ORLANDO — When Jimmy Butler was announced for his first ever game in a 76ers uniform there was a loud roar throughout the Magic arena. This may have been a road game, but it sure didn’t sound like it in that moment. Butler was the prize acquisition for the 76ers in a recent trade that got him his wish of finally getting out of Minnesota. Reports later said that he was all in on the 76ers and is expected to sign a new contract with his new team at the end of the season. The Sixers believe their championship window is open. They’re going all in.
As the crowd roared for Butler an air filled the Orlando arena. It’s not uncommon for opposing fans to take over the Magic’s arena during player introductions. The Magic have been at the bottom for years. The Sixers were a playoff team last season. Winning teams take over losing arenas. It’s just still odd to see the Sixers as the ones taking over. It wasn’t that long ago that nobody came to see them. They were too pathetic to watch.
“The life we have lived in Philadelphia from being 1-30.” Sixers coach Brett Brown said. “To go through different things with our draft picks and injuries…But the foundation we’ve been able to build and grow in a culture. That doesn’t happen in pro sports. Not when you’re 1-30. And so you know when you say, do you ever think ‘have you arrived?’ Of course you do. Of course you do.”
The Sixers have certainly made it. No longer a perennial bottom feeder to the rest of the NBA, Philadelphia is for the first time in a long time transitioning into something bigger. For years the Sixers were patiently building through “The Process” and it came with plenty growing pains and criticism. A 10-win season. A rotating door for a roster. Trade after trade shipping off players for the promise of future assets.
The architect of “The Process” Sam Hinkie was eventually removed in what was essentially the NBA telling them they had to start trying. At their lowest points, it didn’t seem like it was worth all the pain. Then last season happened.
The Sixers were ahead of schedule. Just adding young talent isn’t enough to win in the NBA. That talent needs time to develop and grow into something. Ben Simmons, after sitting out a year, was an instant success once on the NBA court. Joel Embiid, once he finally overcame his injuries, was the generational big man that his highest draft projections said he could be. These two were the building blocks. They jumped the 76ers ahead of schedule and into the second round of the playoffs. The Sixers saw what they had and went out to get win now pieces. J.J. Redick was already there. They added Wilson Chandler. “The Process” was reaping its rewards.
However, “The Process” wasn’t done yet. The reason the Sixers went through all of this wasn’t to just have a good team. No, it was to make a great one and win championships. To be a great team sacrifices have to be made. Those sacrifices included trading away Process success stories like Robert Covington and Dario Saric to bring in Butler. The biggest testament to the success of The Process is that Butler seems to want to stay beyond this season. It wasn’t long ago that stars wouldn’t even take a meeting with the Sixers, much less consider a long-term deal in Philly.
“My rookie and second year there weren’t many stars that wanted to come play in Philly.” T.J. McConnell told UPROXX. “People want to play here. It sucks to see the guys go, but Jimmy Butler speaks for himself. It’s a great addition and we’re looking forward to seeing where this could go.”
For a long time, the Sixers couldn’t get anybody of real worth. They’d occasionally sign a veteran to an expensive deal, but it was never a contract of value. That was until J.J. Redick signed. One year before the Sixers made the jump Redick signed on to help Philadelphia grow its culture. It worked. Redick fit in perfectly and now he plays a stable role with the franchise. He’s already helped onboard Butler.
“J.J. has been big teaching me where I was supposed to be on the floor and in different situations.” Butler said. “Obviously great player, great shooter, great passer all of that good stuff. He has been an incredible leader to everybody including myself. I need that at times as well.”
Butler has been around for two days and he’s already talking about Redick’s leadership in the Sixers locker room. That’s why Philadelphia wanted him when it wasn’t winning yet, because the right veteran can help set the culture a team wants.
With Butler, the Sixers feel like they’ve jumped from a team on the rise to a contender. The East is there for the taking and it’s an arms race to see who can fill the vacuum left from LeBron James going to the West. They haven’t proven to be a great team yet, but they’re on the way to it. There was an odd feeling though when the Sixers made their trade for Butler. Covington and Saric were examples of the original Process. Saric was a first-round draft pick out of Europe that didn’t immediately come over. He represented patience. Covington was a relative unknown developed in the Sixers system. A diamond in the rough. Fans fell in love with these two players, but they had to be flipped for a star. Is that not the point of “The Process” to take assets and turn them into reward?
“Obviously I loved Covington and Saric.” a lifelong 76ers fan, Kevin, told UPROXX. “They worked their butts off and that’s the Philly way, to work your butt off, but at the same time you gotta get All-Stars to win championships. The last team to win without a [collection of] All-Stars was the Detroit Pistons back in ’04 so you gotta have that All-Star talent on your team and it was a necessary evil, but you need to get that kind of talent.”
“Yeah, big bummer but I don’t want to say (it was) necessary but (it was) the right move….It’s time.” another lifelong Sixers fan Ben Drogalis told UPROXX. “It’s almost like the process is complete.”
Sixers fans have a real special connection to The Process. So do the Sixers themselves, to be honest. What they went through wasn’t normal. There’s rebuilding and there’s the completely transparent idea of losing being okay and making it well known that, to build in the NBA, you have to tank. Sixers fans latched on to this idea and took an us against the world mentality. The players and coaches that went through it, and survived, bore the brunt it all. They were the ones that had to read headlines that what they were doing was terrible for the game. That it was abhorrently wrong what they were doing to the league.
“I’ve been here when we won 10 games.” McConnell told UPROXX. “You can’t really get much lower than that. We’ve grown since then. Can’t really put into words. It’s been an incredible ride. We’ve added some great players and we’re set up to win and that’s all that you can really ask for.”
“I think it’s the beginning of something different now.” Brown said.” I think, there’s a cleansing and sort of a base that has been built. Because we still are very proud of the culture. There is a starting point now that is more pronounced as far as a base to take off than there has ever been. I’m especially proud of the things that were done to put is in a position to attract Jimmy Butler. There are many people. Sam Hinkie deserves credit. Elton Brand, to close this deal, deserves credit. The people in between to enable us to have the pieces to go to Minnesota to say here’s the trade and the numbers match. There has been so much in between this to now. It deserves respect and praise.”
The Sixers are clearly very proud of what they’ve built, but there’s definitely a sense of relief when speaking long time Sixers. There’s this feeling that they finally get to feel what it’s like to consistently win NBA. It’s one of accomplishment. They crawled through the low points, took the brunt of the criticism, and at the end of it all is Butler and a spot at the table of contenders in the East. It’s the ultimate reward.
Does this mean “The Process” is over? Was acquiring Butler, and convincing him to stay long term, the final step? The original plan was to make more than a good team. Philadelphia wanted a great one. That’s what fans bought into, but when is that goal officially reached?
“The way the NBA is set up you have to either tank or get a superstar and we went through the tanking process it was all worth it.” Kevin told UPROXX. For Kevin, this appears to be the peak of it all. For Ben though, he still wants to check off one more box.
“(The process will be complete when) we beat Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals” Ben told UPROXX.
The 76ers are transitioning. They aren’t building, nor are they rising. This is a team that considers itself a contender and they’re going to take every step to win now. Whether that’s a part of “The Process” or not is up for interpretation, but the phrase can’t exist forever. It has to end at some point. Maybe the ultimate goal is a championship. Maybe it’s reaching the NBA Finals, or maybe it was just acquiring a superstar. Maybe it’s just time to trust the 76ers. They seem ready to play the part of a contender.
