Hayes: Sixers' 'Process' can begin in earnest, but be patient

THE PROCESS, as it was presented at its inception, begins soon.

When the Sixers won the first overall pick in the NBA draft lottery Tuesday, they won their first real chance at growth since The Process first begged for your trust. This is growth, delayed. It will require patience; much more than the first three years. It will be painful, partly because of the delay and partly because of the enticing players who will fill the roster.

"We like what we have," coach Brett Brown said Tuesday night. "Our path is a heck of a lot different now. We're going to look at more ammunition. I think it's going to translate into a more legitimate NBA team."

In other words, this time The Process has a chance.

The addition of big, skilled swingman Ben Simmons on June 23 (let's end any charade that involves the Sixers not drafting him) will represent the validation of a tear-down that began with promise and ended in madness. Simmons will join a pair of enormously talented centers, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor.

Simmons also might be playmaking for freakish forward Joel Embiid, if Embiid's cantankerous right foot cooperates. Simmons could be joined by Croatian swingman Dario Saric, if, for some reason, Saric forfeits millions in future earnings to join the NBA this summer.

Simmons will be complemented by real NBA veterans. They will be acquired by an actual NBA general manager, Bryan Colangelo, who understands the importance of chemistry and leadership on a young team.

"We've never even talked about free agents before," Brown said.

Simmons will be coached by Brown, a basketball teacher with a pedigree from the Spurs who signed a contract extension during the season that should make him the face of the Sixers through at least 2018-19.

As appealing as all of this sounds, it would be wisest to approach the coming months with cautious optimism. Anything more would be premature, owner Josh Harris said on Tuesday: "This just gives us more to build around."

Harris realizes that, after four years of wild, fruitless schemes, the Sixers need the time and the space to fail. The players, the coach and his staff need the understanding of a fan base that allowed itself to be duped. To be fair, it was a fan base ripe for duping.

Remember the feeling in the summer of 2012? Remember the hope? The promise? Harris foolishly allowed coach Doug Collins to trade for Andrew Bynum, the malcontent Lakers center with two bad knees and one bad attitude. Bynum never wore a Sixers uniform. The trade cost the Sixers four first-round picks and ruined the franchise. In May of 2013, Harris hired Sam Hinkie, a 35-year-old intellectual who had helped build the Rockets into a promising organization. Harris is a successful venture capitalist who also owns the New Jersey Devils of the NHL. The Sixers are his dalliance, his toy, his can't-lose investment. Why not gamble?

Hinkie immediately announced his intent to strip the Sixers bare, to rebuild from scratch, to create an analytically superior beast that, upon completion, would rule the NBA for a decade. He asked you to Trust The Process, a slogan that spawned a cult and a hashtag.

It was enticing huckstering. He made it all seem so feasible.

Hinkie never rode higher than his first draft night, when he traded All-Star guard Jrue Holiday to New Orleans for first-round picks in 2013 and 2014. The pick in 2013 was Nerlens Noel, who was likely to miss the season with a knee injury, but 2013-14 was forfeited anyway. The general thinking was that, with four total lottery picks in 2013 and 2014, things would turn around after one bad year.

Then, of course, Hinkie went asset-crazy. He made picks and trades that could not bear real fruit until 2018 or beyond. He provided no veteran support and forsook the development of young players to ensure the worst record. He betrayed Brown and the fans and the league. The Sixers descended into an endless winter of losses, irrelevance and embarrassment that ended with Hinkie's demotion, resignation and his bizarre dissertation.

Now, the franchise sees a glimpse of salvation in the form of a 6-10, 240-pound messiah, a player neither hurt nor fat nor playing overseas. The Sixers bask in a second spring; new growth, delayed. Prepare for the pains.

Simmons might develop all the way into a point guard but that is at least two or three years away. Magic Johnson didn't play point guard right away.

The Sixers have decided that Noel's offensive ceiling is so low that they won't even ask him to refine his game beyond the paint. At the end of the season Brown revealed that as long as Noel scores close to the basket and improves at the free-throw line, the Sixers will be pleased.

Okafor showed no interest in rebounding or defending. His soft body and his hard-head attitude sabotaged his rookie season even before a torn meniscus in his right knee ended it in March. He might be the most refined 20-year-old post player in the history of the NBA, but a post scorer who does nothing else is a dinosaur.

For now, Embiid is nothing more than a YouTube star and a Twitter genius, nothing more than 275 pounds of precarious potential . . . and that is independent of his chronic foot problems. Like Embiid, Hakeem Olajuwon came to the game of basketball late. Unlike Embiid, Olajuwon played three college seasons and 100 college games at the highest level before he hit the NBA. Embiid played 28 games as a part-time starter. He has more room for growth than anyone.

Finally, no one knows how Saric's Euro-game will translate to the NBA.

No one knows, either, if Brown can make the right moves late in games. This stands out as the most identifiable of his shortcomings after three seasons. Of course, it is impossible to judge any coach in any situation when he is beset with the worst roster in NBA history.

Brown won't have that sort of roster come November. Not when The Process begins in earnest.

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