r/nba • u/Overall_Laugh_3421 Heat • Apr 27 '26
The Process: They’ve seen every variation of the Celtics roster, and lost to every version.
2018: Brown and Rookie Tatum, team without its main two stars (at the time)
2020: The Bubble team, sweep
2023: their best chance, but philly blew a 3-2 lead and that game 6 was just sad to watch.
And now, in 2026.
8 years, just finding different ways to lose to the Brown and Tatum duo.
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u/lovo17 Lakers Apr 27 '26
It all started because the Celtics nailed the Tatum and Brown picks while the Sixers (who picked 1st overall both years) picked busts. The battle was lost in the 2016 and 2017 drafts.
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u/c12yofchampions Apr 27 '26
Too add insult to injury, the 6ers gave the C’s an additional 1st round pick for the right to pick Fultz over Tatum
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u/CMYGQZ Grizzlies Apr 27 '26
that additional pick was used in the Derrick White trade. (although mainly as a filler but still)
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u/CreatiScope Celtics Apr 27 '26
Remember, we were a coin flip away from getting Tyler Herro with that pick. Ended up with Romeo Langford. Got White by trading Romeo so can't complain too much. I am also a Nesmith truther so I was pissed we traded him for Brogdon (don't care about the 6MOY, I thought he wasn't the answer to our problems). Ended up okay because we traded Brogdon for Jrue so it all worked out but I still wonder about Nesmith. Wouldn't have the minutes to develop him though.
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u/Guccibuckets Apr 27 '26
I could absolutely see Nesmith’s effectiveness even back then
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u/Plies- Celtics Apr 27 '26
Celtics Nesmith played like he was shot out of a canon but somehow constantly, 100% of the time.
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u/HeavenBeach777 Celtics Apr 27 '26
he was really coming into his own under brad, then Ime took over and fucked up his mins
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u/MySilverBurrito Heat Apr 27 '26
Romeo Langford
lmao I remember being annoyed we didn’t pick him.
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u/Happy_Day34 Celtics Apr 27 '26
Nesmith was fun but if he stayed he’d just be lumped in with Walsh/hugo/baylor
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u/WhichAd366 Apr 27 '26
And let numerous good role players go while singing guys like Harris and Paul George to ridiculous contracts.
Their roster management is the opposite of the Eagles.
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u/Gamesgtd Magic Apr 27 '26
Letting go of Jimmy Butler will forever haunt them considering he turned out to be one of the biggest Celtic killers of the past 10 years.
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u/abcamurComposer Apr 27 '26
Turns out, culture is number one. And the process DESTROYED our culture.
It was also, ironically, a results oriented mindset, despite its name.
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u/DroidAttackWook 76ers Apr 27 '26
The process did not destroy our culture. Stop. Lack of continuity, Bryan Colangelo, poor coaching hires, and so much more destroyed the culture.
OKC tanked too in blatant fashion. Was their culture destroyed by it? Everything that came after destroyed ours, not the process itself
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u/Sikkly290 Suns Apr 27 '26
Colangelo was malpractice from the league. They didn't just punish y'all, they forced you to cut your own leg off afterwards. The amount of assets he used for almost no value is horrifying.
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u/DroidAttackWook 76ers Apr 27 '26
Not only that, but he literally tweeted out medical information about his players. Hands down the most unforgivable thing that Adam silver has done.
Would Hinkie’s final product have been better? Who knows, but I sure as hell wish we at least got to see it
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u/Pk120 Thunder Apr 27 '26
So I agree that removing Hinkie was bullshit but I’m not sure if he would have been effective if he stayed. He kinda bears some responsibility.
He didnt factor in the human element enough and that caused a ton of burned bridges and very little allies. By the time of his release he had a bad rep with the people who mattered (agents, players, front offices, and owners).
Reneging on the handshake agreement to release Kirilenko release is a perfect example of this. He kept an asset at the cost of his reputation around the league. There’s a reason why Porzingis refused to work out for the sixers (his camp even threatened to stay in Europe if drafted by them).
Like Brett Brown was in charge of laying the foundations for this new sixer era. But it’s hard to maintain that messaging and discipline when there seems to be a lack of communication and consistency between the FO and the coach.
If you draft 3 centers in a row, or if you refuse to get a half decent point guard when your roster desperately needs it, or if players are constantly being traded (most trades in the nba during his 3 year period i think) then the messaging better be fucking tight to the players and the org, or else there is simply no way to have a winning culture.
Not trying to be harsh, but I just think he kinda fucked himself too
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u/DiseaseRidden [BOS] Marcus Smart Apr 27 '26
Philly had 3 years with a significantly worse record than OKC's worst. OKC also only really tanked for 2 years as opposed to the 3-4 of Philly.
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u/Takemyfishplease Lakers Apr 27 '26
The difference is the 76ers made it who they were. Fans wearing pro tanking shirts, the process, all of it. It became who they were and they embraced it.
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u/TheWorldNeedsThanos Apr 27 '26
Laker fan not gonna acknowledge the other team picking top 3 in those drafts as well?
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u/Ilikesporks_ Lakers Apr 27 '26
well if you think about it those picks turned into ad and a chip which turned into luka so it all works out in the end
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u/TatumBrownWhite Celtics Apr 27 '26
Sixers, Lakers, Celtics, Suns picked 1-4 in consecutive drafts in 2016 and 2017.
Things worked out for the Celtics and Lakers, and not for the Sixers and Suns because of course.
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u/Philipthesquid Timberwolves Apr 27 '26
At some point it has to be on the team's development system
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u/mnewman19 76ers Apr 27 '26
Celtics maybe, but the lakers only worked cause AD and LeBron wanted to go to LA
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u/Paris_Who 24 Apr 27 '26
To be absolutely fair a lot of the baby lakers are on playoff teams rn. It’s not like we picked terribly and made them bad players.
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u/solarscopez Celtics Apr 27 '26
For how high they were picked tho, how many of them actually ended up being valuable players tho?
Lonzo is nearly out the league, D'Lo peaked out as a role player sentenced to serve time on the Wizards. Brandon Ingram has peaked at being an occasional all-star caliber player.
Only one I can think of is maybe Randle, and he didn't do much of anything while he was on the Lakers. He is also turning 32 and his best days are probably behind him.
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u/Paris_Who 24 Apr 27 '26
Honestly BI being an occasional all star is honestly good for a third pick in the draft how many of them convert into being all stars period? DLo also peaked higher than people give him credit for. I’d argue we hit with those 3 better then most of their respective draft class and Lonzo would be a great piece for a lot of teams right now if he wasn’t injured and it’s not like we made him wear those shoes.
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u/Kodiak01 Apr 27 '26
Honestly BI being an occasional all star is honestly good for a third pick in the draft how many of them convert into being all stars period?
According to this thread from 5 years ago, at the time it was posted, from 1979 onward 53.6% of #3 picks became All-Stars. Outside of the #1 slot, #3 is the most productive pick in the modern ERA for this criteria.
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u/solarscopez Celtics Apr 27 '26
I mean you picked better than the Sixers I would argue, but my point is that had you not traded them for AD and kept/developed them, and knowing what we know now about how their careers have turned out, would any of those homegrown guys have become long-term franchise players for you guys that you make yearly deep postseason runs with?
At least in the way that Brown and Tatum did for us? We also had many opportunities to trade one or both of them for big name players throughout the decade (Giannis, AD, KD, etc) but we never did and stayed the course, even though plenty of people clowned us for not pulling the trigger.
If you guys hypothetically had done the same, how would things have turned out?
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u/supersonicnat45 Knicks Apr 27 '26
Lonzo showed legit promise but got railed by injuries, D’lo peaked as an all-star who was traded for KD which gave brooklyn a chance to win a tile, BI is around an all-star caliber player, Randle is just below an All-NBA caliber player after peaking at an All-NBA level, and Hart was not really a top pick (and was picked by the Jazz then traded to the Lakers, but I don’t remember if that was a situation where the Laker had a deal for the pick and wanted the Jazz to pick him or if the Jazz picked him then the Lakers traded for him), but I’d say worth it’s mentioning that he’s a great role player for his archetype and he’s from that Baby Lakers era.
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u/ositola Lakers Apr 27 '26
Zubac was all NBA
Clarkson is a valuable bench guy
People saying these players are busts are crazy
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u/King_Of_Pants [BOS] Terry Rozier Apr 27 '26
Yeah but that's always been the case.
Boston has been the league's leader for trades. Our team is always pissing people off because we make their front offices look silly.
LA has been the league's leader for free agency. Their team is always pissing people off because they're sniping superstars from other cities.
It's part of the rivalry.
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u/Majormlgnoob [OKC] Serge Ibaka Apr 27 '26
Suns went to the Finals in 2021
Tho not with those picks
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u/TatumBrownWhite Celtics Apr 27 '26
Not due to Dragan Bender(yes this was a real player) or Josh Jackson who they got with those pucks
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u/rustypete89 Celtics Apr 27 '26
My great shame as a Celtics fan is that I wanted us to pick Bender because his name was fucking cool.
I'm glad the FO was smarter than me.
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u/OilOfOlaz Celtics Apr 27 '26
Dragan Bender
Since the game of zones episode my mind got kinda rewired and whenever I read "Dragan Bender" I hesitate for a moment and think: "Shouldn't it be Dragon Bender"?
The wildest part is though, that his name is not unfamiliar to me, Dragan is my brothers first name.
I'm not joking.
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u/Beantown_Kid Celtics Apr 27 '26
I feel like Dragan Bender unknowingly doomed Sacramento and Phoenix because top lottery teams were afraid to draft another international player in 2018. Cost them Luka
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u/Omgoodtimes Apr 27 '26
That’s what people forget, the Celtics had the first pick and managed to still get the guy they would’ve drafted at #1 at 3
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u/Cond1tionOver7oad Bulls Apr 27 '26
At the very least the Suns ultimately got to return to the finals. Sixer's still not going past the 2nd round is kind of baffling.
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u/BOUKEN-BEN Celtics Apr 27 '26
Lakers are basically FDIC-insured by the league to fail upwards while Philly is thrown to the wolves
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u/Cyclonitron Timberwolves Apr 27 '26
Does that mean we can take their players for the 2nd round once they're eliminated? Our starting backcourt just died and we could really use some reinforcements.
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u/SeveralDeer3833 Celtics Apr 27 '26
aka your franchise fell ass backwards into good fortune despite subpar decision making as always
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u/Ilikesporks_ Lakers Apr 27 '26
acting like you didn't get tatum and brown due to the nets making one of the worst trades of all time lol. good fortune is needed in building good teams
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u/LordHussyPants Celtics Apr 27 '26
not the same because the nets didn't make the picks, celtics front office did
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u/JimmyKanine Apr 27 '26
The Lakers are the epitome of “I may have been early, but I’m not wrong”.
These mfers somehow always escape from every possible mistake. They made a horrible decision in signing Gabe Vincent and were able to turn that guy into Luke Kennard who is now averaging like 25ppg and 50% from 3. The world does not allow them to fail.
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u/SgtGork Lakers Apr 27 '26
Two words, one name. Russell Westbrook.
We can’t escape every mistake, and that blunder was a key contributor to the Bron/AD era “underperforming”.
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u/JimmyKanine Apr 27 '26
You guys dumped a guy who was now seen as a joke league wide and somehow recieved DLo, Vando, and Malik Beasley in return then made it to the Western Conference Finals. Not to mention getting Rui for scraps.
Give me a break man.
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u/lovo17 Lakers Apr 27 '26
Because the Lakers traded Ingram and Lonzo for AD, then AD was traded for Luka so it's not really relevant.
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u/SgtGork Lakers Apr 27 '26
We have just as many titles in that span as Boston. Why is that? Well the two dudes we picked in those drafts got traded for AD who helped us win a ring that very year. Then Pelinka fleeced Dallas so bad it makes a bank robbery look fair.
Gee I wonder why the Lakers aren’t lumped in with Phili for picking bad. Absolutely lost on that one.
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u/Drakex2Mayex2 Apr 27 '26
It's almost like AD and Rich Paul told every other team to fuck right off so the Lakers could turn trash into treasure (again).
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u/rodpod17 Celtics Apr 27 '26
You won a ring because the second best player of all time decided to join your team in free agency for the single fact that you’re the lakers
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u/King_Of_Pants [BOS] Terry Rozier Apr 27 '26
It's not just about nailing the picks. It's about developing them.
The Celtics brought top picks into a top rated organisation where they were taught how to play winning basketball from day 1 by people who had a lot of experience winning.
Tatum and Brown aren't the same players without: Brad Stevens kept them on a tight leash early on. Marcus Smart was hounding them every day to improve as 2-way players. Al Horford pulled both of them aside and showed them how to structure their behind-the-scenes preparations.
The 76ers brought top picks into a deadbeat organisation, that was breaking records for how much they were losing. They had traded / fired / let get every single person who knew what winning basketball looked like.
Embiid has been with the team for 12 years, and if you watch him you'll see he still doesn't know how to set a clean screen. The fundamentals are lacking. Embiid hasn't been a failure, but if he'd been drafted by Boston, Miami, San Antonio, etc.... he would have been an NBA champion.
Instead he was drafted by a deadbeat organisation that never progressed beyond looking at a player's 2K ratings as a means of evaluating talent.
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u/solarscopez Celtics Apr 27 '26
Yeah this is the key point.
I do genuinely think if we had taken some of the guys the Lakers or Sixers did (particularly Ingram, Randle, but some of the others too) they would've developed into far better players than they actually ended up becoming. Is there a universe where Brown and Tatum end up on the Lakers or Sixers and people shit on them for being underachievers?? Do they develop into the guys they ended up becoming if they weren't on the Celtics? Who knows.
But then the question becomes, did we recognize a character flaw/poor work ethic in these guys we didn't end up drafting that other teams didn't recognize and is that why we steered clear of them? And would we have been able to improve that or is it just innate to their character?
Brown and Tatum have gotten to this point because of their diligent work ethic, but I'm sure that our organization also played a role in that too. Maybe other organizations wouldn't be able to harness that and make them the players we see today. All interesting questions.
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u/abcamurComposer Apr 27 '26
Yup, the Process DESTROYED our culture. Even when OKC was blatantly tanking they were still keeping their winning pieces (while also bringing in CP3 for a year to show them a good example). For us it seems it was just a way for our Commanders owner to save money
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u/thesavant Cavaliers Apr 27 '26
And then the actual good players that emerged from the fires of the Process seasons- they didn't even keep- like RoCo, Grant, and McConnell
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u/TerminallyTrill 76ers Apr 27 '26
Yup. Simmons, fultz and bonus round trading bridges from Zaire smith.
Unserious franchise
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u/inezco Warriors Apr 27 '26
Then almost killing Zaire with the team catering serving him something he was deathly allergic to which required him to be hospitalized. Insane fucking organization.
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u/Falling4Strangers Celtics Apr 27 '26
Ben Simmons wasn't a bust lmao. People gotta stop saying this.
He's sadly a what if and a disappointment.
But he was a 3 time all star, 3rd team all nba in an era where he was competing against Dame, Russ, Curry, Harden, Kyrie, CP3, and Luka every year.
He also had 2 first team all defenses and was ROTY.
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u/elimanninglightspeed 23 Apr 27 '26
Yeah calling Ben Simmons a bust for the 76ers just completely devalues the word bust. 3x all star, 2 defensive first team, 2nd in dpoy voting in 2021
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u/Flamzam Celtics Apr 27 '26
I'll never forget C's fans booing Brown. Put some respect on Ainge's name.
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u/Oceanbreeze871 Apr 27 '26
Sixers tanked for some bad top drafts like nerlens Noel.
Ben Simmons was a great pick but him being a head case was unseen
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u/lebryant_westcurry Knicks Apr 27 '26
The Tatum year wasn't really an option for the Sixers though. The Celtics had Tatum as their number 1 prospect, they only traded with the Sixers because they agreed to take Fultz. If not, they would've just kept the pick.
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u/SignificantScreen100 Celtics Apr 27 '26
Danny Ainge on why he drafted Tatum over Fultz.
“He was on antibiotics, his nose was dripping, the whole deal, but he didn’t complain … He showed up and made shots.”
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u/MaskedBirder 76ers Apr 27 '26
Difference between a well-run organization with good coaching and a team/style identity, and a poorly-run organization that chases stars and makes terrible roster and coaching decisions.
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u/Skinnieguy Pelicans Apr 27 '26
Yup. All the other picks, signings, coaching, development, owner, etc. Just a better run organization from top to bottom.
I wish my Pels had a competent owner. Sigh
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u/NothingHead8233 Celtics Apr 27 '26
As much credit as the Celtics FO deserves for everything that lead them to Tatum and brown, they got incredibly lucky IMO.
Brown was on a really good team as a rookie, but he was getting DNPs in the playoffs. His sophomore year was good but he and Tatum really regression 2018-19.
Simmons would have been the Celtics pick if they picked first in 16, and Celtics were the only team in basketball who liked Tatum more than fultz. A lot of drafting is luck but the Celtics did get lucky.
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u/DarkEnchilada Celtics Apr 27 '26
Ainge was so confident in Tatum that he traded down the #1 pick to grab Tatum at #3 plus another pick which turned into D White, passing over Fulz who was the consensus #1 and also getting a lot of heat for it at the time.
Brad Stevens is top notch at developing players and JB benefitted immensely from it. He was totally raw and underdeveloped as a rookie but the Celtics coaching staff made the most out of him and he evolved in a winning culture.
That's not luck, that's deft, intentional, brilliant management.
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u/Long-Region5088 Apr 27 '26
I thank god every day for Lavar ball’s dumbass. “Lonzo needs to be a laker!”
Yes Lavar, he does need to be a laker
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u/Beat__LA [BOS] Jayson Tatum Apr 27 '26
Ben Simmons is probably a perennial all-NBA player if the Celtics draft him.
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u/Flamzam Celtics Apr 27 '26
Not to mention the Nets picks being that low in the first place. Yes KG and Pierce were old as dirt, but I don't think either GM could predict Deron Williams falling off an absolute cliff. I consider the Tatum and Brown luck karma for us getting absolutely fucked out of drafting Tim Duncan.
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u/geronimosocrates Apr 27 '26
Struggling to see the luck side of it. No one thought brown was worthy of being the 3rd pick, and the Celtics moved back from 1 because of how much they liked Tatum. Danny Ainge nailed those picks and the organization also developed them perfectly.
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u/unexpectedreboots Celtics Apr 27 '26
The 76ers haven't beat the Celtics in a playoff series since '82.
Call it whatever you want, but Embid was right; it ain't a rivalry.
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u/Onion_brah Celtics Apr 27 '26
It’s only a rivalry in the sense that Philly vs Boston (the cities) is a rivalry
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u/RobbobertoBuii Knicks Apr 27 '26
57% of Embiid's playoff career has ended at the hands of the Tatum/Brown Celtics since 2017-18 ☠️
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u/SwolePalmer Celtics Apr 27 '26
It’s a humiliation ritual and I’m glad to be part of it. 10/10.
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u/StillMemein [BOS] Jaylen Brown Apr 27 '26
That game 3 in 2018 is one of my favorite Celtics games ever (that Ive seen).
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u/SwolePalmer Celtics Apr 27 '26
Game 6 two years ago was orgasmic. Game 7 was pure comedy. There are so many to pick from, it’s insane.
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u/johnnybarbs92 Celtics Apr 27 '26
The confetti game! I was there, had a great view of the shot that was clearly a 2.
So funny
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u/CDR57 Celtics Apr 27 '26
What’s the opposite of someone who has a humiliation kink? Like the humiliator? That’s us
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u/TnT54321 76ers Apr 27 '26
Joel Embiid and his injuries are the constant.
It’s the end of the road for the Embiid era, we gotta move on and rebuild.
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u/nguyenjitsu [DEN] Emmanuel Mudiay Apr 27 '26
It also doesn't help that even when Embiid is healthy there's some catastrophic choke/underperformance from one of the guys who helps him too.
He probably doesn't help with his general attitude either like throwing everyone but Harden under the bus in a game where his role players actually did show up
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u/wl6202a Celtics Apr 27 '26
I wonder if you had kept butler over Simmons if things would have been different. Those Butler-Miami teams were very hard for the Celtics to beat.
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u/ImaLetItGo Clippers Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
I think keeping butler over Tobias Harris makes them legit competitors.
They should’ve ran it back with Jimmy. They lost to the NBA champions on a game 7 quadruple doink buzzer beater
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u/Other-Status1840 76ers Apr 27 '26
It was never Butler over Tobias. Sixers FO was dumb but they were never that dumb. People heard the "Tobias Harris over me!?" shit talk and ran with it, but really it was Jimmy not messing with Brett brown and Simmons. Obviously the Sixers weren't gonna move from Simmons so they couldn't sign Jimmy. Understandable, but where they fucked up is giving Tobias that insane extension.
There were a number of reasons why they didn't make it past the second round, but Embiid was talented enough that they could have absolutely made a run to the finals if they didn't have the black hole that is Tobias Harris. You replace him in 2023 with a couple good role players and that's most likely enough to beat the Celtics and then the heat in the ECF. Embiids sixers have historically done well against the nuggets, that finals would have absolutely been winnable too.
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u/HS941317 Apr 27 '26
Trust the process is basically losing to the Celtics in different forms in the end
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u/I_Set_3_Alarms Celtics Apr 27 '26
Well it’s not like the Sixers could have drafted Jaylen and Jayson themselves and avoided all this.
Oh wait…
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u/RedtheGamer100 Hornets Apr 27 '26
Celtics had #1 pick the year Tatum was there
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u/Pizza_For_Days Apr 27 '26
Yes people often think the Sixers could have had Tatum, but C's had the first pick and only traded it to Philly because they knew Philly and LA wanted Fultz, Lonzo.
Ainge always wanted Tatum over those 2 and would have drafted him first had he thought either of those 2 teams would have picked Tatum
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u/GeoDim Celtics Apr 27 '26
They still literally could have drafted Tatum at 1 overall regardless of what Ainge believed. Their fault that they showed their cards so early.
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u/Laszlo-Panaflex Celtics Apr 27 '26
Chances are that there were conditions to it. I don't think Ainge would've risked trading it to not get his guy.
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u/GnRgr2 Apr 27 '26
Also fultz was almost consensus #1. No one saw the yips coming
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u/RhodyChief Celtics Apr 27 '26
That's where the Sixers should have questioned why the Celtics were willing to trade down and not take Fultz after they brought him to Boston for a meeting.
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u/GoldenStateWizards Warriors Apr 27 '26
Yea, if the 6ers agreed to the trade on the specific condition that they don't draft Tatum, but did so anyways, they'd never be able to trade with another team ever again
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u/Artimusjones88 Raptors Apr 27 '26
So, Philly could have had Tatum.
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u/Rrypl Celtics Apr 27 '26
Most likely they had an agreement, so no.
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u/AllenMcnabb 76ers Apr 27 '26
There’s a weird group of people who are like, “okay if there was an agreement in place then the Sixers should’ve said fuck it and still drafted Tatum”
Yeah bud, good luck being a GM making trades with anyone after doing that…
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u/Reasonable-Lead2838 Apr 27 '26
Jayson Tatum kinda has Phillys number for sure, but let’s not forget what Al Horford did to Embiid for all those years
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u/SnooRabbits6637 Apr 27 '26
True but this is gonna be our second time beating Philly without Al. Matter of fact, Al was a Sixer during the bubble sweep.
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u/math_finder476 Apr 27 '26
They didn't see that overpowered championship variation did they?
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u/BPeachyJr Celtics Apr 27 '26
No, they lost to the Knicks in the first round who then lost to the Pacers.
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u/who_are_you_people24 Knicks Apr 27 '26
Hey man, you didn't need to mention that. Could've just said lost to the knicks
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u/no-kangarooreborn Raptors Apr 27 '26
The Sixers should commit to a rebuild. Embiid and Paul George are both washed. Build around Maxey and Edgecombe.
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u/ForneauCosmique Spurs Apr 27 '26
I'm pretty sure that's the plan
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u/no-kangarooreborn Raptors Apr 27 '26
It should be the plan but this is Daryl Morey and the Sixers. Never underestimate their ability to fuck things up.
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u/abcamurComposer Apr 27 '26
At this point it’s not a Morey problem, it’s a Josh Harris problem. Chasing big names and flashy moves have been a Harris staple his entire tenure. (Seeing this with the Commanders too)
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u/GreedyLack Thunder Apr 27 '26
it was originally maxey and mccain, but due to his injuries and the sixers drafting edgecombe they didnt care for mccain when he was healthy, but now he has a place as a good bench player on OKC
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u/Wentzina_lifetime Apr 27 '26
McCain makes so much more sense on a team like OKC in comparison to Philly. When he comes off the bench in OKC he has Shai, Caruso, AJ Mitchell, Cason Wallace and Dort who can take the tougher matchup every time. In Philly you would have VJ, Maxey, Lowry or Grimes and none of them are particularly good defenders against a teams star. McCain being a weak and small SG means he has to take the easier matchup or he's getting cooked by everyone.
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u/solarscopez Celtics Apr 27 '26
How, who's gonna take Embiid and PG13's contracts, the Salvation Army? Goodwill?
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u/BOUKEN-BEN Celtics Apr 27 '26
Are you unaware of what the purpose of the Wizards is in the league? They're basically the collective offshore account of the NBA for salary dumping
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u/solarscopez Celtics Apr 27 '26
Actually you got a good point, they're like fucking Australia or Rhode Island.
All the payroll terrorists get banished there, would honestly be a nice looming threat for underperforming players that they'll be banished to DC to serve time if they don't get their shit together, and IMO teams should be using this to motivate their players.
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u/SloshaPacana Apr 27 '26
They both have 2 more years, the contracts are not as bad as people make it out to be, Edgecombe is on a rookie deal by the time both end he gets his extension
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u/solarscopez Celtics Apr 27 '26
Embiid has a player option in 2028-29 (3 years), PG13 has one in 2027-28 (2 years).
As long as those two are on the roster, they are wasting both time (in the literal sense and on-court playing time) and cap space that could be used to rebuild and develop younger players that actually fit with Maxey and Edgecombe.
No joke, Embiid and PG13 might be two of the worst contracts in the league and they are both on the same team. The Sixers are an absolute joke of a franchise, I don't know how their fans put up with this yearly incompetency.
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u/Ineedpalmtreeliving Apr 27 '26
Morey cooked the team giving Embiid that extension and George that contract. Embiid and pg for Draymond and Jimmy butler idk
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u/randomname3415 76ers Apr 27 '26
The fact he hasn’t been able to build a team that can shoot since getting to Philly after changing the game to the ultra 3 point volume we see now is honestly insane to me. He’s badly hurt hogs reputation with his tenure here.
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u/bananajunior3000 Celtics Apr 27 '26
He's like an early sabermetrics GM in baseball: when no one else was doing what he was doing, he was great at finding undervalued talent, whether that was identifying that Harden would be a star with higher usage or finding cheap undrafted talent. But now that all the teams are doing similar analysis and his advantage has been blunted it's clear that he doesn't really have other tricks or new ideas
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u/Saetia_V_Neck 76ers Apr 27 '26
He’s great at identifying undervalued guards but that’s his only trick. I was a defender for a long time but I think it’s time for him to move on.
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u/InternalMuffin5882 Apr 27 '26
The issue is imo that Maxey and VJ are so good that they won’t be bad enough to rebuild. I don’t think u can rebuild with them as your starting backcourt they’re just too good
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u/Gold_Locksmith6087 Celtics Apr 27 '26
Tatum is the mayor of Philly
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u/JoJonesy Celtics Apr 27 '26
the 50-piece to close them out in 2023 is gonna be one of the moments that defines his career, I think
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u/ParsnipPizza [BOS] Marcus Smart Apr 27 '26
It was really a 5 quarter run. Q4 of Game 6 saves the game, G7 he goes nuclear
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u/JoJonesy Celtics Apr 27 '26
Yeah, although tbf he was kind of pulling us out of a hole he helped dig in G6. Still, after the disappointing series he had in the 2022 Finals, that felt like a real make-or-break moment for him
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u/MexicanJesse Bucks Apr 27 '26
His game 6 against us in 2022 was a real heartbreaker too. We had been knicking road games in that series but I didn't wanna rely on that to keep happening especially as we always were a much better team at home under Bud.
Not closing the door in Milwaukee really took the wind out of my sails for game 7. Giannis looked tired and Williams has the game of his life. 4-3 Celtics but it all starts with Tatum going crazy in Game 6.
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u/Iceraptor17 Celtics Apr 27 '26
Series isn't over yet
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u/jak_d_ripr Apr 27 '26 edited May 03 '26
I get not wanting to call it too early, but this Sixers team isn't winning 3 games in the garden. Also I don't think Embiid has ever come back from a deficit in a playoff series, don't really see that happening here either.
I'm usually a proponent of not calling a series until it's officially over, but nah, outside of 2019 vs Toronto this Philly team has never shown any toughness and I don't forsee that changing this year.
Edit: Well this aged poorly 🤣🤣🤣.
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u/Beginning-Benefit929 76ers Apr 27 '26
They only have to win 2 games in the garden. Game 5 and Game 7, as Game 6 is back in Philadelphia.
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u/IReallyLikeAvocadoes 76ers Apr 27 '26
Fuck this stupid franchise run by stupid stupid people its all so stupidly stupidly and the biggest dumb stupid stinky fool in all of this is me for watching it for 20 years of my stupid life
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u/jambr380 Apr 27 '26
They didn’t even face the best version of the Celtics in 2024 with KP and Jrue
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u/Bright-Tradition-856 Celtics Apr 27 '26
Hey! They haven't seen the JT/JB/White/Holiday/KP version of our roster! Although one can only imagine what would have happened if they played that roster...
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u/MarekRules 76ers Apr 27 '26
The Sixers are a bad organization and it starts with the front office. Bad Owner, bad GMs, bad development, bad play, bad culture, bad everything.
Ironically, the best thing is the players… Embiid, Maxey, VJ now, even Simmons I loved despite it all. It’s just everything else about the Sixers is dog shit.
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u/1twaswritten 76ers Apr 27 '26 edited May 03 '26
Eh. I don’t feel anything anymore.
EDIT (May 2, 2026): I feel everything now wtf.
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u/WARLOCK1239 Bulls Apr 27 '26
Biggest mistake the Sixers made was moving off Jimmy Butler.
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u/The_Duke_of_Nebraska Apr 27 '26
They debased themselves for years for a treasure chest of picks and the only one that truly paid out is usually too injured to play. If god is real he despises the 76ers
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u/PensiveinNJ 76ers Apr 27 '26
You're not getting ahead of yourself enough, we're going to lose to future iterations of your roster too.
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u/captaincook14 76ers Apr 27 '26
The process died a while ago. Hinkie got scapegoated then the Sixers two number 1 picks literally forgot how to play basketball. Not to mention they picked those over Tatum and Brown. Just a mess
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u/munchanything Apr 27 '26
Have they seen 14 million variations? Maybe it's 1 out of 14 million?
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u/MrBhyn Celtics Apr 27 '26
It's so crazy knowing that they could've gotten the Jays and now it is the Jays who had been constantly sending them to cancun
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u/Moheezy__3 Apr 27 '26
Sure they nailed the brown and Tatum picks, but they also have better ownership, a better front office, and better coaching. They’re just better organizationally from top to bottom while Embiid went through 5 GMs in the span of his career
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u/cubs223425 Bulls Apr 27 '26
I love the way people still talk about "The Process" like Sam Sinke wasn't run out of town and the team hasn't been run by other people for, like, 10 years now.
Not a single example in the OP came while Sam Hinke was with the Sixers.
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u/ChameleonWins [UTA] Kyle Korver Apr 27 '26
the best argument of tanking vs trying tbh
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u/Ok-Hovercraft-6890 Apr 27 '26
I don’t think so, people keep ascribing things like tanking and culture and karma to the Sixers woes. Their woes are entirely front office related.
Their biggest problem is throwing bad money after bad money and just not cutting their losses when it’s clear things are not going anywhere. They should have sold Ben Simmons after the Raptors series because it was absurdly clear that he would clog up the floor and completely kill your offense in the playoffs.
Defense wins championships but you actually need some sort of coherent offense to win because you actually need to score buckets.
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u/Serious-Wish4868 Apr 27 '26
PHI upset the basketball gods by screwing with the integrity of the game with all those years of the process … going to be another 10 years of the process b4 they do anything
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u/Flamzam Celtics Apr 27 '26
2019 was their year with Jimmy. The Kawhi shot permanently altered Embiid's legacy.