We all heard the jokes about the Philadelphia 76ers, or the Tank-a-delphia 76ers. They have been a national metaphor and punchline for losing over the last four years.
However, if you attend a game at the Wells Fargo Center, you see a loyal fan base that doesn’t seem to care because the process they decided to trust seems to be paying off.
The Sixers have two transcendent stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, that have shown that they can compete just about every night, and have a very bright future ahead of them. For some reason, it still appears that many members of the national media might have a bias against “The Process” because they don’t want it to succeed.
Case in point, the gasbags on ESPN that need to fill hours of airtime. There was a conversation on one of the shows where the panel all gave Donovan Mitchell the Rookie-of-the-Year award in a runaway over Ben Simmons. I preface this by saying, Jalen Rose and Stephen A. Smith are much less educated than others in the national media, but their ill-informed opinions still dominate airwaves.
Mitchell has been nothing short of amazing, helping to lead a Jazz team that lost Gordon Hayward to free agency, and has them in the thick of the playoff race. He is electrifying, as evidenced by him winning the dunk contest at the All-Star Game. He’s averaging close to 20 points a game and just under four rebounds and four assists a game. Fantastic numbers.
Ben Simmons, in contrast, is averaging over 16 points a game, while pulling down just under eight rebounds and eight assists a game. He notched his seventh triple-double in Tuesday night’s loss against Indiana, tying Magic Johnson for the second most triple-doubles ever by a rookie, behind only the great Oscar Robertson. That is rarified air.
Remember, it was about two months ago that they all were pushing for Boston’s Jayson Tatum to win the award. Tatum has fallen back to Earth a bit, so instead of acknowledging the leader on all rational people’s Rookie of the Year ladder, they ignore the process and tout the next in-line.
Is it far fetched to think Mitchell could win the award? Absolutely not! The struggle here lies in the reasons given for Simmons not winning it. “He’s not a true rookie”, some say. “He can’t shoot”, say others. Is it betting against the early front runner, that underdog that America loves to root for? Or is it backlash to what the Sixers have done?
Joel Embiid was the darling of the All-Star Game. Had his team won, he most likely would have been the MVP. The nation got to see his talent and personality on full display. However, back to the gasbags. You don’t hear a word about Embiid without hearing about how many games he’s missed, and that he doesn’t practice with the team, and that we don’t know if he will live up to his hype due to health reasons – even going so far as to compare him to NBA bust Greg Oden. Which is a ridiculous comparison, for so many reasons.
It sure feels like some in the national media just don’t want to accept a team that tanked into the club of the elite. Like a country club looking down on a member who joined after winning the lottery.
“There could be a perceived bias against the Sixers,” Tom Moore, a respected columnist for the Bucks County Courier Times shared with TLSportsmedia. “So many teams have followed Sam Hinke’s approach in an effort to acquire high-level players in the draft.”
The NBA is clearly not happy that Hinkie’s plan, better known now as, “The Process” has worked. However some disagree that it is working. Take for example Ric Bucher, noted NBA radio host on MadDog radio and NBA writer.
“If the national media isn’t blown away by what “The Process” has wrought this season,” he explained to TLsportsmedia. “It’s because the landscape is filled with teams that didn’t crater for four seasons that are on par (with the Sixers) or better.”
Tom Moore has another perspective, “It’s interesting that multiple teams, such as the Lakers coach, Luke Walton, have said the Sixers are what they aspire to be.”
Bucher says, “I don’t think it’s hate for (what the Sixers have done),” he shared. “I don’t feel that way. I’ve just covered too many promising teams who make the playoffs with young, exciting talent, have high expectations that the arc will continue upward and for some reason or another ebb.”
Have the Sixers arrived? No, not yet. They haven’t proven they can beat playoff teams on a regular basis. They’ve had some signature wins, like the one at Cleveland two weeks ago. However, dropping games against Indiana, Milwaukee and Miami over the last two weeks leave some room for skepticism. Those losses certainly don’t make you believe they are ready to make a lot of noise in the playoffs. But they have the talent to scare some teams, and might just be able to put it together. You never know.
“I don’t know how high the Sixers will fly,” Bucher said. “I just know celebrating them for where they are now, based on what the objective is and what was sacrificed, feels premature.”
Is there a bias? There probably is to some extent. The Sixers are very talented, incredibly exciting to watch, and appear to have the assets and flexibility to have a very bright future. However, the only way to silence the critics is to win. They know that.
What started as trusting a process to acquire talent has now become the process of learning to win. Philly fans are here for the long haul. We’ll convince the national media, when we get there. #HereTheyCome
