It was a gamble, but I still contend at the time the Philadelphia 76ers made a good one — they had a chance to get Andrew Bynum fresh off a season where he played in 60 of 66 games (it was the lockout year), averaged 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds a game, and shot 55.8 percent. He was an All-Star. He was a big who could make them a threat in the East where the big power was going small.
We all know that ended — Philly pushed its chips in the middle and then the cards gave them a bad beat. Bynum never played a game and essentially the Sixers got nothing out of the Andre Iguodala trade. That bust forced new GM Sam Hinkie to hit the rebuild button again, which led to the trade of Jrue Holiday for Nerlens Noel.
New Sixers CEO Scott O’Neil, went on Sportsradio 94 with Angelo Cataldi and apologized to fans for the Bynum debacle, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.“I apologize on behalf of the Sixers to any fan who invested and thought Bynum was going to be their guy and be the savior,” said O’Neil, while being a guest on Cataldi’s radio show. “At the end of the day that’s our apology to every fan – not just to you [he told Cataldi].
“However, we are going to take some chances when we can take some chances. And sometimes, they’re not going to work. And sometimes, they are. When they don’t work, we are not going to ever talk about a player negatively. That’s not going to help us or the franchise or the fans. That’s not going to help us recruit. It doesn’t help us go out and grab free agents. It doesn’t help us when we are evaluating talent. It doesn’t help us when we are talking to coaches. It just doesn’t help.”
O’Neil hit the right tone speaking with CSNPhilly.com — being patient sucks when you are a fan, but Sixers fans need to do it again. The plan laid out now is a good course — get bad to get good. If you’re going to be bad, the deepest draft since 2003 is the year to do it.
“We certainly hear (complaints from fans). Where our focus is when we hear it is pretty clearly to talk about what the plan is, and we like this plan,” he said….
“Sam (Hinkie) has set us up with cap flexibility to make some moves that will set us up for long-term, sustainable greatness,” O’Neil said. “We don’t want to flex between 38 and 42 [wins]. We can do that. We’ve done it. We’ve done it for a decade. We’re not happy with that, the fans aren’t happy with that and we’re going to have to make some changes to make sure we’re going in the right direction.”
If the Sixers brought back Jrue Holiday to pair with Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young, the Sixers would have been around a .500 team, maybe made the playoffs (maybe not) and be stuck in a rut that is the middle of the NBA pack. If you want to win rings, that rut is not the place to be.
There are real risks in getting bad to get good. It’s a gamble, and sometimes when you gamble the cards don’t go your way. But it’s better to do that than stand pat and play it safe all the time.