Even the 76ers’ young players want the team to sign some veterans
The Philadelphia 76ers lost on Tuesday. That in and of itself is not especially notable these days, because losing is what they do. It’s a little more notable because their 14-point loss to the visiting Memphis Grizzlies dropped them to 1-29 on the season, which is the worst record through 30 games in NBA history; then again, their loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday made them 1-28, which was the worst 29-game start in NBA history (we see you, 1970-71 Cavs). At this point, when we discuss the historic embarrassment that is this year’s Sixers, we’re really just talking about a matter of degree.
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Granted, some of the Sixers’ screw-ups were particularly noteworthy. I rather enjoyed Philadelphia point guard T.J. McConnell just dribbling straight into the back of Grizzlies reserve Vince Carter, allowing Memphis’ Mike Conley to scoop up the loose ball and run out for a rare fast-break dunk:
Generally speaking, though, the 76ers’ miscues were in keeping with a season-long commitment to throwing the ball seemingly everywhere but to one of their teammates.
“Truly, you can write 28 [Sixers] turnovers for 36 [Grizzlies] points,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said after the game, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “That could be a headline or a single-sentence article. We can all go home, and we can all go finish our Christmas shopping. … You can recite that number as many times as you want. That is the game.”
Some of that owes to strong work by the Grizzlies, who have looked a bit more dangerous defensively since downsizing their lineup by moving Zach Randolph and Tony Allen to the bench in favor of wings Matt Barnes and Courtney Lee. (“I thought the level of defensive pressure that we had, our activity was phenomenal, on the ball, weak side,” Conley said after the game, according to Aaron Bracy of The Associated Press.) Mostly, though, it’s a Philly-specific trend.
As I noted last night, according to Basketball-Reference.com’s Play Index, there have been only seven games thus far this season in which an NBA team has committed 25 or more turnovers, and the Sixers are responsible for four of them, including two against the Grizzlies. Philly has the highest team turnover rate in the NBA by a mile, and gives up nearly 3.5 more points per game off cough-ups than the second-most permissive squad in the league.
Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie had hoped that getting point guards Kendall Marshall and Tony Wroten back from their respective torn ACLs would provide more stability on the ball — or, at least, someone who could capably throw an entry pass to the post — but with neither still-working-his-way-back lead guard cleared to play back-to-backs or having performed exceptionally well early in their returns, there hasn’t exactly been a sea change in the quality of Philly’s possessions.
As the 76ers continue to fumble around and flub things up in their brutal and seemingly inexorable drain-circling, and as Philly brass sets about trying to spruce things up by adding respected basketball people like new chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo and new associate head coach Mike D’Antoni, the team is evidently now planning to try to add a few more grown-ups on the actual court of play. First came the reports about interest inadding greybeards Elton Brand and Shane Battier, the latter of whom retired two summers ago. Now, Philly’s apparently interested in two other vets who haven’t played in the NBA this season:
Head coach Brown confirmed the talks on Tuesday, but suggested nothing major was imminent, according to Matt Haughton of CSNPhilly.com:
“That is true. I think when you go through this period of time, it’s all on the table,” said Brown, who added that the two players also worked out for the team. “It’s always about what’s best for the program. Maybe it’s Jerry Colangelo and bringing in that wisdom. Maybe it’s Mike D’Antoni coming in and helping me. Maybe it’s players that we’re looking at that can form a future that we have a chance to look at. It’s all on the table.”
So are the Sixers close to adding the 10-year veteran Hayes or seven-year player Lucas?
“No, that’s not true,” Brown said. “I think that we’re looking at a lot of things, but to say they will join the team at this stage is not true.”
As CBSSports.com’s James Herbert noted, Philadelphia is currently carrying the maximum 15 players on its roster, meaning that any new additions of veteran players would result in some current Sixer getting cut. And yet, somewhat surprisingly, a couple of 76ers said they’d really like to see some experienced pros brought in to help carry what must feel like an Atlas-level load. More from Pompey of the Inquirer:
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“I think that will be good for us to have any type of veterans,” Nerlens Noel said. “I think [general manager] Sam [Hinkie] is looking into that a little more. . . . You know Chuck Hayes is a big man and I think it’s going to help us.”
Tony Wroten would also welcome the additions.
“We are just trying to do whatever we can to help the team get better and better in the future and the present. So what’s best for the team is what needs to be done.”
Last month, Yahoo Sports senior NBA writer Michael Lee discussed the damaging effect that a lack of veterans can have on young players like Noel and Jahlil Okafor, whose off-court altercations earned him a suspension and earned the 76ers plenty of negative publicity:
The 76ers haven’t had a player older than 25 step on the court this season. Luc Mbah a Moute, now with the Los Angeles Clippers, is the only player older than 27 to appear in at least 20 games the past two seasons. Nearly three dozen NBA players have appeared in more career games than the combined total of the 12 players who have played for Philadelphia this season.Carl Landry is the team’s oldest player at 32 but he has yet to make his season debut, putting too much pressure on Brett Brown and his coaching staff to teach the kids what it takes to be professional.
Philadelphia hasn’t hidden its desire to lose big now to win big later, but it shouldn’t just view veterans as salary-cap holds or a means to acquire more second-round picks. The Minnesota Timberwolves finished with the league’s worst record last season but invested in expediting the development of No. 1 overall pick Karl-Anthony Towns, reigning Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins and fellow first-round pick Zach LaVine by bringing in aging vets Kevin Garnett,Tayshaun Prince and Andre Miller to help serve as examples on and off the court.
Some of Okafor’s peers from the past draft have landed in situations with ready-made, veteran, all-star assistance. D’Angelo Russell is in Los Angeles with Kobe Bryant. Kristaps Porzingis has Carmelo Anthony in New York. Okafor’s Duke former teammate, Justise Winslow, has Dwyane Wade in Miami. Okafor has … Robert Covington? Isaiah Canaan? Kendall Marshall?
While none of the names mentioned here seem likely to make a major difference for the Sixers’ fortunes on the court, it does seem possible that long-tenured veterans like Brand, Battier, Hayes and Lucas could show the Sixers’ roster full of inexperienced young players how to conduct themselves professionally and adapt to the less glamorous elements of being an NBA player without commanding the kind of minutes or touches that would meaningfully detract from the opportunities that young players need to develop.
This could represent a modest compromise between the All Youth Everything approach that Hinkie has taken with “The Process” over the past few years and the screams from those who want Philly to scrap its radical rebuilding strategy because, as it turns out, being a fan of a respectable-enough NBA team with no path to a championship might not have been demonstrably worse than rooting for one that almost literally never wins.
At this point …
… even the young guys seem to think that adding some boring old guys who know how to work wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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