Philadelphia 76ers: Revisiting 20 players that fell victim to a failing ‘Process’

20 players that fell victim to the Philadelphia 76ers’ “Process” way of building a mediocre roster. 

When Sam Hinkie became the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, he quickly traded away many of their key players. Most NBA fans accused him of tanking in order to get high draft picks. Philadelphia would become the laughingstock of the league.

They went from winning 35 games during the 2011-12 shortened lockout season to 34, 19, 18, to 10 in the 2015-16 season. Hinkie told fans to be patient as the team rebuilds and trust the process. Once Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were in the fold it made all the dark days for the organization seem worth it.

With Ben Simmons refusing to play for the 76ers, it changes the narrative on the process. They haven’t been able to win a championship with their two cornerstone pieces and now it looks like they never will. To make matters worse, the 76ers got rid of a lot of quality players in the process of trying to build a winning team.

Questionable draft picks, like selecting point guard Markelle Fultz when they already had Ben Simmons at the same position. The Jury is still out on Fultz, who now plays for the Orlando Magic, while Jayson Tatum a player they passed on has turned into one of the elite young players in the league.

Philadelphia has also let elite 3-point shooters leave the team in free agency while signing free agents that didn’t fit the team. The best example of this is when they signed Al Horford, a player that plays the same position as Joel Embiid.

With the restrictions of the salary cap, NBA teams can’t keep everyone and good players will leave if they get a better deal from a team. That being said, it’s fascinating to see all the quality players that were traded away or not re-signed from the beginning of the process too now.