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Colangelo's remarks show Sixers are still a fixer-upper

Since trading Ersan Ilyasova and Nerlens Noel, president Bryan Colangelo has learned that rookie Ben Simmons will be out for the year as his bone scan didn't reveal full healing. Where is this team now?

EVER FORCE yourself to watch those reality television shows where people buy decrepit houses with the hopes of turning them into gorgeous homes that garner huge profits?

There are the usual ups and downs that render suspense, like unforeseen water damage, termites or electrical-code violations. And, of course, there is always the concern of managing the budget. Eventually and amazingly, the rebuild works, a huge profit is made and soon it's time to do it all over again.

Bryan Colangelo had a similar project staring at him when he took over as president of the 76ers last April. He was handed a pretty strong foundation, ample tools with which to work and an easy-on-the eyes landscape on which to finish the construction.

Like those TV shows, Colangelo has encountered problems. And because of it, fans of the team feel as though they are watching a bad rerun, one they've seen over and over again the past three seasons.

A mere month ago, this city was absolutely gaga over the team. Its current state was a winning one. The future was brighter than at any previous time during The Process.

Now comes some of the first real controversy surrounding the president, with perceived disappointing trades, seemingly veiled injury reports and, now, the announcement that top overall pick Ben Simmons will not debut this season after a scan of his foot Thursday revealed there is not as much healing as doctors would like for him to take the court before the season ends April 12.
Fans are not seeing the structure taking form the way it was so delightfully just a month ago; rather, they feel as if the walls are crumbling a bit.

Colangelo, speaking Friday for the first time since trading valuable pieces Nerlens Noel and Ersan Ilyasova for scarce returns earlier in the week, started by giving the disappointing, but perhaps expected, news on Simmons, who was hurt at the end of training camp last fall.

It added to the frustrations building of late, such as the situation surrounding the bone bruise and minor meniscus tear in the left knee of Joel Embiid, who on Friday night is missing the 15th of the Sixers' last 16 games, including 11 in a row.
The Sixers held out Jahlil Okfor from two games earlier this month, as trade talks were "getting serious," then brought him back into the fold after no deal was completed.

There was miscommunication about whether Simmons' scans were clean or not.
Now, the Sixers are garnering what probably will amount to a few second-round picks, along with swingman Justin Anderson, for Ilyasova and Noel.

"We took back future draft assets that we felt would help us continue to build and continue to grow," Colangelo said of the Ilyasova move. "We're prepared for the stretch where we really take off. There's been a lot of improvement this year, and we're moving forward in a lot positive ways, despite the injuries that I've talked about.

"Justin Anderson is a young wing that we think is going to add something to this team in the way of defensive-minded approach, toughness, athleticism. We like to describe him as someone that has that edge. I think Philly fans are going to love Justin's approach to the game.

"We have a number of draft assets and future considerations that are going to benefit this organization as we go through this building process, whether using them as trade assets or to acquire players moving forward. Nothing has changed with respect to the plan and the vision. The plan and the vision is to build a successful and sustainable basketball program. Striving for success, striving for perfection is unchanged. We are aspiring to win an NBA championship, and that means we're building a program based on multipositional talent, multipositional skills and championship DNA. That goes into every decision that's made across the board. As we move forward, there's a lot of bright things on the horizon."

What sticks in the craw of fans is that the obvious need to move one of the centers wasn't pursued sooner, when the value was markedly higher, particularly on draft night last June, when it was rumored Okafor could have been dealt to the Celtics for one of their first-round picks.

The problem, Colangelo explained Friday, was that the team still hadn't seen Embiid on the court, as he was still recovering from foot surgery. Okafor was also recovering from knee surgery, so perhaps they thought they might get more for him when he was healthier. In a nutshell, the new president, only months after being hired and being unsure of the landscape, was unwilling to make trades so soon.

"People view us as the place to come when they're looking for a big," Colangelo said. "Several bigs were out there and available and on the market. There was advanced discussions with Jahlil, early. The situation with Nerlens, him being a restricted free agent, certainly affected how people approached that type of player. It was more or less the case with every conversation that I had. That concern about what that contract might look like in the future was certainly a factor in people's apprehension to move forward.

"I've often said I wouldn't make a bad deal, and (Thursday), I made the best deal that was available to us, and it was the right deal for this organization. When I got here, when I was looking at the roster and looking at the board, we were plugging in Nerlens Noel as our starting center at that point. There was no other way around it, because of the unknowns related to both Joel and Jahlil. There were things thought of. There were things considered. But it was always considered undoable at that time, due to the unknowns."

A lot is still unknown, now even more so with the recent moves and injury updates. With the possibility of two high lottery picks this June, healthy returns of Simmons and Embiid and a young, growing roster, the happy ending those TV shows always seem to have might be possible.

The past couple of weeks, however, have been littered with restructuring problems. If you can handle it, keep watching. There probably will be more change in the not-too-distant future.