NBA stars might not be out in Philly

I GUESS IF YOU are the kind of Sixers fan who does not or cannot go to the Wells Fargo Center too often to watch in person, the nebulous timeline of the organization's rebuilding project doesn't matter all that much.

In those terms, it is easy to look 2 or more likely 3 or 4 years down the road when the master plan of general manager Sam Hinkie presumably will come to fruition.

The impression given by a lot of fans is that if by the 2016-17 the team is looking like a legitimate contender the pathetic basketball played during the current days of tanking . . . excuse me, "asset acquisition" . . . will be worth it.

But if going to see the Sixers is a regular part of your entertainment routine, whether that is because you love the home team or just love going to NBA games, your view could be a little more jaded.

You want the Sixers to become title contenders as much, probably more, than the folks who root from a distance, but the current reality of the process Sixers owner Josh Harris has endorsed slaps a little harder in the face.

If you are one of those Sixers folks, the Harris/Hinkie theme of "Building the Next Big Thing for Philadelphia" means either paying full NBA prices for a product that is intentionally not up to NBA standards or simply depriving yourself of the enjoyment of attending NBA games by staying home.

I doubt that the fact that Harris and Hinkie have been transparent about their plan to stink now to later come out smelling like roses makes that decision any easier to stomach.

"It is really important, I think, not to take your eyes off what matters," Hinkie said at media day. "What matters is not feeling great about yourself the third of March, but to give yourself a chance to feel good about ourselves on the third of June."

That makes sense. The problem is that by any reasonable estimate the Sixers are at least 246 NBA games away from being in a position to feel good on a "third of June."

That's a lot of bad basketball for a lot of good money.

I generally try to be optimistic at the start of a season, but that's difficult when the over/under for the Sixers is 16.5 wins and many are betting the under.

It's not just the fact that, at this stage of the process, the Sixers are going to look like a Development League team. It's that the rest of the NBA is going to react accordingly to the Sixers' situation.

Two seasons ago, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich added a new wrinkle to gaining a competitive edge in the chase for the NBA title by making key players healthy scratches in regular-season games to help keep them fresh for the playoffs.

There has always been an accepted unwritten rule that it was OK for teams to do that late in the regular season, but Popovich started doing it much earlier.

Considering the aging Spurs have played in the last two NBA Finals and are the reigning champions, it's hard to argue that Popovich was wrong.

Success breeds copycats.

Now the top teams look at their schedules and identify which patsy opponents would make a low-risk gamble for sitting out key players.

Guess which arena in South Philadelphia will become a favorite stop for visiting teams to leave superstar players in the hotel room or back home?

Last year in its second game of the season, the Miami Heat did not bring a healthy Dwyane Wade to Philadelphia for the Sixers' season opener.

The Spurs gave Tim Duncan a rest for an early November game in Philadelphia and 2 days later Houston Rockets All-Star James Harden was a healthy scratch in Philly. As bad as that Sixers team was, the current one is worse.

Considering most of the better teams will be able to easily handle the Sixers without all of their best players, we'll find out early if the Wells Fargo Center becomes a place where stars don't play.

The Sixers' home opener is Saturday against Miami. Before Christmas, top contenders Houston, Chicago, Portland, Dallas, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Memphis come to South Philadelphia.

"I remember Dwyane Wade sat the second game, but he sat 25 or 30 others, too. It was the second of a back-to-back in the second game of the season and the Heat had big dreams and got all the way [to the Finals]" Hinkie said. "I don't know if things happened differently here as in other places, maybe they did. I didn't perceive it as such.

"[Sitting Duncan] seems like the kind of smart decision teams like the Spurs make when they've got bigger dreams."

That is true, and that's why it should be a big consideration for Sixers fans thinking about buying a ticket. Some of those games, including San Antonio on Dec. 1, are part of back-to-backs.

If you want to see a star player live in Philadelphia this season, it really will be "buy at your own risk."

Still, if everything goes according to Hinkie's design, it might just be 164 games before the home team becomes worth watching again.

Columns: ph.ly/Smallwood

Blog: ph.ly/DNL