The Sixers are cursed. I don’t know what led us all on to this path, but it happened. The fervent dedication of the Process era that was filled with promises of titles and parades has only been matched by a series of blunders and setbacks, each one more inexplicable than the last. The Sixers, and, sadly, the fan base, have become Wile E. Coyote. No matter the schemes to get this team to a true level of contention, we’re left holding a stick of dynamite as the Road Runner and Eastern Conference Finals appearances dart away.
I’m left wondering if we all tempted fate with the basketball gods when we cheered on the Process. Do I have any regrets? No. Was it the right decision to take tanking to its logical endpoint in a league with an out-0f-whack incentive structure? Of course. Has it delivered the Sixers to the Promised Land? Clearly not. Did we fly too close to the sun? Maybe!
The Sixers, in a vague sense at least, have an MVP, a future Hall of Famer, an in-prime, multiple-time All-Star and a dude set to make the All-Rookie Team. It has culminated in a season that’s had fleeting moments of fun that have neither moved the needle in terms of immediate playoff success nor in terms of true, long-term contention. I remember being home after my freshman year of college when the Sixers hired Sam Hinkie in May 2013. Nearly 13 years later, even with the pure talent, in a vacuum, on this roster, an NBA title feels further away now than it did back then.
No Etsy witch requests nor prayer circles in FDR Park with candles bearing Hinkie’s face can fix that.
It sounds terrible, but a part of me thinks this city just needs a total basketball reboot. It’s obviously not going to happen with a new arena on the way and the market that Philadelphia is, but what if the Sixers moved to, say, Seattle or Las Vegas? Give the city about a half-decade off from the NBA, watch the Big 5 and the WNBA team that’s on the way and then have a do-over with an expansion team. I love the Sixers’ name, logos, history, etc. Would I be willing to trade that away for competent management that this fan base can trust in even if the team had a pathetically generic name like the Philadelphia Flames? Sure, as long as they didn’t do any Boathouse Row-themed uniforms.
There’s no fix for the Sixers right now. There is no way for this fan base to shift the luck that has befallen this franchise for four decades aside from the outlier that was the 2001 campaign. We will endure this for as long as the NBA exists. It sucks, but at least we’re not Wizards fans? That’s the only silver lining I can concoct at the moment.
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