The History of “The Process”
By: Padraig Smith
Where the “Process” has Brought the 76ers
Philly’s love affair with the 76ers has been a heart-pounding and emotional roller coaster. The fans’ belief in “the process”, which was once a guarantee, has been vigorously tried and tested. Still without success in the Conference Semi-Finals for the past seven years, two reformations have left fans anxious as time consumes each year. It hasn’t been a pleasure to be a Sixers fan in the last 14-15 years, this is for sure.
The Process Begins (2013-2016)
The Process would start in 2013 with Sam Hinike taking over as GM and committing to tanking games for future draft picks. The team came up with players like Nerlens Noel (who missed his rookie season because of injury) and Michael Carter-Williams, who went on to win the 2014 Rookie of the Year. The team’s performance on the court was simply ugly and it was consistently among the worst in the league, but Hinike had a vision of the future and was tough enough to experience the hardship now for a better future.
Then Joel Emiid came to town in the 3rd overall pick of the 2014 draft. While Emiid’s early years were stained by injury concerns over his feet, the fans still began to embrace his larger-than-life personality and trash-talking social media presence. The team kept on year after year accumulating high draft picks once again focusing on the future success of the franchise.
Then Ben Simmons came to town.
The Rise of Stars (2016-2017)
The 2017 season was a turning point for the franchise, which was a very large upscale in nature. The Sixers′ patience had finally paid off, as Embiid played a full season, and Simmons debuted and got thumbs-up reviews from the league. The Sixers made amazing progress, finishing third in the East and reaching the playoffs. The team defeated the Miami Heat in the first round, but the dreams of the new sunny season were shattered by the Boston Celtics, stealing the series from the 76ers in the second round. Despite this, the season was a great success, with Simmons winning Rookie of the Year, Emiid finally showcasing his abilities, and the future of the team looking better than ever.
The 2018 Push for a Title
In 2018, the 76ers went all in, Jimmy Butler, and Tobias Harris arriving did the trick of pushing the team into final’s contention. Once again, the playoffs were disappointing due to Kawai Leonard’s last-second winning shot in Game 7 that knocked the Sixers out of the playoffs. The loss was brutal not only to the team’s morale but also to the fans’ morale. There was still hope that the team had enough talent to compete long into the future.
The Mess Begins (2019-2021)
After years of struggling, the 76ers were finally in the conversation and legit title contenders. The roster was now loaded with talent like Embiid, Simmons, Tobias Harris, and other new additions like Al Horford. They had moved from a team trying to sneak into the playoffs to a squad with championship dreams. But sadly, good things can never last for long and things soon began to fall apart. In a flurry of trades and contracts being left unsigned, many players began coming and going.
A New Chapter… Again (2022)
Yet again, in their march to the 2021-2022 season, the 76ers were bombarded with questions on how to surround Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Butler and other stars like Horford were gone and more new problems started to come. After the stormy relationship between Simmons and the team, he was soon sent to the Brooklyn Nets in a trade that involved James Harden, a player who would eventually join the 76ers. His trade would become the most widely discussed today. Harden was among the top players in the whole league, a former MVP, and a player who had some particular skills that could blend well with Joel Embiid.
Abruptly, the coming of James Harden caused the Sixers to soar above the other teams. Harden had been one of the main factors in his team’s victory, apart from that, he had been in charge of creating shots for his teammates and consistently becoming an offensive weapon. When he was placed with Embiid, who is one of the most equipped and strongest players in the league, Philly’s followers were out of this world. The immediate interchangeability of the two made the team almost unstoppable. The unique combination of Embiid’s ability to stretch the floor with Harden’s ability to drive, pass, and shoot made the Sixers one of the largest scoring bands in the NBA.
This adjustment period had its ups and downs with Harden working his way back up from injuries and a new dynamic to the team. His chemistry with Embiid began to build quickly and we saw flashes of a potential championship duo.
In Harden’s first playoff run with the 76ers in 2022, the team once again faced heartbreak. Despite an impressive start in the first round against the Toronto Raptors, the 76ers fell short again in the second round to the Miami Heat. Harden had moments in which he played great, but he was criticized for disappearing at times when the team needed him most. The loss to Miami was one of the most painful as the 76ers seemed to have the talent but still came up short.
The summer of 2023 was filled with uncertainty regarding Harden’s future. In the offseason, Harden made it clear that he was unhappy with the direction of the franchise and often fought with team management. This ultimately led to Harden requesting a trade, and he went on to publicly express that he wanted out of Philadelphia. Harden eventually left and landed with the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
“The Process” has had its perks but it’s also had various negatives that seriously affect the team today. It’s promised that overtime we’ll get better as a team and yet now 15 years later we still aren’t seeing the benefits of those sacrifices. We haven’t even made it to the Finals let alone won the championship. We get star players that on paper should make us one of if not the best team in the league, but we always fall short no matter what. It’s frustrating as a fan to see other teams with worse players do better than we are after everything we’ve done to get here. The Cleveland Cavaliers are one of the best teams in the entire league and yet they don’t have a fraction of the star power we have. It’s something in the heart of this team and organization that must be wrong because every year we cannot catch a break. Something has to change and change fast because it is not acceptable for us to look this good and yet be so awful. Maybe when I’m 70 I’ll see the 76ers win the championship because this decade doesn’t look so great.
