McCaffery: Sixers’ end-ofseason act is way too familiar
CAMDEN, N.J. >> In an annual exercise meant to cleanse, every 76er not named Joel Embiid was motioned Thursday toward a TV camera. There, the organization’s two eternal purposes would be on maximum display.
One would be to make excuses.
The other would be to promise that it would be different later.
Robert Covington, who has been around longer than any player, did the veteran thing and showed everyone how it should be done. Ready? Go: “This team is very scary. We see what we are doing without all the pieces we have. Imagine when everything comes into play. It’s going to make it more scary.”
If Josh Harris, Bryan Colangelo, the communications department and Brett Brown could have been asked to judge that comment as they might score a slam dunk contest, they would have all waved cards printed with a big, red “10.” Perfect, Covington’s performance was. Bravo.
The Sixers season — a 28-54 pip — wasn’t over for 24 hours. It was scary, all right. Yet already the hype was raging about what they could be in 2017-2018.
“We want to be in the playoffs,” Jahlil Okafor said. “You saw glimpses of how great we can be, especially when guys are healthy.”
There were moments that inspired respectful appreciation. There were causes for fans to grow optimistic. There were flashes of athletic brilliance. But that is supposed to be the baseline in professional sports. The question about the Sixers — the one that is being asked too infrequently any more — is how much greatness must they show, and for how long, before they can balance their professional dignity account.
The Sixers have lost 253 games in the last four years, almost every one due to organizational indifference. Even Thursday, Ben Simmons let loose with this gem, explaining why he was permitted an entire season to recover from a broken foot: “It was no rush. We weren’t in the playoffs.” Because they have characterized their initiative as a process, their plan to surrender seasons in exchange for years of premium drafting position gained wide acceptance. But even the phrase “process” was brilliant, for the essence of a process is that it doesn’t end. It just keeps processing.
If the together-we-build enterprise had support, it was because fans did not want to see the Sixers in a position where they could finish seventh or eighth in a conference, win a playoff spot but no lottery balls, be early-round losers and repeat the cycle. Yet as the hit Year 5 of the carry-on, there were the Sixers Thursday, fingers crossed, just hoping to squeeze into the next postseason tournament, even as a low seed.
“I think everyone’s goal is to be a playoff team,” Nik Stauskas said. “Everyone is striving, working toward that. It wouldn’t make sense to go into the offseason and work as hard as we’ll work to not be there. So we want to put ourselves in that position to be competing for a playoff spot. If you look at this season when everyone was healthy and we really got rolling, and then with the improvements we are going to make in the offseason, it is very realistic for us to be in that position.” Could be. They’re closer, anyway. But that will require Embiid, last caught relaxing in California where he was recovering from his fourth annual season-ending injury, his one year at Kansas included, to be a regular contributor. And it will require Simmons, who is not prepared to say he will be ready for summer seasoning, to be a reliable point guard. And it will require the ping-pong balls to ricochet in a fortunate manner and for Colangelo to land a shooter early in the draft. And it will require Dario Saric to shoot better, Covington to recover from surgery and Jerryd Bayless to shed the ring rust from playing only three games this season. Even that might not be enough.
“Look at the Minnesota Timberwolves,” Brown said. “I keep using that as an example. A bunch of first players chosen. A really good coach. A heck of a good point guard in Ricky Rubio. And they have three more wins than us. You can’t underestimate birth certificates. Youth matters in this adult league.”
That’s why Brown is hesitant to declare the Sixers ready to be a playoff team.
“For me, it’s, ‘Are you responsibly growing the program where one day we can win a championship?’” he said. “That’s the bottom line. You don’t even know who’s on the team. You don’t know the draft pick. You don’t know a free agent. Ben hasn’t played a second. We’re waiting to have Joel come back. Anything else that I mentioned would just be a completely reckless comment.”
There was nothing reckless about the Sixers announcing their postseason candidacy for 2017-2018. Beats the alternative. But if they fail, it will be because some players weren’t ready because of injury. And then they will promise it will be different in 2018-2019.
“I think we can do big things,” Simmons said. “I don’t want to say anything specific. But I am excited to play with these guys. I think we can do some damage.”
They can. But if that damage is self-inflicted, remember: It will hardly be the first time.