The Philadelphia 76ers: Plans Dashed?
By Jim James
May 16 2017: The NBA 2017 Draft lottery
The Philadelphia 76ers had the 4th highest odds at the #1 pick, but jumped up to 3rd on the night. This created a conundrum, with Boston 1st and the Sixers wanting to take a man by the name of Markelle Fultz, who scouts reported as “ One of the best shooters ever at his age” and was compared to Kyrie Irving. If the Celtics didn’t take Fultz to be rotating with Isaiah Thomas, then the Lakers, who had the 2nd pick would take him, as they wanted to get some depth and rotate with a developing D’Angelo Russell. The first 2 picks would likely be Fultz and Lonzo Ball, another developing point guard, and the next best point guard was De’Aaron Fox, who is seen as better than both Ball and Fultz now, but looked like a future role player at the time. There was also Jayson Tatum and Josh Jackson, but this season Ben Simmons was coming back into the Sixers’ rotation and was thought to be a Small Forward at the time.
June 19 2017: A Big Trade
After a full month of worrying, 3 days before the NBA Draft, the Boston Celtics traded their 1st pick to the 76ers for their pick and a future protected pick, which meant the Sixers could take Fultz and the Celtics could take an under the radar man, Jayson Tatum, as the Sixers could take Fultz and it was looking more likely by the day that the Lakers would take Lonzo Ball.
June 22 2017: The NBA Draft
The first 3 picks went like this: 76ers: Markelle Fultz, Lakers: Lonzo Ball, and Celtics: Jayson Tatum. But let me talk for a second about Markelle Fultz and reports coming into the league: NBADraft.net compared him to James Harden/D’Angelo Russell. They went on to compare his shooting to that of Kevin Durant’s. They also said that he was one of the most complete guards of the last decade. And that’s a big stretch because Derrick Rose was also drafted in the same Decade, and so was Russ. They also said that he one one of the more consistent players in the Draft. Bump.
July 3 2017: Fultz scores 17 in Summer League Debut
In his first Summer League game, Markelle Fultz scored 17 points, and went 44% from the field in a 89-88 loss to the Boston Celtics who had Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. He also got 23 points in a 94-100 loss to the Utah Jazz, but something seemed wrong. It was a lateral Ankle Sprain, which kept him out the rest of Summer League. In the next 2 games, they were in a 94-86 win vs the Spurs and a 103-102 loss to the eventual champs Lakers in the Bracket Round.
September 10 2017: Brett Brown asked about Fultz
When we hadn’t heard anything about Fultz since Summer League, Brett Brown was asked about Fultz, and he said that indeed he’d been training with his training and he’d been “Looking at some different things with his shot form”. But Fultz said that “He just wanted to try something new”
September 30 2017: Preseason Begins
On September 30 the preseason began and Fultz… didn’t shoot. He was going to the rim and passing. Why? Woj later announced that Fultz had fluid drained from his shoulder and couldn’t raise his arm! Why was he playing? It was later announced that Fultz would be out the rest of the Preseason.
November 13, 20 2017: Fultz announced injured
On November 13 it started to speculate, but on November 20 it was announced the Markelle Fultz was out “indefinitely” with a shoulder injury, later to be announced as Thoracic Outlet syndrome, which is compression in the nerves from the lower neck to armpit. It causes repetitive arm movements. It’s usually seen in people in their late 30s to 40s, not in someone who just turned 19. With the Sixers’ recent draft history, (Ben Simmons injured in rookie year, Joel Embiid nagging injuries until 2018-19), this was not rare, and the Sixers’ medical staff could fix the injury quickly, and the new FEDS (Fultz, Embiid, Dario(Saric), Simmons) were formed. It all went downhill from here.
October 17 2017- June 17 2018: NBA regular season and playoffs
Philly’s first game was a 115-120 loss to the Wizards with Fultz scoring 10, Saric with 3, and Embiid and Simmons both with 18.The Sixers’ second game was a famous one. And it wasn’t because of what the FEDS did that made it famous. Let’s just call it the injury game. They lost 102-92 to the Celtics. Fultz got 6, the least of the FEDS, as Dario got 9 and Simmons and Embiid both got 11 point double-doubles, but Jerryd Bayless was starting over Fultz, and that’s not promising considering that you were the #1 pick. In the next game, the Sixers were torched by the Raptors. Torched I mean… beat by 34. Fultz got only 6 points, 4 of which were free throws, Dario got 9 points, Simmons got 18, and Embiid didn’t even play. The next game was a 97-86 win vs the Detroit Pistons, in which Embiid and Simmons combined to score 51 points, as Fultz and Saric combined to score 9 points. It was announced after the game that Fultz would be out “indefinitely”. He wouldn’t play another minute until March 26 2018, almost 70 games. The Sixers went 41-27, without Fultz. But on April 11 2018, Fultz became the youngest player ever to record a triple double. Then the playoffs came, where Fultz played nothing but scrub time in the first round, a 5 game win vs the Miami Heat. Then came the Celtics, in which they lost in 5 games. And the painful part is they watched Jayson Tatum repeatedly torch them, the man that they traded for Fultz.
June 21 2018: 2018 NBA Draft
The Sixers end up with the 10th pick via Los Angeles and take Mikal Bridges, hoping for him to be the next Donovan Mitchell… well no, he wasn’t, and then immediately traded him to Phoenix, (good job, Elton) but also got Landry Shamet (Who sunk a game winning shot in the playoffs after he got traded), Khyri Thomas ( Who was traded to Detroit) and Ray Spalding (Who was traded to Dallas). So the Sixers didn’t sign any rookies or free agents.
November 12 2018: Sixers trade for Jimmy Butler
The Sixers eliminate one of the FEDS by trading for Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton and giving away Dario Saric, Robert Covington, and Jerryd Bayless. From this point forward it was clear that the Sixers were tired of waiting. They wanted to win now.
February 6 2019: Sixers trade for Tobias Harris
The Sixers make it absolutely clear that they want to win. They trade Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, and Landry Shamet for Harris, Boban Marjanovic, and Mike Scott. They trade the rest of their future for an expiring deal.
February 7 2019: Markelle Fultz says goodbye to Philadelphia
On the trade deadline, the next day Philadelphia trades Markelle Fultz to Orlando for Jonathan Simmons. Not what on June 22 2 years ago we thought Fultz would be traded for. The FEDS era is over with a new BEST quadrio.
May 12 2019: Kawhi and the Raptors spoil the Sixers’ hopes.
With 4 seconds to go, in Game Seven, its tied at 90. Raptors ball, Gasol inbounds to Leonard, runs down to the right part of the 3 point line, shoots, buzzer, 1,2,3,4 bounces, in. The Raptors move on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the 2nd time in franchise history. The Sixers are out. A 2 year story, coming to a close.
Conclusion
That’s the story of the Philadelphia 76ers plans, and having them dashed. Both Butler and Harris are free agents this summer, and might leave. Anyway, that’s my article, and I hoped you enjoyed!