NBA AM: The Philadelphia 76ers’ Master Plan

Stop Already:  Sometimes in sports, the media generates an idea. That idea resonates with the fan base and however unrealistic that idea might be, it becomes fact or at least fact in the eyes of the general public.

It happens with trade rumors. It happens with rumored fights in the locker room, coaches on the hot seat – you name the speculative topic and as soon as it gains an ounce of support from the fans, that’s how it is. True or not.

The Philadelphia 76ers are tanking. They are deliberately losing games. Really?

Is that really what’s happening in Philadelphia or is that simply the narrative that makes the most sense to those on the outside?

Why else would the 76ers field a roster that has almost no chance to win? Why else would the 76ers continue to take chances on draft picks that are a little dinged up or are planning to stay in Europe for a year or two instead of drafting proven guys who are ready to play?

Before we get into why, let’s rewind to how we got here.

Under Doug Collins a few years ago, the 76ers were a playoff team. They had guys that could play and were scrappy. The problem is that squad was just talented enough to be the eighth seed in the East. They were basically capped out with an average team that likely wasn’t ever going to get appreciably better. They were not a free agent destination and the kinds of contracts they had to trade were not going to return a transcendent star.

When Josh Harris and his group bought the 76ers in 2011 they naively believed they could hire a known coach, toss some money at the roster and they could compete for a championship. They found out the hard way that was not how things worked in the NBA.

Rather the muddle around the bottom of the playoff picture, the 76ers decided the best way to build a team that truly mattered and had staying power was to rip it all the way down to the ground and start over.

General Manager Sam Hinkie explained how the process would go, how much time it would take and the strategy they would employ. Ownership signed off on it.

The idea at the time, and it remains somewhat true today, is that the 76ers’ cupboard was basically empty. They had a couple of good players, but they had leveraged themselves to the point that nothing they had would matter.

So in comes the so-called tanking. The idea in Philly is to grow assets. If you have watched the Sixers’ process, the have used their cap space as middlemen to secure draft picks. They have cycled through dozens of would-be talents from anywhere they could find them trying to search for guys that matter. They have drafted guys with a lot of upside, hoping to find that transcendent star they knew they could never get in free agency.

Most of the draft picks were about the long-term not the short, because in the NBA teams have a window in which they can reasonably compete. Even if you gave the 76ers the four best guys from each of the last two draft classes they still couldn’t compete with the likes of Chicago or Cleveland.

Look at the Washington Wizards, they languished as a below average team for several years after drafting John Wall number one overall in 2010. Last year Wall and his Wizards made the postseason. This year they are extremely competitive. It took four years.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, who at the time were the Seattle Sonics, drafted last year’s MVP Kevin Durant second overall. They were bad for almost four more years before they sniffed at the playoffs.

There are no shortcuts and the 76ers know it. They knew it when they decided to tear the team down.

The problem for the 76ers isn’t that they have ripped the team down to rebuild it. The Orlando Magic have done the same thing post-Dwight Howard. The problem is the 76ers were way out in the open about it. The Magic at least trotted out some veterans to make fans feel like they were trying. The 76ers simply aren’t masquerading their intentions to use these games to grow their guys.

It is obvious that winning is not the main goal. These last few seasons were transition years and the future was all that really mattered. That too is not new. Teams have done that before as well.

In the build up to the free agent class of 2010, teams were jockeying for cap space at any cost in order to get a shot at LeBron James. They were trading for terrible contracts in order to have space. Teams will do it again in 2016 for a shot at Kevin Durant and his pending free agency.

What the Sixers are doing is far from unique. It’s just so far out in the open that fans, and more importantly the media have an issue with it. It’s that media driven view that the Sixers are somehow doing something wrong, that has driven this notion that the Sixers are willfully losing games. The losing is a by-product of a bigger concept. That concept is the 76ers are growing assets.

Had the Sixers drafted four of the top five players in the 2014 NBA Draft and played them all this season how many more wins would the team have?

Andrew Wiggins is far from the superstar capable of taking over games that he was billed to be. He may become that in time, but he is not that guy today. Jabari Parker looks like the most NBA ready rookie, as he was billed to be in the draft process, but is still shooting 41 percent from the field. Would either of those guys really have made the 76ers title contenders? Playoff contenders?

It’s easy to say the 76ers wasted draft picks, but the truth is even had they drafted the top five guys it wouldn’t have mattered this season. It simply takes time for players to learn and grow into the NBA game, so if it’s going to take time why not draft the guys you believe have the best long-term future? That’s what the Sixers did in drafting Joel Embiid and drafting Dario Saric who is in Europe this season.

Rebuilding is a tough and painful process, but if you rewind back to what the team was in 2011, and what the team looks to be in 2017, things look a lot brighter for the 76ers.

They’ll have four or five elite level young guys. They’ll have a small mountain of trade assets and they will have played through the toddler years with their draft picks.

That’s how you become a franchise with staying power. That’s how you get to the position of competing for the top of the playoff board and not the last chair at the bottom.

Is that tanking or is that re-building?

Not sure if you have ever had to endure a remodel of your home while you were still living in it. It’s a messy, annoying and painstaking process. However if you plan it out right, you end up with something better on the other side.

That’s exactly what the 76ers are doing. They are growing assets. Losing isn’t the goal, it’s the by-product with the goal of being significantly deeper and better in 2017 and 2018 when the window would be open for the Sixers to be like Toronto or Washington or even Chicago – a deep team filled with young guys that know how to play with each other.

Until then, pardon the mess, the 76ers are in the process of upgrading for a brighter tomorrow.

Your Favorite Rookie:  If you stand in front of Orlando Magic rookie Elfrid Payton’s locker long enough he’ll look up at you with a sheepish smile and say “Hey, do you need me?”

He’ll stop what he’s doing and make eye contact, and eagerly answer your questions.

Sounds basic enough; sounds like something everyone would do, however that’s not even remotely true with your average NBA rookie.

However, Payton is far from your average NBA rookie. Payton is a kid from the small town of Gretna, LA population 17,736. He proudly wears the fleur-de-lis tattooed on his shoulder. He played basketball at John Ehret High School in Jefferson Parish and went onto Louisiana–Lafayette. To say he’s a kid from Louisiana is a perfect description.

The fact that he is starting for the Magic in his rookie year is somewhat impressive. Sixteen months ago most people didn’t know his name, let alone that he could play NBA caliber basketball.

Payton, who was the 10th overall pick in the 2014 Draft is leading the rookie class in assist per game 6.4 per content. That’s enough for 14th best in the NBA, 11th best among point guards. It’s hard to believe Payton’s only played two weeks of regular season basketball.

“It feels like it’s been more than two weeks to be honest,” Payton told Basketball Insiders. “I’m getting a lot of late game experience and coach is letting me make plays down the stretch. Right now I’m just trying to help my team win and I’m getting a lot of help from not only the veterans but also the young guys to keep my confidence up.”

Payton’s finding his way, although he looks like a seasoned veteran at times, picking apart the opposition and finding his teammates with passes some veteran guards can’t make. It wasn’t that long ago Payton was wheeling and dealing in college, but he understands what it takes at this level.

“It’s different because the players are betters so the atmosphere becomes more intense,” Payton said. “Because of that you have to be more precise and go that extra mile to make a play.”

Behind his sheepish grin is a lot of confidence. Payton’s ability to plug right in hasn’t been a surprise to him.

“To be honest with you everyone from the coaching staff to the front office has a lot of faith in me,” Payton said. “I have confidence in myself and I worked really hard just to get in this position. I’m still working hard so it’s just paying off for the most part.”

Payton said he’s still trying to adjust to the attention he’s getting, especially as he continues to get minutes as a starter.

“You can’t pay attention to any of that,” Payton said. “You have to have tunnel vision which is crazy to say because I’m a point guard but you just have to focus on what’s important which is getting better and winning games.”

The 20-year-old point guard has fit right in with the Magic’s young core and that’s helped the adjustment process considerably.

“Just having so many guys that have been through the things that I’ve been through is such a big help,” Payton said. “On top of that, the veterans on this team have been great in helping us younger players get through the learning process too.”

While the NBA season is still young, there has already been talk that Payton could be a sleeper candidate for rookie for the year. While he may not beat out the named guys drafted ahead of him, Payton is looking the part of a top rookie, however you wouldn’t know it in how he carries himself.

If you have had a chance to see him play yet, you may want to tune in. He just might become your favorite rookie.

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