In the long run, being good not good enough for Sixers
A LOOK at the Los Angeles Clippers shows just how daunting a task confronts Sam Hinkie. Hinkie, the Sixers' general manager, has said numerous times that the goal of "The Plan" and "The Process" the Sixers are going through is to build a team that will be playing "in June."
A LOOK at the Los Angeles Clippers shows just how daunting a task confronts Sam Hinkie.
Hinkie, the Sixers' general manager, has said numerous times that the goal of "The Plan" and "The Process" the Sixers are going through is to build a team that will be playing "in June."
While Hinkie has never specifically said "NBA Finals," the league's championship series usually begins the first week in June, so it is really the only basketball being played during that month.
In each of the previous three seasons, the Clippers have won at least 55 games. They've won the Pacific Division twice.
Still, the Clippers, who rallied to beat the Sixers, 98-92, in overtime on Monday at the Wells Fargo Center, are not the franchise the Sixers are trying to be because they've lost in the semifinals of the Western Conference playoffs the last two seasons.
The Clippers have never played a game in June in the history of the franchise.
Nobody can argue that a rebuild was a viable option when Hinkie took over a squad that had wallowed in mediocrity for more than a decade.
Consistently being a seventh or eighth seed and getting booted out early from the playoffs had indeed become tiresome.
It was easy to say the Sixers did not want to remain that type of team.
The Sixers, however, also don't want to be the Atlanta Hawks, the Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors or Memphis Grizzlies.
Those are all good teams - ones that are capable of winning 45 to 50 games and making some noise in the playoffs.
So far, that has been their ceiling.
They haven't proved they have enough to play June basketball.
June basketball is the only goal worth pursuing.
Look at the Clippers again if you want to understand why.
In point guard Chris Paul, power forward Blake Griffin and center DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles has the proverbial "three All-Star level players" a team needs to be a legitimate NBA title contender.
Paul, 30, will play in his ninth All-Star Game in 11 seasons on Sunday.
Griffin, 26, has made five All-Star teams since being drafted No. 1 overall in 2011.
Jordan has yet to be an All-Star, but he has led the NBA in rebounding the last two seasons and was NBA All-Defensive First Team for 2014-15.
That trio is in its fourth season together and talk is that if the Clippers don't make it to the Finals this season, there could be some shake-ups this summer.
"(The Sixers) are working on the next step of trying to become a good team," said Clippers coach Doc Rivers. "We're working on the next step of becoming a championship team.
"They're both large steps for both of us. It's part of the challenge"
The first step can't be skipped. Teams don't go from bad to championship without becoming good first.
That takes time.
After three drafts, which featured five lottery picks, and three free-agent and trade periods, the Sixers have one player currently playing who might develop into a regular All-Star - rookie big man Jahlil Okafor.
If Jordan, who is a stellar defensive player who is averaging a double-double for the third straight season, can't make an All-Star team, the odds are that Nerlens Noel, who is a similar type of player, won't ever be an annual All-Star either.
The Sixers have nothing close to Paul.
In the third year of a rebuild, the Sixers' best hopes still lie in ifs.
The Sixers will improve . . .
If center Joel Embiid, who has not played since March, 2014 during his freshman year at Kansas, can finally return from injury next season and realize the potential that got him drafted No. 3 overall in 2014.
If power forward Dario Saric, the 2013 and 2014 FIBA European Young Player of the Year, comes to Philadelphia next season to see how his game translates to the NBA.
If, at the very least, the potential four first-round picks the Sixers could have in June result in them drafting Louisiana State freshman forward and top-rated prospect Ben Simmons plus a talented backcourt player such as Providence point guard Kris Dunn or Oklahoma shooting guard Buddy Hield.
If they can convince a couple of veteran free agents to sign.
If all of those ifs happen, plus a little bit more, the Sixers could be on their way to being three years away from what the Clippers are right now.
Still, the Sixers aren't trying to become the Clippers. That would not be good enough. That is a testament to how far this process still has to go.
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