Nothin’ but Net: Might be time to rethink the plan

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – It’s amazing what a 53-point loss will do to the mind.

Count me in the group officially questioning Sam Hinkie’s plan for the Philadelphia 76ers. What were once hypothetical questions you figured would get answered in time, have become legitimate roadblocks to future success.

I didn’t see the warts. I saw an interesting rebuild. I still believe that. I had reservations, but now, it’s so easy to be down on the Sixers. They’ve earned it.

And all because the 76ers lost a professional (at least halfway professional) basketball game by 53 points.

That’s humiliating. It’s shameful. Talent is talent, yes, but to lose by 53 indicated an organizational failure.

Where’s the teaching moment in that? What did these young kids, who probably quit about four minutes into this game, learn from this? Was there any other outcome but personal shame? Is that necessary when the Sixers are certainly well-versed in the lessons learned from losing?

The Sixers can thank Hinkie for that. The abstract outlines of the plan remain solid. Be bad, get good picks, make correct picks, excel in time, party down Broad Street.

There’s more to it than that. Hinkie is failing at the little moves and the little moves, my friends, they are what can kill you.

With millions and millions of dollars freed up, it’s curious why Hinkie never tried to acquire any kind of veterans to help these kids out. Head coach Brett Brown is a fabulous teacher and someone who knows the score about what his team is trying to do. But there are no professional, experienced players on this roster, with all due respect to Luc Mbah a Moute, who could instruct these young players on the little details.

This is not a suggestion that the Sixers should have wasted money on a long- term deal for Shawn Marion, or Mo Williams. However, a larger veteran presence could help teach these pups that bagging a game four minutes into it provides no benefit. Anything, any veteran could impart on this Sixers’ roster would be valuable.

Hinkie hasn’t appeared interested in going down that road. He sold veterans for second-round picks. Trading the likes of Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes made sense. Getting nothing but second-round picks in exchange was almost getting nothing. This isn’t the NFL where guys go to the Hall of Fame from the second round.

Know where guys go who get selected in the second round of the NBA Draft? Istanbul.

Those second-round assets are nowhere to be seen at this point, other than K.J. McDaniels, who looks decent. These “assets” are stashed overseas like a mobster’s money and why couldn’t any of them play on a roster loaded with Chris Johnson, Henry Sims, Brandon Davies and Alexey Shved?

Interesting question. Can’t be about playing time. There’s plenty of it available with the current roster composition. Do they provide value to the team, or were they just taken because the Sixers had to draft someone? Are the Sixers concerned the second-rounders will help them win games? Should Philly want to let these investments toil on the big stage instead of the aforementioned stiffs who won’t be in town next season?

From a basketball perspective, the specifics of the plan are dicier than Yahtzee. There are no guarantees on players, obviously, but the Sixers are selecting injured players so frequently, you wonder if Hinkie is actually an evil medical doctor interested in experimentation on athletes’ legs.

Nerlens Noel missed all of last season after an ACL tear at Kentucky. Joel Embiid is most likely going to miss this season with a foot injury. That’s a dangerous amount of injured pieces to plug in, not just the lineup, but to plug in as cornerstone building blocks.

Embiid appears injury-prone. Noel missed two games this season already. Michael Carter-Williams, the third piece of the pie, had shoulder surgery. Injuries happen. The Sixers need to be a little weary of this as a potential albatross.

Once healthy, if you like this nucleus or not, it’s going to be a large team. Carter-Williams is listed at 6-foot-6. That’s big for a point guard and Embiid and Noel will be two centers on the floor at once. Throw in 6-foot-10 Dario Saric, a perfect Sixers prospect since he won’t be playing for the team for years, and that group will be the tallest in the league.

Never mind that at least two of them will be playing out of position (one center will be a forward and Saric will play small forward when he’s a power forward), the Sixers will be huge in an era dominated by point guards and wings. The NBA is no longer a big-man league and the Sixers better pray they make the trends revert back.

All of these flaws are real and potentially perilous. Nothing can stop the biggest anchor that will doom Hinkie’s hopes and a city’s patience – this is a loser franchise.

The label was meant literally, not as harsh as it sounds. No one in the Sixers could argue the point, they are the ones trying to lose games. Thus, losing is what now defines the Philadelphia 76ers.

What free agent will want to come here? Unless Embiid becomes Hakeem Olajuwon, this organization has branded itself a loser, so the players of this league laugh at the Sixers. They laugh at 53-point losses. The Sixers will have buckets of cash to throw at people and no one will come. There is no building block stud, unless, again, Embiid pans out spectacularly.

What are the Sixers telling their dwindling, yet passionate fan base? Essentially the message is, accept losing because it’ll work out in the end. Hopefully.

I was a supporter, never swayed by the arguments against the Sixers’ plan.

My father asks why anyone would go. My predecessor, John McMullen, first theorized about the lack of development for these second-round guys, and my friend Matt, who was in Dallas and went to that pitiful debacle Thursday night, articulated the point about veterans. (Size of team was always a theory of mine.)

These points have been made before, but I dismissed, keeping my eyes firmly on the future prize. Now, I doubt anyone can be totally on board, not after 53- point losses. People can stomach setback in the infancy of something grander. People can’t stomach something wretched going on for years.

I’m still a tentative believer in what Hinkie is doing, but this plan needs some reworking.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

– Derrick Rose brought all of these questions about his dedication and commitment on himself. By not playing two seasons ago, despite the Bulls declaring him healthy, and the comments about his life after basketball, Rose has invited all to question his desire. I think Rose wants to play and wants to win. He’s injury-prone. That happens, but when you see some old-time football players who can’t walk because of what they played through, it makes Rose look softish.

– Commissioner Adam Silver’s feeling about legalized gambling is progressive. People in charge of sports need to stop acting like gambling is the worst thing in the world. Fantasy sports is ostensibly gambling, yet the leagues love it. The NBA acknowledges things like this better than other leagues. They bought into FanDuel, which is a daily fantasy sports site.

– I don’t care what inside handshake Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving have. I don’t care what it looks like or what it means. Anything to bring twirling a mustache back into society, I say. Been too long. Rollie Fingers and pirates.

– The NBA will release jerseys with first names on the back TO SELL THEM AND MAKE MORE MONEY. You know this people. Take a stand this time. Don’t buy a jersey because it says “Kevin.” There are a billion Kevins.

– Finally, after Michele Roberts took a blowtorch to NBA owners, and Silver responded strongly, is there any chance we aren’t headed to a labor dispute in a few years?

– Movie moment – I’ve written before that “Dumb and Dumber To” is a brilliant title. I have almost no expectations for this movie, so one big laugh might be enough for me.

– TV moment – “Oh man, can’t believe TNT canceled ‘Franklin & Bash,'” said no one, not even Franklin, or Bash.

Categorized in: NBA

Tags: 76ers, Philadelphia, Philadelphia 76ers