Another Step In “The Process” For The 76ers

It was right around nine months ago when the Philadelphia 76ers finished with the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference, and finished their fourth straight season winning less than 30 games.

“The Process” looked more like “The Disaster,” considering two of their prized lottery picks — Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons — were dealing with major injury issues from the moment they arrived in Philadelphia, while their third lottery pick (Jahlil Okafor) saw his playing time and trade value rot away while he sat on the bench.

But nine months later, as we fast forward to today, nobody is going to mistake the 76ers for the Golden State Warriors, or even this year’s Boston Celtics. For all the length and talent on the floor, they’re still in the bottom third of the league in points allowed per game, and turn the basketball over more than any other team in the NBA. They still haven’t shaken the injury bug, with veteran free agent acquisitions J.J. Redick and Jerryd Bayless both missing time this season.

But there’s a reason that deposed General Manager Sam Hinkie called it “The Process.” A process a series of steps taken in order to achieve a particular end; in this case, that end would be turning the 76ers into a contender in the Eastern Conference. But as the saying goes, you have to crawl before you can walk, and then walk before you can run.

At times, Philadelphia still looks like they’re wobbling under the weight of their own expectations, and not yet ready to stand amongst the best teams in the conference. After a promising start to the season, they finished with a 5–10 record in the month of December. They still have a maddening penchant for blowing leads late in the game, including a 14-point lead against Memphis and a 22-point lead against Boston, both of which took place in the last two weeks.

But then there are those moments when it looks like Philadelphia is ready to run with any team in the NBA put in front of them. They rebounded from that miserable December stretch by going 6–2 in the month of January, with those two blown leads representing their only losses. Embiid was selected to his first All-Star appearance, while Simmons and Dario Saric will join Embiid in the NBA Rising Stars game.

But most importantly: if the postseason started today, Philadelphia would be 7th seed in the Eastern Conference, returning to the playoffs for the first time in six years. There’s a reason that head coach Brett Brown can already start motivating his team by discussing where they are in the playoff rankings, even if it’s just the month of January, because this is totally uncharted waters for them.

Of course, there’s still plenty of basketball left to be played. The 76ers might be on pace to exceed their preseason win total projection (40.5 games), but they’re only two losses away from being on the outside looking in at the playoff picture. Embiid might have finally ascended into one of the best players in the NBA, but the team still chooses to rest him when they have games on back-to-back nights. And even with Simmons looking like a 6’10 basketball Swiss Army Knife, his offensive game is still raw, and the team still lacks a true table-setting point guard.

But none of those should take away from where the 76ers have arrived, and especially where they’ve come from.

After all, as Hinkie would remind us: it’s a “process.”