Bryan Colangelo: A lot of Sixers uncertainty has been erased
The teams president says that Embiid, Saric, and Simmons are no longer unknowns. Were well ahead of where we were last year.
The 76ers have had only one winning campaign in the last 12 seasons. And that came during the strike-shortened 2011-12 season when they finished 35-31 in the regular season before advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
They have won only 26.6 percent of their games in the five seasons since then.
But Bryan Colangelo, the team's president of basketball operations, believes there's reason to be optimistic. He has seen a transformation of sorts during his 13 months with the team.
"We have a lot more knowns than unknowns," he said. "Last year at this time, we couldn't say that. We had a number of situations that were unsure."
At that time, the Sixers didn't know what to expect from Joel Embiid. The center had missed the previous two seasons because of navicular bone surgeries on his right foot. The Sixers also were wondering if Dario Saric would, as promised, negotiate a buyout from the Turkish team Anadolu Efes so he could join them.
And the team had just been awarded the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. The Sixers hadn't fully decided on whether to use it on Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram.
"We now know it's Ben Simmons," Colangelo said. "We know what he's capable of. We've seen a lot of things happen, but he has yet to play an NBA game."
Simmons missed his entire rookie season after surgery to repair a broken right foot. But he impressed the team with his ballhandling, quickness and basketball IQ during the summer leagues and training camp. So the Sixers have decided that he'll be their starting point guard even though he played point forward in his only season at LSU.
Embiid and Saric, along with Milwaukee Bucks point guard Malcolm Brogdon, are finalists for rookie of the year. The winner will be announced during the NBA awards show on June 26 at New York's Basketball City.
So Colangelo has three major building blocks, if they remain healthy, plus the third overall pick in the June 22 draft.
"We also have a free-agent signing already, given that we signed Jerryd Bayless last year and he hasn't played more than three games," Colangelo said of the combo guard, who is recovering from torn ligaments in his left wrist. "We're well ahead of where we were last year.
"With those healthy bodies and some new talent coming in via draft, via trades, via free agency, we're excited about what the future holds."
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