Game 7. Sixers vs Raptors. Two titans trading blows and playing their best basketball of the season going toe to toe in what could be argued as the most compelling playoff series of those playoffs. The Sixers took the NBA champs to literally after the final buzzer, as Kawhi Leonard's shot took what felt like about 20 minutes to complete its 4 bounces around the rim before dropping and sending the Sixers home in excruciating fashion. No one played the future NBA champions tougher that season. Not even the 3 time champion Warriors. Sure, the Warriors suffered injuries, but even still, they have a proven championship pedigree and elite level coaching.
One could argue that had Embiid not gotten sick before game 4, the Sixers would have bested Toronto, being that Embiid played his worst game of the playoffs that night, and the Sixers still hung in there and almost beat the Raptors to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Instead, it went down to the final buzzer of game 7. This is the closest the Sixers had been to a parade down Broad St. in over 35 years. Yes, even closer than 2001, being that as amazing of a story as those Iverson's Sixers were, everyone knew there was no way they were taking down the dynastic powerhouse Lakers in those Finals. But in the 2018-19 Playoffs? The Sixers truly had a legitimate shot to go all the way for the first time in over 3 decades.
Kawhi was probably going to leave Toronto to bolt to the Western Conference and all the Sixers needed to do was run it back and use their resources to bolster their bench and they could have taken another stab at it in the '19-20 season with the Warriors decimated with injuries and Durant leaving for Brooklyn. They showed last season the formula worked. They could score with anyone given their shot creation and go-to scorer with Butler, they had floor spacing with Redick, they had their two young stars in Embiid and Simmons, and had a very good 3rd or 4th piece in Harris to carry the load on nights when the other guys don't have it. It worked so well in the playoffs that they played the NBA champions tougher than anybody.
Yet, the Sixers' front office inexplicably decided to course correct and head in a different direction. They decided to sacrifice shot creation and elite perimeter shooting in the modern NBA in favor of an aging and declining big man in Al Horford. The sell? "Al Horford will give the Sixers the best backup center in the league on nights where Joel can't play! And when Embiid has to come out of the game, you simply slide Horford to the 5 and you don't miss a beat!" In other words, the Sixers' front office decided that a glorified backup center was a more promising path to a parade than shot creation and shooting in a modern NBA.
Elton Brand, the general manager of the Sixers was hired with no NBA general managing experience. He worked for the Delaware Blue Coats, and was hired as the Sixers' GM following a many weeks-long sham of a search that involved owner Joshua Harris mandating that any candidates retain this incredible personnel department structure that the great Bryan Colangelo constructed. I'll give Brand credit. He traded for Jimmy Butler when he was available and got him at a very good price, sacrificing only Dario Saric and Robert Covington in the deal. But since? He traded a significant haul for Tobias Harris, emptying their "war chest" of assets on a good player, but not a great player. He was unable to land bench pieces in the summer to bolster his playoff roster. He sold 2nd round picks in the draft and telegraphed his love for Matisse Thybulle allowing Danny Ainge to select him and snooker the Sixers into giving them another draft pick. And he decided to reroute a ship headed toward a Larry O'Brien trophy to bring in Al Horford and Josh Richardson.
The Sixers on January 1st, 2020 are currently the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference. Sure, there is a lot of time left in the season, but their offense has mightily struggled and other teams in the conference are better than expected. Who could have seen this coming when you allow such a massive chunk of last season's offense that took Toronto to game 7 go to other teams? How did they expect an offense without shot creation and perimeter shooting to score? If the Sixers brass decided that Jimmy Butler's future in Philly was absolutely untenable, and Redick's defense was too much to try and cover up, that's fine, but you have to replace that offense. They didn't. They added no shot creation and no elite perimeter shooting, and constructed a 90's style roster expected to compete in 2019-20.
Being the 6th seed should be a bit of a surprise. Their record and the way they're playing? That shouldn't be. The Sixers were always destined to be a good team, not a great team with their obvious flaws. The scary part is that they now may have one of the most undesirable contracts in all the NBA and are tied to Al Horford's number to another 3 years after this one. They no longer have a war chest of assets, and they have no young and attractive trade chips to pry disgruntled or available stars away from other rosters. Barring Elton Brand morphing into Elton Blaine overnight and working some black magic, when he's shown none of that savvy or foresightedness to this point, this is the roster the Sixers are going to be stuck with for the foreseeable future, give or take. A roster that has shown likely not good enough to give Philadelphia and Sixers fans their first parade in over 35 years. If "The Process" ends without a title, we'll all look back in the summer of 2019 where the plan sprung a leak and doomed their championship hopes going forward.
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