Is this year's Sixers team the worst NBA squad ever?

[Moranis]

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 14h14 hours ago

Of the 12 players to suit up for the Sixers so far this season, six were undrafted and have combined to log 38 percent of Philly's minutes

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 14h14 hours ago

Follow-up to last tweet: Among the NBA's other 29 teams, undrafted players have accounted for just 8 percent of total minutes

The Sixers are an NBA-DLeague hybrid.

I think the tweets are rather simple minded.  The Sixers had a lot more D-leaguers last year.  They burned through a lot of them early trying to find some keepers.  The 6 that have played this year are:

Robert Covington - Hasn't played much this year due to injury but proved last year that he is an NBA caliber player.   Definitely a keeper especially with the Hinkie special contract. 
Hollis Thompson - Not particularly good but shooting 40% from 3 may keep him in the NBA for a while. 
JaKarr Sampson - Probably won't be on the Sixers next year if he doesn't show significant improvement   
T.J. McConnell - Undrafted rookie who has been rather good so far.  They'll need a good starting PG but McConnell seems like he'll be a fine backup. 
Christian Wood - Undrafted rookie but was expected to go in 2nd round.  Young, raw talent but looking pretty good so far in limited minutes. 
Phil Pressey - Only picked up because of all their PG injuries.  He played 125 games for us the last two seasons so it is hard to knock the Sixers for picking him up as a stopgap.

With Covington back now and Wroten and Marshall back early December, I would expect the minutes for Thompson, Sampson, Wood and McConnell to be reduced quite a bit.  Pressey will probably be cut but they may wait until they need a roster sport for a trade.       

Sampson and Thompson were mediocre in D-League and college. They are outright awful in the NBA. Don't think they'd make it past preseason for a single other franchise. That Philly has brought Thompson for the 3rd year in a row is pathetic.

Thompson is one of the best shooting "big men" in history.  In fact, I can't think of a player 6'8" or taller that has shot over 40% from three for 3 consecutive seasons (Thompson is currently on pace for that).  None-the-less that players first 3 years in the league and on a bad team no less.  Shooters that good always have a place in the league, see Korver. 

Thompson is no more a big man than Rasual Butler. He's wing, through and through. And one of the least skilled wings in the league. He's also a terrible defender. Steve Novak's an even better shooter with better size and the only thing keeping him in the league is his contract.

I put "big" in parenthesis for a reason and then said 6'8" or taller.  Steve Novak is one such player.  A guy who built his entire career on being able to shoot the ball.  Just like Kyle Korver and just like Hollis Thompson.  Shooters like that will always be in the league.  Thompson is finally on the bench where he belongs, but he will be in the league for years because he has a skill that is better than 95% of the league and better than 99.9% of the league as tall or taller than him.  You can't teach shooting like that (and for the record Thompson was an excellent shooter at Georgetown, which is the whole reason Philly signed him).

Moranis your assessment of the 76ers role players has become like a parody at this point. I have heard some other talent evaluators say Covington is ok, and maybe he is an NBA player. I usually can't stand to watch their games cause they are flat out ugly. The other guys though are just not good. If they were good, and playing along talented young players like Noel, Okafor and previously MCW they 76ers wouldn't be winning 18 games a year.

Thompson is an excellent 3 point shooter.  That is all he does, but if you put him on a team like Golden State he would be shooting 50% from three and playing like 10 minutes a game.  His shooting is that good.   That is his role.  Philly hasn't had any one else and he is playing way more minutes than he should in a role he shouldn't be.  Thompson will be in the league for years though.  He has a unique skill set that teams love to have on their bench.  Stauskas has finally moved Thompson to the bench, but Stauskas is still far too young to contribute much of anything to winning.  Mind you Stauskas was a top 10 pick 2 drafts ago.  He clearly has talent. 

Covington is a solid player.  Good defender and ok and varied offensive game.  He too is better suited to a bench role, the Sixers just don't have anyone else to start.  Wroten and Marshall who have yet to play are both fairly recent 1st round picks.  Landry has been in the league awhile.  Once the Sixers get healthy, they will be bad, they just won't be epically bad.  They need a real wing scorer (Saric would have helped immensely) and could use a true PG (MCW was not that and neither is Wroten). 

Actually a lot of jump-shooters shoot worse when they don't get extended run. Does anyone in the league shoot 50%(!) from 3 in 10mpg?

Hollis might catch on somewhere now that he's on course for 5000+ minutes of NBA playing time to set him apart from other D-league fodder but I expect him to phase out pretty quickly after that.

Spot-up shooters, even those with size, who can't do anything else aren't all that rare. Europe and the D-league are littered with them.

I agree on Covington. Looks like a decent player.

Novak shot 50% from three in less than 10 minutes a game.  Kapono was close a few years.  Some other guys are just shy of the 50% or just over 10 minutes.  50% from three is rare, but generally the guys that do it are bench players at 20 minutes or less a night.

[celticsclay]

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 14h14 hours ago

Of the 12 players to suit up for the Sixers so far this season, six were undrafted and have combined to log 38 percent of Philly's minutes

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 14h14 hours ago

Follow-up to last tweet: Among the NBA's other 29 teams, undrafted players have accounted for just 8 percent of total minutes

The Sixers are an NBA-DLeague hybrid.

I think the tweets are rather simple minded.  The Sixers had a lot more D-leaguers last year.  They burned through a lot of them early trying to find some keepers.  The 6 that have played this year are:

Robert Covington - Hasn't played much this year due to injury but proved last year that he is an NBA caliber player.   Definitely a keeper especially with the Hinkie special contract. 
Hollis Thompson - Not particularly good but shooting 40% from 3 may keep him in the NBA for a while. 
JaKarr Sampson - Probably won't be on the Sixers next year if he doesn't show significant improvement   
T.J. McConnell - Undrafted rookie who has been rather good so far.  They'll need a good starting PG but McConnell seems like he'll be a fine backup. 
Christian Wood - Undrafted rookie but was expected to go in 2nd round.  Young, raw talent but looking pretty good so far in limited minutes. 
Phil Pressey - Only picked up because of all their PG injuries.  He played 125 games for us the last two seasons so it is hard to knock the Sixers for picking him up as a stopgap.

With Covington back now and Wroten and Marshall back early December, I would expect the minutes for Thompson, Sampson, Wood and McConnell to be reduced quite a bit.  Pressey will probably be cut but they may wait until they need a roster sport for a trade.       

Sampson and Thompson were mediocre in D-League and college. They are outright awful in the NBA. Don't think they'd make it past preseason for a single other franchise. That Philly has brought Thompson for the 3rd year in a row is pathetic.

Thompson is one of the best shooting "big men" in history.  In fact, I can't think of a player 6'8" or taller that has shot over 40% from three for 3 consecutive seasons (Thompson is currently on pace for that).  None-the-less that players first 3 years in the league and on a bad team no less.  Shooters that good always have a place in the league, see Korver. 

Thompson is no more a big man than Rasual Butler. He's wing, through and through. And one of the least skilled wings in the league. He's also a terrible defender. Steve Novak's an even better shooter with better size and the only thing keeping him in the league is his contract.

I put "big" in parenthesis for a reason and then said 6'8" or taller.  Steve Novak is one such player.  A guy who built his entire career on being able to shoot the ball.  Just like Kyle Korver and just like Hollis Thompson.  Shooters like that will always be in the league.  Thompson is finally on the bench where he belongs, but he will be in the league for years because he has a skill that is better than 95% of the league and better than 99.9% of the league as tall or taller than him.  You can't teach shooting like that (and for the record Thompson was an excellent shooter at Georgetown, which is the whole reason Philly signed him).

Moranis your assessment of the 76ers role players has become like a parody at this point. I have heard some other talent evaluators say Covington is ok, and maybe he is an NBA player. I usually can't stand to watch their games cause they are flat out ugly. The other guys though are just not good. If they were good, and playing along talented young players like Noel, Okafor and previously MCW they 76ers wouldn't be winning 18 games a year.

Thompson is an excellent 3 point shooter.  That is all he does, but if you put him on a team like Golden State he would be shooting 50% from three and playing like 10 minutes a game.  His shooting is that good.   That is his role.  Philly hasn't had any one else and he is playing way more minutes than he should in a role he shouldn't be.  Thompson will be in the league for years though.  He has a unique skill set that teams love to have on their bench.  Stauskas has finally moved Thompson to the bench, but Stauskas is still far too young to contribute much of anything to winning.  Mind you Stauskas was a top 10 pick 2 drafts ago.  He clearly has talent. 

Covington is a solid player.  Good defender and ok and varied offensive game.  He too is better suited to a bench role, the Sixers just don't have anyone else to start.  Wroten and Marshall who have yet to play are both fairly recent 1st round picks.  Landry has been in the league awhile.  Once the Sixers get healthy, they will be bad, they just won't be epically bad.  They need a real wing scorer (Saric would have helped immensely) and could use a true PG (MCW was not that and neither is Wroten).

Thompson gets 10 minutes a game for golden state? Who does he take minutes away from?

McAdoo, Rush, Thompson, Clark.  Take your pick.  Could even see him taking Barbosa's minutes in certain situations.

When the team is healthy Rush,  Clark and McAdoo and Thompson do not really play at all (except in mop up). You seeing him play over Barbosa shows me this conversation is not worth continuing. I will give you credit though, your fascination with these 76ers scrubs remains a mystery. You have literally rated them higher than our resident hardcore 76ers fan Raaandy on numerous occasions. 

[Moranis]

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 14h14 hours ago

Of the 12 players to suit up for the Sixers so far this season, six were undrafted and have combined to log 38 percent of Philly's minutes

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 14h14 hours ago

Follow-up to last tweet: Among the NBA's other 29 teams, undrafted players have accounted for just 8 percent of total minutes

The Sixers are an NBA-DLeague hybrid.

I think the tweets are rather simple minded.  The Sixers had a lot more D-leaguers last year.  They burned through a lot of them early trying to find some keepers.  The 6 that have played this year are:

Robert Covington - Hasn't played much this year due to injury but proved last year that he is an NBA caliber player.   Definitely a keeper especially with the Hinkie special contract. 
Hollis Thompson - Not particularly good but shooting 40% from 3 may keep him in the NBA for a while. 
JaKarr Sampson - Probably won't be on the Sixers next year if he doesn't show significant improvement   
T.J. McConnell - Undrafted rookie who has been rather good so far.  They'll need a good starting PG but McConnell seems like he'll be a fine backup. 
Christian Wood - Undrafted rookie but was expected to go in 2nd round.  Young, raw talent but looking pretty good so far in limited minutes. 
Phil Pressey - Only picked up because of all their PG injuries.  He played 125 games for us the last two seasons so it is hard to knock the Sixers for picking him up as a stopgap.

With Covington back now and Wroten and Marshall back early December, I would expect the minutes for Thompson, Sampson, Wood and McConnell to be reduced quite a bit.  Pressey will probably be cut but they may wait until they need a roster sport for a trade.       

Sampson and Thompson were mediocre in D-League and college. They are outright awful in the NBA. Don't think they'd make it past preseason for a single other franchise. That Philly has brought Thompson for the 3rd year in a row is pathetic.

Thompson is one of the best shooting "big men" in history.  In fact, I can't think of a player 6'8" or taller that has shot over 40% from three for 3 consecutive seasons (Thompson is currently on pace for that).  None-the-less that players first 3 years in the league and on a bad team no less.  Shooters that good always have a place in the league, see Korver. 

Thompson is no more a big man than Rasual Butler. He's wing, through and through. And one of the least skilled wings in the league. He's also a terrible defender. Steve Novak's an even better shooter with better size and the only thing keeping him in the league is his contract.

I put "big" in parenthesis for a reason and then said 6'8" or taller.  Steve Novak is one such player.  A guy who built his entire career on being able to shoot the ball.  Just like Kyle Korver and just like Hollis Thompson.  Shooters like that will always be in the league.  Thompson is finally on the bench where he belongs, but he will be in the league for years because he has a skill that is better than 95% of the league and better than 99.9% of the league as tall or taller than him.  You can't teach shooting like that (and for the record Thompson was an excellent shooter at Georgetown, which is the whole reason Philly signed him).

Moranis your assessment of the 76ers role players has become like a parody at this point. I have heard some other talent evaluators say Covington is ok, and maybe he is an NBA player. I usually can't stand to watch their games cause they are flat out ugly. The other guys though are just not good. If they were good, and playing along talented young players like Noel, Okafor and previously MCW they 76ers wouldn't be winning 18 games a year.

Thompson is an excellent 3 point shooter.  That is all he does, but if you put him on a team like Golden State he would be shooting 50% from three and playing like 10 minutes a game.  His shooting is that good.   That is his role.  Philly hasn't had any one else and he is playing way more minutes than he should in a role he shouldn't be.  Thompson will be in the league for years though.  He has a unique skill set that teams love to have on their bench.  Stauskas has finally moved Thompson to the bench, but Stauskas is still far too young to contribute much of anything to winning.  Mind you Stauskas was a top 10 pick 2 drafts ago.  He clearly has talent. 

Covington is a solid player.  Good defender and ok and varied offensive game.  He too is better suited to a bench role, the Sixers just don't have anyone else to start.  Wroten and Marshall who have yet to play are both fairly recent 1st round picks.  Landry has been in the league awhile.  Once the Sixers get healthy, they will be bad, they just won't be epically bad.  They need a real wing scorer (Saric would have helped immensely) and could use a true PG (MCW was not that and neither is Wroten).

Thompson gets 10 minutes a game for golden state? Who does he take minutes away from?

McAdoo, Rush, Thompson, Clark.  Take your pick.  Could even see him taking Barbosa's minutes in certain situations.

When the team is healthy Rush,  Clark and McAdoo and Thompson do not really play at all (except in mop up). You seeing him play over Barbosa shows me this conversation is not worth continuing. I will give you credit though, your fascination with these 76ers scrubs remains a mystery. You have literally rated them higher than our resident hardcore 76ers fan Raaandy on numerous occasions.

McAdoo has played in all but 2 games for the Warriors.  He doesn't play many minutes but he plays consistently.  I said in certain situations he might play for Barbosa, i.e. they need 3 point shooting. 

Elite shooters have a place in the league.  Entire careers have been based off that one skill. 

[celticsclay]

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 14h14 hours ago

Of the 12 players to suit up for the Sixers so far this season, six were undrafted and have combined to log 38 percent of Philly's minutes

Marc Stein ‏@ESPNSteinLine 14h14 hours ago

Follow-up to last tweet: Among the NBA's other 29 teams, undrafted players have accounted for just 8 percent of total minutes

The Sixers are an NBA-DLeague hybrid.

I think the tweets are rather simple minded.  The Sixers had a lot more D-leaguers last year.  They burned through a lot of them early trying to find some keepers.  The 6 that have played this year are:

Robert Covington - Hasn't played much this year due to injury but proved last year that he is an NBA caliber player.   Definitely a keeper especially with the Hinkie special contract. 
Hollis Thompson - Not particularly good but shooting 40% from 3 may keep him in the NBA for a while. 
JaKarr Sampson - Probably won't be on the Sixers next year if he doesn't show significant improvement   
T.J. McConnell - Undrafted rookie who has been rather good so far.  They'll need a good starting PG but McConnell seems like he'll be a fine backup. 
Christian Wood - Undrafted rookie but was expected to go in 2nd round.  Young, raw talent but looking pretty good so far in limited minutes. 
Phil Pressey - Only picked up because of all their PG injuries.  He played 125 games for us the last two seasons so it is hard to knock the Sixers for picking him up as a stopgap.

With Covington back now and Wroten and Marshall back early December, I would expect the minutes for Thompson, Sampson, Wood and McConnell to be reduced quite a bit.  Pressey will probably be cut but they may wait until they need a roster sport for a trade.       

Sampson and Thompson were mediocre in D-League and college. They are outright awful in the NBA. Don't think they'd make it past preseason for a single other franchise. That Philly has brought Thompson for the 3rd year in a row is pathetic.

Thompson is one of the best shooting "big men" in history.  In fact, I can't think of a player 6'8" or taller that has shot over 40% from three for 3 consecutive seasons (Thompson is currently on pace for that).  None-the-less that players first 3 years in the league and on a bad team no less.  Shooters that good always have a place in the league, see Korver. 

Thompson is no more a big man than Rasual Butler. He's wing, through and through. And one of the least skilled wings in the league. He's also a terrible defender. Steve Novak's an even better shooter with better size and the only thing keeping him in the league is his contract.

I put "big" in parenthesis for a reason and then said 6'8" or taller.  Steve Novak is one such player.  A guy who built his entire career on being able to shoot the ball.  Just like Kyle Korver and just like Hollis Thompson.  Shooters like that will always be in the league.  Thompson is finally on the bench where he belongs, but he will be in the league for years because he has a skill that is better than 95% of the league and better than 99.9% of the league as tall or taller than him.  You can't teach shooting like that (and for the record Thompson was an excellent shooter at Georgetown, which is the whole reason Philly signed him).

Moranis your assessment of the 76ers role players has become like a parody at this point. I have heard some other talent evaluators say Covington is ok, and maybe he is an NBA player. I usually can't stand to watch their games cause they are flat out ugly. The other guys though are just not good. If they were good, and playing along talented young players like Noel, Okafor and previously MCW they 76ers wouldn't be winning 18 games a year.

Thompson is an excellent 3 point shooter.  That is all he does, but if you put him on a team like Golden State he would be shooting 50% from three and playing like 10 minutes a game.  His shooting is that good.   That is his role.  Philly hasn't had any one else and he is playing way more minutes than he should in a role he shouldn't be.  Thompson will be in the league for years though.  He has a unique skill set that teams love to have on their bench.  Stauskas has finally moved Thompson to the bench, but Stauskas is still far too young to contribute much of anything to winning.  Mind you Stauskas was a top 10 pick 2 drafts ago.  He clearly has talent. 

Covington is a solid player.  Good defender and ok and varied offensive game.  He too is better suited to a bench role, the Sixers just don't have anyone else to start.  Wroten and Marshall who have yet to play are both fairly recent 1st round picks.  Landry has been in the league awhile.  Once the Sixers get healthy, they will be bad, they just won't be epically bad.  They need a real wing scorer (Saric would have helped immensely) and could use a true PG (MCW was not that and neither is Wroten).

Thompson gets 10 minutes a game for golden state? Who does he take minutes away from?

McAdoo, Rush, Thompson, Clark.  Take your pick.  Could even see him taking Barbosa's minutes in certain situations.

When the team is healthy Rush,  Clark and McAdoo and Thompson do not really play at all (except in mop up). You seeing him play over Barbosa shows me this conversation is not worth continuing. I will give you credit though, your fascination with these 76ers scrubs remains a mystery. You have literally rated them higher than our resident hardcore 76ers fan Raaandy on numerous occasions.

McAdoo has played in all but 2 games for the Warriors.  He doesn't play many minutes but he plays consistently.  I said in certain situations he might play for Barbosa, i.e. they need 3 point shooting. 

Elite shooters have a place in the league.  Entire careers have been based off that one skill.

Do you have like some sort of financial investment in the 76ers or something? The stuff you argue is just bizarre. Most of the time it isn't even accurate. McAdoo has played less than 1 minute 4 times. He played one minute and two minutes in other games (and just about all of their games have been blowouts). He is not a rotation player for them. Your comment that Thompson would get 10 minutes a game for them is just flat out wrong and stupid.

[Tr1boy]

yes . Pathetic.

Why is Brown even going for the ride?

[Endless Paradise]

This exact same question has been posed every year for the past three seasons. And the answer still remains "no."

[jdz101]

Losing to the Pacers by 30 at home.

Gonna be a long ass year.

[2short]

Worst nba squad ever
Celtics trying to throw games to get Duncan led by ml Carr
Nothing else close

[Eddie20]

Awesome read. Even their fans (sans the ones on Cs blog) are becoming frustrated.

http://www.libertyballers.com/2015/11/18/9759006/pacers-112-sixers-85-the-process-is-a-plan-not-an-excuse

The Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Indiana Pacers 112-85, dropping their record to 0-12. It's their sixth loss this year by more than 15 points. They turned the ball over 29 times, just two nights removed from a 27 turnover performance against Dallas. At one point, they walked out onto the floor with six players, resulting in a technical foul and a free point for Indiana. Needless to say, this game was an absolute mess, and in a manner that's been different from previous bad losses.
 
This is, by far, the most disappointed I’ve been about the Sixers since Sam Hinkie took over as general manager in 2013. Not about the future, because that still has a chance to be bright, but the product out on the court. They’re not a group of lovable losers, fighting and battling on every possession, trying to show they have a place in this league.

Other Sixers teams have been bad, but not like this. The 2015 Sixers are lazy, and worst part about this team is that they are completely and utterly unwatchable. Yes, previous editions of the process trusting Sixers have had bad losses, but those team didn’t nearly have the amount of talent and experience previous process trusting teams have had, even with the injuries. Their losses at least used to show signs of growth.
 
In year three of this shindig all I see right now is borderline regression from nearly everyone.
 
The Sixers are failing at the most elementary of things. They can’t execute simple passes. They’re failing to communicate, resulting in the most comical turnovers and fast break opponents for opponents.

And maybe the most discouraging thing about the Sixers twelfth loss in twelve games is that there’s no clear answer to their issues. As of right now, they are a systematic failure at all levels.

A team that needs solid perimeter shooting to relieve its big men is 24th in the league in three-point field goal percentage. A team that prides itself in being solid defensively is 23rd in defensive rating, and 26th in rebounding.

Nerlens Noel, the team’s heart and soul last year, looks completely lost on offense, and getting outworked on the glass by the likes of Lavoy Allen and Ian Mahinmi.

While this certainly must be tough on Brett Brown, he’s certainly not without blame. The offense has been morbid, but does little to stop the bleeding He continues to trot out lineups with Noel, Jahlil Okafor, and Jerami Grant that are wildly inefficient. There are no real set plays to create space for shooters, just 15-17 seconds of synchronized dribble handoffs before Jahlil Okafor is asked to rescue most possessions with little time on the shot clock. And despite consistently playing decent first half, they come out of half looking sluggish, which makes me think opponents can adjust to the Sixers, but the Sixers can’t adjust to them.
 
Some of this may be reactionary in the grand scheme of things. They’ve played just twelve games, and are still adjusting to having a real post scorer in Jahlil Okafor. Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten should bring about better guard play when they return to action. Most importantly, the process is still very much intact, and the manner of these losses don’t change the fact Philadelphia will likely have a surplus of from this upcoming summer’s draft.
 
However, losses in this manner on a semi-consistent basis are inexcusable, considering the improvement they made last year. There's no blueprint for how the Sixers are supposed to become competitors. But getting your doors blown off at home to a really mediocre Pacers team is an extremely hard pill to swallow at this point.
 
The process can still be trusted. It just doesn’t excuse their current state of affairs.

[GC003332]

Through 12 games they are second last in attendance for their 7 home games and dead last in attendance for their 5 road games, last night only 11,000 and change could be bothered to show up to see their potential superstars in action, maybe they need to get that pizza promotion down to 80 at the rate they are going.Total farce, good news though Big Z is bonding with Embiid, so they have that going for them.
Wonder when they clash with the Nets who the 'supporters of their master plan'will want to win that one.

[Moranis]

Awesome read. Even their fans (sans the ones on Cs blog) are becoming frustrated.

http://www.libertyballers.com/2015/11/18/9759006/pacers-112-sixers-85-the-process-is-a-plan-not-an-excuse

The Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Indiana Pacers 112-85, dropping their record to 0-12. It's their sixth loss this year by more than 15 points. They turned the ball over 29 times, just two nights removed from a 27 turnover performance against Dallas. At one point, they walked out onto the floor with six players, resulting in a technical foul and a free point for Indiana. Needless to say, this game was an absolute mess, and in a manner that's been different from previous bad losses.
 
This is, by far, the most disappointed I’ve been about the Sixers since Sam Hinkie took over as general manager in 2013. Not about the future, because that still has a chance to be bright, but the product out on the court. They’re not a group of lovable losers, fighting and battling on every possession, trying to show they have a place in this league.

Other Sixers teams have been bad, but not like this. The 2015 Sixers are lazy, and worst part about this team is that they are completely and utterly unwatchable. Yes, previous editions of the process trusting Sixers have had bad losses, but those team didn’t nearly have the amount of talent and experience previous process trusting teams have had, even with the injuries. Their losses at least used to show signs of growth.
 
In year three of this shindig all I see right now is borderline regression from nearly everyone.
 
The Sixers are failing at the most elementary of things. They can’t execute simple passes. They’re failing to communicate, resulting in the most comical turnovers and fast break opponents for opponents.

And maybe the most discouraging thing about the Sixers twelfth loss in twelve games is that there’s no clear answer to their issues. As of right now, they are a systematic failure at all levels.

A team that needs solid perimeter shooting to relieve its big men is 24th in the league in three-point field goal percentage. A team that prides itself in being solid defensively is 23rd in defensive rating, and 26th in rebounding.

Nerlens Noel, the team’s heart and soul last year, looks completely lost on offense, and getting outworked on the glass by the likes of Lavoy Allen and Ian Mahinmi.

While this certainly must be tough on Brett Brown, he’s certainly not without blame. The offense has been morbid, but does little to stop the bleeding He continues to trot out lineups with Noel, Jahlil Okafor, and Jerami Grant that are wildly inefficient. There are no real set plays to create space for shooters, just 15-17 seconds of synchronized dribble handoffs before Jahlil Okafor is asked to rescue most possessions with little time on the shot clock. And despite consistently playing decent first half, they come out of half looking sluggish, which makes me think opponents can adjust to the Sixers, but the Sixers can’t adjust to them.
 
Some of this may be reactionary in the grand scheme of things. They’ve played just twelve games, and are still adjusting to having a real post scorer in Jahlil Okafor. Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten should bring about better guard play when they return to action. Most importantly, the process is still very much intact, and the manner of these losses don’t change the fact Philadelphia will likely have a surplus of from this upcoming summer’s draft.
 
However, losses in this manner on a semi-consistent basis are inexcusable, considering the improvement they made last year. There's no blueprint for how the Sixers are supposed to become competitors. But getting your doors blown off at home to a really mediocre Pacers team is an extremely hard pill to swallow at this point.
 
The process can still be trusted. It just doesn’t excuse their current state of affairs.

very good write up.  I think they should start Thompson and Stauskas along with Canaan, Noel, and Okafor.  What Covington and Grant bring defensively isn't enough so they should just try to stay with teams shooting and Canaan, Thompson, and presumably at some point Stauskas are all good shooters.  When they get Wroten and Marshall back, then maybe they put Covington back into the starting lineup.  And again this doesn't mean they will be good, they just won't be as bad.

[celticsclay]

Things are pretty ugly there. 6 guys coming out of a timeout for a technical? I don't think I have seen the Celtics do that in all my years of watching. I think it goes back to not having a single guy on their roster that has had a successful NBA career. I am going to grab some popcorn and sit back and watch the train wreck.

I am also not sure if Stauskas is an NBA player. His defense is pretty awful and for a shooter he is at 32% on the year on ten shots a game and 27% on three pointers. When do the Sixers have to decide if they want to pick up his option? He could join a small list of lottery picks not to have their rookie option picked up. 

[Who]

Awesome read. Even their fans (sans the ones on Cs blog) are becoming frustrated.

http://www.libertyballers.com/2015/11/18/9759006/pacers-112-sixers-85-the-process-is-a-plan-not-an-excuse

The Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Indiana Pacers 112-85, dropping their record to 0-12. It's their sixth loss this year by more than 15 points. They turned the ball over 29 times, just two nights removed from a 27 turnover performance against Dallas. At one point, they walked out onto the floor with six players, resulting in a technical foul and a free point for Indiana. Needless to say, this game was an absolute mess, and in a manner that's been different from previous bad losses.
 
This is, by far, the most disappointed I’ve been about the Sixers since Sam Hinkie took over as general manager in 2013. Not about the future, because that still has a chance to be bright, but the product out on the court. They’re not a group of lovable losers, fighting and battling on every possession, trying to show they have a place in this league.

Other Sixers teams have been bad, but not like this. The 2015 Sixers are lazy, and worst part about this team is that they are completely and utterly unwatchable. Yes, previous editions of the process trusting Sixers have had bad losses, but those team didn’t nearly have the amount of talent and experience previous process trusting teams have had, even with the injuries. Their losses at least used to show signs of growth.
 
In year three of this shindig all I see right now is borderline regression from nearly everyone.
 
The Sixers are failing at the most elementary of things. They can’t execute simple passes. They’re failing to communicate, resulting in the most comical turnovers and fast break opponents for opponents.

And maybe the most discouraging thing about the Sixers twelfth loss in twelve games is that there’s no clear answer to their issues. As of right now, they are a systematic failure at all levels.

A team that needs solid perimeter shooting to relieve its big men is 24th in the league in three-point field goal percentage. A team that prides itself in being solid defensively is 23rd in defensive rating, and 26th in rebounding.

Nerlens Noel, the team’s heart and soul last year, looks completely lost on offense, and getting outworked on the glass by the likes of Lavoy Allen and Ian Mahinmi.

While this certainly must be tough on Brett Brown, he’s certainly not without blame. The offense has been morbid, but does little to stop the bleeding He continues to trot out lineups with Noel, Jahlil Okafor, and Jerami Grant that are wildly inefficient. There are no real set plays to create space for shooters, just 15-17 seconds of synchronized dribble handoffs before Jahlil Okafor is asked to rescue most possessions with little time on the shot clock. And despite consistently playing decent first half, they come out of half looking sluggish, which makes me think opponents can adjust to the Sixers, but the Sixers can’t adjust to them.
 
Some of this may be reactionary in the grand scheme of things. They’ve played just twelve games, and are still adjusting to having a real post scorer in Jahlil Okafor. Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten should bring about better guard play when they return to action. Most importantly, the process is still very much intact, and the manner of these losses don’t change the fact Philadelphia will likely have a surplus of from this upcoming summer’s draft.
 
However, losses in this manner on a semi-consistent basis are inexcusable, considering the improvement they made last year. There's no blueprint for how the Sixers are supposed to become competitors. But getting your doors blown off at home to a really mediocre Pacers team is an extremely hard pill to swallow at this point.
 
The process can still be trusted. It just doesn’t excuse their current state of affairs.

So many of those quotes - lazy, bad defense, lack of offensive spacing & passing - it's like they are talking about Jahill Okafor rather than the team.

His bad qualities infecting others around him. Breeding a team of selfish, lazy players.

Vs last year when team operated around a Championship-like-mentality in Nerlens Noel and was noteworthy for their defense, effort and teamwork.

Okafor = like Eddy Curry or a young Al Jefferson ... in their effect on a team. Talented individual scorers but they make life difficult for everyone else around them. Too often take more off the table than they put on it. Their teams tend to do very badly.

[PhoSita]

Okafor = like Eddy Curry or a young Al Jefferson ... in their effect on a team. Talented individual scorers but they make life difficult for everyone else around them. Too often take more off the table than they put on it. Their teams tend to do very badly.

Except for you, know, winning a national championship.

Let's not put this all on Okafor like he's suddenly turned into a player with a "loser" mentality.

You put Okafor on the Spurs and I'd bet you anything he'd be awesome.

That Sixers team is not a good situation for any young player right now.  We saw this as early as draft night -- Jahlil looked totally unexcited to be drafted.  He went from a program that was all about winning lots of games and churning out guys who know how to play team basketball, to a team that only knows how to win and is running a 24/7 tryout for D-Leaguers and undrafted free agents with at least 10 of their 15 roster slots.

[Who]

Okafor = like Eddy Curry or a young Al Jefferson ... in their effect on a team. Talented individual scorers but they make life difficult for everyone else around them. Too often take more off the table than they put on it. Their teams tend to do very badly.

Except for you, know, winning a national championship.

Let's not put this all on Okafor like he's suddenly turned into a player with a "loser" mentality.

NBA careers only.

It's not so much his mentality as his skill-set which is too individual / not team orientated enough. It's a lack of appreciation in defense, rebounding and team offense. In ways he can impact games outside of scoring. An immaturity.

He could get around that a lower level of competition like the NCAA. Especially nowadays where there are hardly any talented big men around. Average 10ppg 6rpg and you can go pro as a freshman. With his mature physique / strength, he could bully them easily and be successful. Be successful without developing more mature mindset / well-rounded game.