March 07, 2017
It wouldn’t be fair to characterize this group as the Same Ol’ Sixers. Not when they more than doubled their win total from last season on February 13th, not when they exceeded their win totals from each of the last three seasons on February 11th, and especially not when the Wells Fargo Center was rocking close to 2001 levels at times, with “Trust The Process” chants raining down from the rafters.
But after consecutive losses by a combined 44 points, it feels a lot like March 2014, 2015, and 2016 all of the sudden at "The Center" or whatever the Sixers call it. What we’re watching is a direct result of “the worst recent stretch in Sixers history.”
“How can we all look at it and call it for what it is?” Sixers coach Brett Brown said after Monday night’s 112-98 loss to Milwaukee. “My analytics people told me I played 64 five-man rotations since the All-Star break. That’s not 40 games, that’s six games. Think of that.”
Just as important as the number of five-man rotations is the Process-y group of players who comprise them. One of Brown’s more memorable quotes during his four seasons Philly was about his desire to move away from coaching “gypsies” a few years ago (2:50 mark below), and unfortunately for him, the season’s final month could turn him into Jason Statham in “Snatch.”
Nerlens Noel, Ben Simmons, and Joel Embiid aren’t waiting in the wings. Carl Landry is not walking through that door!
“The good news is we’ve had a lot of practice at this,” Brown said, something nobody will argue with. “And when I say ‘we,’ I’m talking about me and my coaching staff. We will navigate through this, we will keep our group together.”
There are reasons to be more optimistic about this closing group than those of the recent past. In addition to Brown and his staff’s extensive "all hands on deck" experience, the Sixers still have a decent mix of young talent (Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Richaun Holmes, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and T.J. McConnell in particular) who have the chance to stick around. Gerald Henderson is a solid veteran, as well.
Even with all of those players still in the rotation, the Sixers are again dealing with quite a bit of in-season turnover. Saric’s English is still a work in progress, but you can tell that he genuinely empathizes with his new teammates. This is the Croatian forward’s first taste of what the past few years in Philadelphia were like, and it sounds like quite a dose of reality.
“I really can’t understand how it feels for Justin Harper and Shawn Long to come here for 10 days, try to get the offenses [down] and put them in our offenses,” Saric said. “Sometimes it’s hard, really hard.”
The upcoming schedule will also test the Sixers in a major way, with 11 of 13 on the road and eight of those coming against playoff teams. The team will almost assuredly rebound and improve on the last two poor outings in some form or another, but from just listening to Brown, it’s apparent that the 10-5 January is far in the rear-view mirror at the moment.
“Now more than ever, we need to keep these guys together,” Brown said.
“The good news is we’ve had a lot of practice at this. And when I say ‘we,’ I’m talking about me and my coaching staff. We will navigate through this, we will keep our group together.”
For the Sixers and Brown in particular, this season has been a step forward on the court. He was given some blue-chip talent and improved supplemental pieces on the roster, and the team made strides accordingly. And the losing which comes with taking one more good swing at the lottery could prove to be the best long-term outcome for both Brown and the organization. Heck, it sure has in the past.
But before the Sixers can turn their attention back to Embiid, Simmons, and the Markelle Fultzes of the world, there are 19 games left in the 2016-17 season. And just like the last few years, Brett Brown is going to have to find a way to get his undermanned team through them.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
