National Basketball Association

Why Trust The Process Of Philadelphia 76ers Is Paramount For The Modern NBA

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:49 p.m. ET

Fansided, Bret Stuter/FanSided via The Sixer Sense

Why is the Philadelphia 76ers method of Trust The Process Important in Today’s NBA?

The Philadelphia 76ers‘ Trust The Process is the counter-NBA culture that rose in popularity when the NBA

The National Basketball Association, like every professional sports league, has three groups in any given year. There are the have-nots (teams that do not see post-season play in their future), there are the haves (teams that will see post-season play virtually each year), and then there are the teams that fall in the gaps, that populate the space between the two extremes.

So what is the problem? In a word, stagnation.

Still water stagnates. It remains still and motionless. Lifegiving nourishments are exhausted until the pool sterilizes itself. As it stagnates, becomes unhealthy, it also loses it’s appeal. So too does the NBA risk stagnation by committing to a system which rewards the NBA rich, and forces the rest of the league to obey the rules silently.

Monogamy Bores Spectators

On one hand, monogamy leads to predictability. On the other hand, predictability leads to disinterest. Finally, disinterest leads to no demand. Right now the NBA is a very popular sport. In fact, in terms of world popularity, it is ranked number two by TotalSportek.com. But how do you maintain that popularity?

Change things up. Expect the unexpected. Embrace controversy. The Philadelphia 76ers bravely did so with no guarantees, no assurances, electing the complete disregard to the optics instead and the reliance upon proof and probability.

Now, the team is winning, and winning fans. The scoffs and derision have been tossed to the side as disbelievers now believe in the team, the results, and the competitiveness of the Philadelphia 76ers.

I, too, enjoy watching the Sixers right now. #PopIsRight

— Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle) January 21, 2017

Sam Hinkie II

Imagine the outrage if the Brooklyn Nets, currently 9-33, would suddenly hire the former Philadelphia 76ers executive Sam Hinkie. Could the team truly worsen the record? It’s easy to predict his moves. He would work to restore the Brooklyn Nets to the pipeline of the NBA Draft at all costs. Would that mean trading center Brook Lopez to the Boston Celtics?

Yes, only if it meant the Brooklyn Nets would abolish the 2017 NBA Draft pick swap, the 2017 first round draft pick, and likely yield the Nets one of the young Celtics getting more bench time than playing time.

Would it improve the Celtics dramatically? Yes. But Sam Hinkie would have the Nets turned around in three years. Giving NBA teams with no hope some glimmer of hope should be an NBA priority. The fans of the Brooklyn Nets, like those of the Philadelphia 76ers deserve to hope, to believe, to acknowledge better times are coming.

The NBA rules have given the incentive to poor team managers who focus on winning today to save their jobs, at the expense of the city’s entire fanbase.

Future Looking Does Not Mean Tanking

The National Basketball Association needs to reconsider how teams develop younger players. With the one year rule, incredibly talented players who develop rapidly land in the NBA earlier. But many players need time, training, and experience playing in higher levels of competition to unlock their full potential.

Two starters on the Philadelphia 76ers best lineup, Robert Covington and T.J.McConnell, were not drafted. Those two players, brought to the Philadelphia 76ers by Sam Hinkie, are competing at the highest level and winning in the competition. Unfortunately, they will fight the perception of being undrafted their entire career. That misconception will prompt fans to troll them as “trash” regardless of the fact that they have scored game winning shots at the buzzer three times this season.

Fix The Broken System

It’s time to acknowledge that the NBA two round draft is far too narrow and shallow of a net. It’s time to give up on the optional Development league and force teams to develop their farm system. It’s time to place financial incentives to prospects to sign up for the development league, to give exclusive rights to those players with their host NBA Team.

It’s time to remove this nonsense that if an NBA team cherishes creating tomorrow’s stars, they much suffer the humiliation of the remainder of the NBA as a perceived “tanking”. While new rule changes have begun to reform areas of desperate need in the NBA, it’s merely a bandage on a broken bone.

If the NBA continues to have the Cleveland Cavaliers face the Golden State Warriors year after year in the NBA Championship, everyone loses. Right now, it’s one of the most likely probabilities. While the NBA focused on the dealings of the Philadelphia 76ers interest in finding marquis talent, those same experts turn a blind eye to the chokehold just a handful of teams have on a championship run.

It’s a fact, the Emperor wears no clothes NBA. When will you put some clothes on?

TTP Pilot Program

There can be no doubt that the Philadelphia 76ers have assumed the role of pilot program to the Trust The Process mentality. We can also safely say that despite the NBA’s efforts to remove Sam Hinkie from peddling his future-focused stewardship, his popularity will only grow as the 76ers begin to taste success.

The NBA has a choice now. The National Basketball Association can ignore the fervor of the fans who feel betrayed by the system that incentivizes poor management. The National Basketball Association can oppose the fans cries and need to hold onto something to believe in.

Or the NBA can embrace this need.

Good Player Development Is Good Marketing Strategy

If the NBA cannot make the decision on moral grounds, make it on economic ones. The Philadelphia 76ers have proven that the lull in a rebuild can be, will be, only temporary. Fans and national media are flocking back now. And, in the process, the NBA has restored one of the most lucrative NBA markets to the fold.

The NBA must develop a process to continue to include the millions of fans who root for teams struggling to find success. Then, they must Trust The Process. As a matter of fact, perhaps Sam Hinkie can give the NBA a few pointers.