a part in worsening the injury, which changed Markelle’s shot for good. This ended his tenure in Philadelphia after only one year with a trade to Orlando, where he’s had a small resurgence, making it look even worse for the 76ers. Markelle was drafted over all NBA caliber players Jayson Tatum, Donavon Mitchell and De’aaron Fox.
Another way the front office has made questionable decisions is how they have managed their roster over the years. I’d say easily the worst decision they’ve made when it comes to resigning players was back in 2018 when they re-signed Tobias Harris over Jimmy Butler. Look, Tobias Harris is a very solid player that most teams would love to have on their roster. But he’s not 39-million-dollars-a-year good. Jimmy Butler is one of the most fierce and competitive players in the league today. When the Sixers signed Harris they didn’t have enough money to sign Butler too, so he took his talents to the Miami Heat. Since 2018, the Miami Heat have made the finals twice and the Eastern Conference finals once. Overall, the 76ers always mismanages the assets they have and never seem to have a sense of how they want to build their team. This has grown even more prevalent with Darryl Morey as the General Manager for the past couple of years. On paper, his most notable move in trading for James Harden makes sense, but has been a disaster in practice. James already forced his way out of Houston and Brooklyn en route to Philadelphia, and now he wants to force his way out of Philadelphia. To truly understand the James Harden fiasco, we have to go back to July 8, 2022.
James Harden signed a discounted 35 million dollar one-year extension compared to his 47 million dollar player option to give the front office flexibility. Because of Morey and Harden’s close relationship, everyone assumed he would be awarded a contract next year. That relationship proved to be a bit more fickle because Morey didn’t offer him a contract. Instead, he promised to trade him to another team that would provide that contract. So Harden opted into his player option and waited to see where he’d be headed next. Morey still hasn’t traded Harden and has said that he’s not taking offers anymore because the trade offers weren’t up to his standards. Harden severed the relationship completely when he visited China and publicly called Morey a liar. Now we’ve reached a point where no team is going to make a trade offer Morey likes. No team would choose to bring a player who is notorious for choking in the playoffs and who has forced his way out of two teams going on a third. This is yet another example of how the 76ers front office has failed time and time again to build a roster that can compete for a championship.
There is a sliver of hope, though, as Harden has shown up for training camp and is reportedly in good shape and playing well. I still expect Harden to be traded eventually, but I hope he can raise his stock by playing in the first stretch of the season. Overall, do I think this team can win it all this year? As long as Embiid stays healthy, there’s always a chance. But if they did, the front office wouldn’t be responsible for any of the success.
Nathan Castimore is a third-year Communications Studies major. NC973905@wcupa.edu