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Julius Erving says it should take 'seven years' for the 76ers to become 'formidable'
Seven years ago, the Philadelphia 76ers won 40 games. Andre Miller was the team’s lead point guard, and Kyle Korver was still on the roster. Willie Green was the team’s third-leading scorer, and Gordon Giricek actually played minutes for the Maurice Cheeks-led team. Kevin Ollie, decorated NCAA coach, was the backup point guard. Calvin Booth was around.
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That’s how long ago seven years ago, um, was. Just a heads-up for Philadelphia 76ers fans, as they look forward to what might be another four (at best) years of misery if Julius “Dr. J” Erving is to be believed.
Erving, who served as the team’s uncomfortable representative at the 2014 NBA lottery, recently told Sirius XM that the Sixers ownership group is taking patience to new levels as it attempts to rebuild the franchise.
As transcribed by Pro Basketball Talk:
When they acquired the team in 2012 maybe, I think the talk was about seven years. Seven years. So, I think it’s still on that same timeline.
That’s just to get back to those 40 wins, right?
No. To be good. To be good. To be formidable. To be a contender. That’s probably 18-19.
You might be sick of this plan by now, whether you’re a Sixers fan or an outsider. This still remains a fascinating experiment, though.
For years, following Allen Iverson’s allegedly inebriated skulk to the podium in 2002, the 76ers ran in circles. The team desperately tried to stay relevant in NBA circles by adding expensive, past its prime talent to the ranks. A Glenn Robinson there, a Chris Webber here, let’s welcome in Elton Brand and let’s say “hi” to Doug Collins and his super-smart plans.
The Sixers burned through eight coaches between 2002 and 2012, they never rose above a .530 winning percentage, and in the lone year that the team did dip deeply into the lottery it spent a pick on the super-safe Evan Turner ahead of standouts like Wesley Johnson or Epke Udoh. The franchise’s former owners spent gobs of money trying to move up into the upper tier of a consistently-awful Eastern Conference, and failed every time out.
Now, the team’s ownership is taking a different approach.
Joshua Harris actually bought the 76ers in 2011, which means the seven-year approach would run closer to 2018. He presided over Doug Collins’ run for two years, though, and signed off on the deal that brought Andrew Bynum to the squad in the summer of 2012. Bynum was supposed to be the missing piece for a team that had, on the surface, played the nearly Finals-makin’ Boston Celtics to a near draw in the Eastern semis the season before; ignoring the fact that it needed injuries to Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah just to make the second round that year.
Bynum didn’t play a minute for the Sixers, but had he shown up his presence wouldn’t have mattered much – the team would have been mediocre as always. Collins saw the writing on the wall with a general manager he couldn’t tramp over in Sam Hinkie and resigned following 2012-13, and Hinkie responded by sending fringe All-Star Jrue Holiday to New Orleans at the following draft prior to selecting a player in Nerlens Noel who was coming off an ACL tear.
He inherited a team with a poor cap situation, one that could have owed two first round draft picks in coming years, and he tore things to bits. No more half measures – 16 wins or 60 wins. No more 40s.
A straight up tank job followed in 2013-14, resulting in Joel Embiid – no idea what we’re getting there – and Dario Saric, and Hinkie dove even further into the unknown by dealing Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams for a future lottery pick that might now show up until 2018 (should the Lakers continue to be awful). This year’s draft brought the team Jahlil Okafor. The team will most assuredly be terrible in 2015-16.
What of 2016, though?
Embiid’s foot woes are more than worrying, he has a condition that has felled many players of his size and we could either be looking at a young man who may never play an NBA minute, or someone that could do rehab properly and turn into a perennial All-Star. Noel’s rookie season was shaky, but he has All-Defense talents. The bumps in his head could fill in the holes in Okafor’s game, as the duo could form into a tantalizing pair up front.
Saric has game that will eventually come over. The team could score a top five pick from the Lakers this year or next, and a solid first-rounder from Miami. They own a late first-rounder from Oklahoma City in 2016, and all of their own picks. Because this is Philadelphia, they have heaps of second-rounders to toss around.
Is this as satisfying as winning every other game, staying competitive, and getting to see the third and fourth game of a first round playoff series played in Philadelphia? Probably not.
Is this way more fun? Totally.
The seven-year plan seems a bit daft when you consider retaining Doug Collins, trading for Andrew Bynum, and keeping the status quo for the first two years of the run, but the last two years have been a remarkable testament to commitment. The Sixers truly could enter 2016-17 with six high-end lottery talents on its roster (Noel, a hopefully healthy Embiid, Saric, Okafor, their pick and the Lakers’ pick), plus first-round selections from the Heat and Thunder, a collection that would be just about unprecedented.
And, possibly, formidable.
It wasn’t just that the Sixers were attempting to stay away from that awful NBA purgatory that a 40-win roster creates – the Sixers were that team. It wasn’t as if they brought in bad people – Andre Miller, Elton Brand and Chris Webber are good people and great talents – they just thought that each new savior would be the answer, and things played out as predicted.
It will take another season full of laughable losses and Brett Brown’s hair finding even newer ways to turn grayer, but the Philadelphia 76ers will enter 2016-17 with as much cap space as anyone, six prospects (seven, depending on how Nik Stauskas turns out) on hand and two other first round picks to either deal or take in.
That’s a season or two ahead of this seven-year itch finally making some scratch, which is good news for the 76er fans that feel as if they age seven years within one terrible season.
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is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
