The Philadelphia 76ers, the city of “Brotherly Love,” has not been feeling the love within the past several years. When it comes to the 76ers, and their great deal of injuries, one could only hope that Ben Simmons is their savior. But unfortunately, we will have to hold off on that thought. Ben Simmons will be out for approximately three months with a broken foot, where he landed on another player’s foot. Before we dive deep into the Sixers rebuilding strategy, let’s discuss some of their other problems.
Bad Luck With Injuries
The Sixers have been doomed with injuries within the last couple of few years, especially with their young draft picks. This goes back to the 2013-2014 season where their Sixth pick in the NBA draft, Nerlens Noel would miss his rookie season due to an ACL tear. The following season the Sixers would then lose Joel Embiid (Second Pick in the draft) for his entire rookie campaign, after he suffered a a foot fracture. Embiid would suffer another foot fracture which caused him to miss the entire 2015-2016 NBA season. To make matters even worse for the Sixers, Jahlil Okafor who was their third draft pick in 2015, went down at the end of his rookie season (2015-2016) with a a knee injury which required surgery.
Unsuccessful Tanking Strategy
Since the 2013-2014 NBA season, the 76ers have won a total of 47 games in a three year span (47-199). After the season, it became pretty clear what management’s agenda was for the franchise, tank and rebuild through the draft. That’s not a bad decision considering the successful teams we have seen who have rebuilt through the draft. Teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder with Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, and James Harden have had a tremendous amount of success. We can also point out the current Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green who were all drafted to the team. These teams are a perfect example that it does work. But what happens when season ending injuries are involved?
Especially with the guys that are expected to change the franchise around. Not only does it set the players back, as far as them not getting the “in game” experience, but it continues to set the franchise back. Typically they could try to land a big name free agent if it all fails, but no one is going to want to play for a losing franchise. Remember the 76ers were in the playoffs five seasons ago, but if they keep losing their top players to injuries, they will continue to lose games. Only time will tell, if this historic franchise which was built by Allen Iverson, Julius Irving, Moses Malone, and Wilt Chamberlain could bounce back from this destruction.
The major difference between the Sixers and the Warriors and Thunder are that the Warriors and thunder had a front office that also knew how to build through free agency and trades. The Sixers’ front office seems to only know how to suck.