‘You guys wanna see a dead body?’ The slow death of the Philadelphia 76ers’ Process era

“You guys wanna see a dead body?”

Old heads remember that scene in Stand By Me, four boys hike through the Oregon wilderness to find the body of a dead boy. They walk for miles for the morbid prize of seeing something that can’t be unseen. When they finally arrive and stand over the body, nobody says a word. There’s nothing left to say.

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That is what it feels like to be a Philadelphia 76ers fan.

You guys wanna see a dead body?

Here it is. Right here on the hardwood of the Xfinity Mobile Arena, swept in four games by the New York Knicks, getting beaten by 30 points in the finale, in an arena colonized by enemy fans. “The Process” – capital T, capital P, the grand basketball philosophy that was supposed to redeem a franchise and a generation of suffering fans – is dead. It has been dead for a while, actually. We’ve just been too stubborn and too sentimental to admit it.

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When The Process’s architect, Sam Hinkie, took over as 76ers general manager in May 2013, the 76ers were in purgatory. Hinkie’s diagnosis was correct: the middle of the standings is the worst place to rot. His prescription was ruthless tanking, draft capital accumulation, asset hoarding. All analytically sound and, in a narrow sense, successful. He delivered Joel Embiid. He delivered the framework that would eventually produce Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.

But broaden it out and Hinkie’s vision failed. In the 13 years since he rolled up in Philly, the team have failed to reach the Conference finals, let alone win a title. The corpse of The Process was wheeled out to face the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs, Weekend at Bernie’s style.

The modern NBA title contender needs athleticism, perimeter versatility, switchable defenders who can guard one through five, and above all, youth.

Current Sixers general manager Daryl Morey has built the opposite. He stockpiled aging, injury-prone max-contract stars and surrounded them with buyout-bin veterans, undrafted role players, and whatever Quentin Grimes is….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/guys-wanna-see-dead-body-190428099.html

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Publish date : 2026-05-11 19:04:00

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