Harris’ ‘done with the lottery’ declaration the right tone for Sixers
The most important declaration ever made by a 76ers executive concerning a draft lottery was shouted by Pat Croce. Finally, Josh Harris has hustled up for second place.
The outburst from Croce, who never needed much prodding while he was the acting owner of the Sixers, was that he would never consent to returning to another draft lottery. Instead, he would ensure that the Sixers would be good enough to make the playoffs and not be a party to that annual public patronizing of failed basketball operations.
So good for Harris last week in New York when after his Sixers’ fifth consecutive lottery he waved his arms and all but refused to make it six.
“I want to be done with this building,” Harris fairly shouted. “I’m ready to be playing now. I’m really ready to be done with it.”
Yes, it is time to declare The Process over, with the Sixers having eased up from No. 5 to No. 3 in the draft through a belated Sam Hinkie treat that allowed them to exchange drafting position with ever-inept Sacramento. There will always be a need for building. But there is no more need for rebuilding.
The Sixers could return to the lottery through a side door, collecting on earlier trade options. There would be no disgrace in that. But it is time for them to make the playoffs. And if the Sixers do, Harris will be entitled to channel Croce one more time. He’ll be entitled to shout, “I feel great!”
• Harris said at the lottery that he would text Hinkie a kiss, thanking his former general manager for processing the Sixers into relevance. Fine. Hinkie was willing to trade professional dignity for better drafting position. And that exchange is complete. The Sixers made jackasses of themselves. And for that, they’ve been able to select high in drafts. Deal made. Deal executed.
As for the final score of that lengthy game, that will be easy to calculate: If the Hinkie-inspired Sixers win one championship or if they reach four NBA semifinals in a five-year span, the process will have been successful. Nothing less will make it. Because the success of any major-league sporting endeavor must be revealed on a scoreboard ... and no place else.
Hear tell Huma Abadine will go high in the next I Don’t Get It fantasy draft.
Honest to a fault, Bill Giles once declared the Phillies a small-market franchise, then heard about it for decades. Hey, mistakes happen. Just don’t make them again.
In recent weeks, though, the Phillies – their players, their manager, their mouthpieces – have come uncomfortably close to tripping over the Giles line. That, they have been doing with a persistent hum about their early strength-of-schedule. Joe Lunardi his own self doesn’t make as much an issue about scheduling in the first week of March.
Was the Phillies’ early schedule challenging? Yes. But leave it at that. And pretend the radio announcers Sunday weren’t discussing how good the Colorado Rockies are and that they will be in Citizens Bank Park this week. It’s the big leagues. Teams are good. Small-market and large.
The Union had just gone a 238th consecutive day without winning a soccer match when Jim Curtin made a comment that was one thing or another. It was either revealing or annoying. And at that moment, annoying had a 10-length lead.
“These guys are playing as hard as they can,” he said, after a 3-3 draw with Montreal. “I feel gutted for them. They are a group that deserves three points.”
Turns out … he was right.
Turns out, that tie would be a part of a sixgame unbeaten streak, including a 2-1, come-frombehind victory over visiting Colorado Saturday. Turns out, Curtin’s players would begin to play with more speed. And turns out, they would reveal a determination to succeed that few expected to see.
In a city where all the other major-league teams have failed to reach the playoffs, the Union could participate in a second consecutive postseason.
It’s what happens, apparently, when players try as hard as they can … and when a coach insists as much, even when it is not popular.
Honorary degrees always make me stand up and take notice, I’ll tell you that.
Check out the movie “Chuck,” about Chuck Wepner, who once went 14-plus rounds with Muhammad Ali, spilling more blood than a slasher movie. It’s entertaining. Just don’t take it literally.
The film’s theme was that the Rocky series essentially was about Wepner, a heavyweight with the will overachieve against a ring legend.
Ah … OK. Sylvester Stallone has said he used the 1975 Wepner-Ali fight for some inspiration while writing his first Rocky script. But there are major differences in the tales.
Though pop culture will re-cast him as an ordinary fighter plucked out of Jersey to fight Ali, Wepner had already boxed Buster Mathis, (a young) George Foreman, Sonny Liston and Ernie Terrell, who were at some point in their careers legitimate contenders or better. He’d fought several times in that little-known boxing venue known as Madison Square Garden. And he was 30-9-2 and on an eight-bout winning streak before the Ali fight.
So before enjoying “Chuck,” understand the difference between that and “Rocky”: Only one pretended to be something other than fiction.
Speaking of which … get slasher movies?