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Cooney: Finally some legitimate building blocks for the Sixers' offseason

Henry Sims, James Anderson, Elliot Williams, Tony Wroten, Jarvis Varnado, Casper Ware, Brandon Davies, James Nunnally.

WHEN BRETT BROWN took over the coaching position of the 76ers in August 2013, then-general manager Sam Hinkie laid out a plan for a rebuild the likes of which no one in sports had ever seen.

Winning certainly wasn't expected to be the gauge of how Brown was doing his job and when his first season got to this time of the year, the above-mentioned players were some who were getting important minutes. It was no wonder the team played out those remaining 12 games with a lack of enthusiasm you'd expect. The group that season finished with 19 wins and went into the offseason not knowing what direction the organization was headed or whether they would be a part of it.

JaKarr Sampson, Thomas Robinson, Furkan Aldemir, Chris Johnson, Larry Drew, Alexey Shved, Malcolm Thomas.

Those were just some of the 25 players on Brown's roster throughout the 2014-15 season in which they won one fewer game than the year prior. Defending rookie of the year Michael Carter-Williams was dealt at the draft deadline, and the final 12 games yielded only one win. Relief at the season's end was the only worthwhile feeling among the players when the year came to a merciful end in a loss to the Miami Heat.

Christian Wood, Sonny Weems, Kendall Marshall, Phil Pressey.

The team challenged for the worst record in NBA history, but was able to pick up its 10th and final win in Game 78, avoiding the 9-73 mark of futility set by the 1972-73 Sixers. That team lost 29 of its final 31 games in a season that felt over long before the All-Star break was even thought about.

The feeling at this time of the year in the past three seasons was all the same: emptiness of a season that seemed to yield few positives.

The excitement that surrounded the organization after slogging through each of those 82-game seasons was squarely centered on the plethora of draft picks cleverly accumulated by Hinkie. But that wild anticipation was felt by fans, upper management - particularly Hinkie - and Brown. For players, it was a time to wash away the awful feeling that such losing brings, recharge bodies and minds and wonder what may be and with whom.

That has all changed. Drastically.

Yes, there is still a heightened feeling of anticipation as the Sixers most likely will get another lottery pick this June, probably somewhere in the top five or six. But, for the first time in four years, there are some really intriguing peripheral pieces who can be very big contributors to the set foundational pieces, which are now somewhat stabilized in Joel Embiid, Dario Saric and Ben Simmons.

Robert Covington has grown into one of the league's premier perimeter defenders, a huge area of concern for the organization since the rebuild began. Richaun Holmes is very well on his way to making all forget about the big-man logjam that overshadowed everything entering this season, and could well back up Embiid next season at center. That could make it easier for the organization if it does not get a good return on trading Jahlil Okafor. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot has grown by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season through mostly limited minutes, and certainly is in the conversation in the team's rotation for next season. T.J. McConnell has shown he is more than capable, should he be given one of the backup point guard roles next season, and swingman Nik Stauskas has shown flashes that maybe his third year in the league could be a breakout one.

Add in veterans Jerryd Bayless and Gerald Henderson and it's understandable why the team is playing so well and so hard down the stretch, despite knowling only 12 games remain after Monday's contest in Orlando.

"It's a team that keeps reminding us of the importance of being a team. They truly get along. They play for each other, they play together," said Brown. "The toughness and determination that they just repetitively show is not a fluke. It's who they are. It's how we're playing. I think that there are enough examples of that for me to say with confidence. There is a whole to our team, no matter who is playing, that I am very proud of.

"What is true is the team is more of a team (than at this time the previous three seasons). The team believes, as I do, that we're going to move people forward to next year in more masses and more volume of carryover than we ever have. I can't wait to jump into the summer. We're going to have a fantastic summer of development and even moving further forward, because I think we have a corporate knowledge that we're growing on how we play that can now be pointed to greater parts, more specific parts, from a development perspective.

"I don't think it's buying in. I think all the teams that we had kind of bought in. But you can't help to wonder what is your life span. To their credit, I think that you just feel like that what we're doing is purposeful. They feel, most importantly, that they're improving individually, that they're getting better. That might sound selfish, but I don't begrudge them that. They're improving themselves. They feel it, it's real. That might mean good things for them down the road for them and their family. I'm thrilled to be able to help them move forward. We have significantly more people that you're excited to grow the program with."

Robert Covington, Richaun Holmes, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, T.J. McConnell, Justin Anderson.

cooneyb@phillynews.com

@BobCooney76

Blog: philly.com/Sixersblog