Worse: Lebron or the Sixers?
Something occurred to me mid-sentence the other day while recording my podcast, and I wasn’t able to switch gears in the midst of it because it was too big of a thought. Now I’ve had time to sit back, think on it, and it has given me some real clarity about the future of the NBA.
From the outset I have believed the Philadelphia 76ers “Process” is a weak way to build a franchise, but then I wondered, “Can you blame them?” Actually, a more fair question would be: Can you blame the next team that does it?
Now one has to wonder, “Which is a worse way to build a team?”
Is it doing what Lebron James did in signing with Miami, and creating somewhat of a “Super Team” with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh?
Or
Is it the Sixers’ “Process”, which is basically tanking games endlessly, acquiring high draft picks, and hoping to turn those selections into a franchise made up of great players?
I say “worse” because quite frankly, both wreak of doing things the wrong way, or at the very least, different from how things have been done historically, and how the NBA hopes great franchises will come about. Neither inspires admiration, at the very least.
What occurred to me in said moment is the Sixers, with players like James and Kevin Durant moving to teams in the hopes of getting themselves titles, are actually embarking on the one thing which most likely counters this action. Sure, you can acquire some stars like the Golden State Warriors, but that takes a lot of luck, and even a particular location.
As an owner, are you going to rest your business on a bed of luck when you know the power to change your fortune is within you?
Philadelphia is a major market and a beautiful city, but it’s not a glamorous location the way Miami, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco are perceived. It’s a fair question to wonder if free agents were ever going to come to Philly en masse, and give the city one of these “Dream Teams”, despite Vince Young’s belief otherwise. And if this is in fact the way of the future, how can teams compete except by stacking the deck through the draft? The only way to do that is to tank, which the Sixers are really good at.
Don’t get me wrong, for I do not believe the Sixers plan was a response to the current trend, but rather more a coincidence. Sixers ownership was setting out on this course regardless of Lebron’s “decision”, and subsequent ones. The blueprint for stripping down a business and building it back up is the essence of what Sixers’ owner Josh Harris has done throughout his career. It’s part of the nature of private equity, especially at the place he once worked. It is what made him wealthy. One should not be surprised he is taking what he knows to professional sports.
More simply, the decision to tank was not based on how Harris viewed the future of the league, which James forever changed. It was simply a desire to end decades of mediocrity, and if being anti-competitive for a few years is the solution, so be it.
The alternative? Hoping your team lands a once-in-a-generation talent like James, and building around him? That’s not a calculated risk, but rather, it’s shark fishing without bait.
All told, if you take an expansive view of the way the NBA is trending, especially in this day and age of the “me” player, can you blame a team for employing this strategy?
The only problem now is The League has to worry about every other franchise doing the exact same thing.
