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Philadelphia 76ers: 6 Moves that botched ‘The Process’ rebuild

By Manolis Olandezos

Philadelphia 76ers (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Philadelphia 76ers (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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Philadelphia 76ers Nerlens Noel (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

1. Trading Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans for their first-round pick (6th overall) AND drafting Nerlens Noel (2013)

The O.G. move that started it all. Jrue Holiday was 24 years old and was just selected to his first NBA All-Star game. That’s the type of young talent most teams want to build around, right?

Not the Philadelphia 76ers. Instead of building around Holiday, Hinkie traded him to the Pelicans for the pick that turned out to be Nerlens Noel and a 2014 first-round pick (later traded to Orlando for Dario Saric’s rights).

The 2013 NBA Draft class wasn’t good. Anthony Bennett was the No. 1 overall pick that year if that tells you anything. Six-foot-11 Nerlens Noel, who lacked offensive talent, was said to go No. 1 before tearing his ACL during his lone season at the University of Kentucky.

Hindsight is 20/20 but this one is bad. Not only did the Sixers trade a 24-year-old All-Star point guard, but they drafted Noel when they could have drafted ANY of the following guys:

  • Giannis Antetokounmpo
  • CJ McCollum
  • Rudy Gobert
  • Tim Hardaway, Jr.
  • Steven Adams

Any of these five guys could have worked out better in Philadelphia, but the Sixers passed on all of them. Noel turned out to be a bust and was traded to Dallas a couple of years later.

Holiday has been one of the better point guards in the NBA since leaving Philly. He’s averaged 18 points and seven assists per game while also being one of the league’s best defenders. Trading Holiday wasn’t a bad move. The 76ers drafted Joel Embiid a year later. But when you figure it was Holiday for Noel? Yikes.