Sixers need to embrace 'The Process' again

It all started so well.

In an era where the very best players don’t reach free agency, rendering well-planned cap space impotent, Philadelphia 76ers general manager extraordinaire Daryl Morey pulled a rabbit out of his hat this past offseason, signing the single star-level free agent on the market: Paul George.

Morey does it again! Philadelphia won the offseason! Start planning the Broad Street parade! The Eagles were thankful for that preplanning, by the way.

There’s an old phrase about best-laid plans…

At the time of writing, the Sixers sit in 12th place in the NBA’s Eastern Conference with a 20-37 record. Their Big Three of George, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey have shared the court for just 15 of those games for a total of 294 minutes. They have a net rating of -0.5 in those minutes, and their offensive and defensive ratings are both below the league average.

Embiid has, as is sadly customary, missed 38 games and looked decidedly underdone when he has played. George has missed 19 games and looks like a shadow of the player he was just last season. Even Maxey has missed a handful of games. Now, Embiid is, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, strongly considering knee surgery that will end his campaign as his current routine is failing to have the desired impact.

In a season where good news has been sparse, it’s high time the Sixers embraced a late-season tank.

Philadelphia owes its first-round pick to Oklahoma City, with top-six protection. If the draft lottery were held today, Philadelphia would hold the sixth pick, assuming it doesn’t rise or fall. While it would be the most Sixers thing — and frankly hilarious — for Philadelphia to shut down its stars and still somehow fall to seventh in the draft, it needs to embrace whatever chance it has of "earning" a high draft pick and getting something from this miserable season.

A top-five pick, with their existing core, should vault the Sixers back into the upper echelons of the East … or will it?

Going back to his collegiate days at Kansas, Embiid’s health problems have been well documented. The giant Cameroonian has appeared in 452 of a possible 868 regular-season games throughout his career, an appearance rate of just 52 percent. Turning 31 in a few weeks and with a medieval scroll of injuries in his background, does anybody believe that Embiid can get back to anything approaching his best?

George turns 35 in May and has a litany of injuries — both niggling and catastrophic — his leg break was truly awful. Last year was the only season in which he has appeared in at least 60 games since 2019. While 35 is younger in NBA years than it was 20 years ago, let’s not forget that LeBron James and Kevin Durant may not be 100 percent human; it’s not fair to judge anybody else by their standards. George, whose play has fallen off a cliff this season, appears to have aged out of his prime.

Maxey is a young gun with his best years ahead of him. But, at a wispy 6-foot-2 and defensively deficient, is he the player the Sixers want to build around? As good as he is, he’s no Stephen Curry or (speaks in hushed tones) Allen Iverson. If Maxey is simply a more likable Trae Young, where does that leave the Sixers?

That begs the question: should the Sixers consider a full teardown/rebuild? And, more pertinently, do they need to reanimate the corpse of Sam Hinkie?

The Sixers are in a reasonable position when it comes to future picks, especially if they keep their first this year. If the Sixers can do so, it makes some sense for them to move on from their high-priced stars. Get what you can for George and Embiid, but start by moving Maxey for a big haul. If Mikal Bridges is worth five firsts, what would a desperate team pay for Maxey?

Morey — Hinkie’s mentor, lest we forget — is one of the most creative decision-makers we’ve ever seen in the NBA and has generally been a very good assessor of talent. He drafted Maxey at pick 21 and got Isaiah Joe in the second round in 2020. Jared McCain was the odds-on Rookie of the Year favorite — at pick 16 — before injury struck. Dillon Brooks, Isaiah Hartenstein, Clint Capela and Montrezl Harrell were all deep-cut gems mined by Morey. With a treasure trove of picks at his disposal, most would back Morey to get more decisions right than wrong.

As a trader, Morey is legendary. His ability to get imaginative in drawing value from practically every trade he makes is remarkable. And let’s not forget his magnum opus: stealing future MVP James Harden from the Thunder.

This iteration of the Sixers is going nowhere. While, in not a great kind of way, they’re fascinating to watch, it is high time the team got out of Morey’s way and let him cook. With the right ingredients, he’ll whip you up a masterpiece.