The Sixers are spending a great amount of time and resources to study the latest trends that are impacting success in the NBA. So I’m fairly confident they are aware of a certain trend I uncovered while doing some research.
If you go back over the last few seasons and look at the best player on each of the Eastern Conference’s representatives in the NBA Finals, you’ll notice a pattern:
2011 — LeBron James
2012 — LeBron James
2013 — LeBron James
2014 — LeBron James
2015 — Very likely LeBron James
This trend would suggest that LeBron James is very good at basketball. And it turns out other statistics verify that hypothesis.
So how does this impact the Sixers? We’ll get there shortly.
After Tuesday’s draft lottery ping-ponged the Sixers to the third overall pick for a second straight year, the typical chorus of opposition to Sam Hinkie’s deliberate rebuilding approach began.
Two years of tanking for this? No guarantee of a superstar in next month’s draft, as if having even the first overall pick locks in a star. How many more years of losing will Sixers fans have to take?
NBA
But, much like Brooks Hatlen, I want to know: What’s the rush?
Had the Sixers, through Hinkie or another executive, decided to be more aggressive in building a contender (i.e.: acquiring high-priced veterans), it would have only ended in disappointment thanks to a royal decree from King James.
I’m not sure how much more proof is needed. No Eastern Conference team is beating James in a playoff series while he’s in his prime. The good news for the conference is that history suggests the end of James’ best years is approaching quickly.
If you include the playoffs, the four-time MVP has already surpassed the 40,000-career minutes barrier. Past evidence and logic would tell you that James will slide from his own stratosphere back to the rest of the NBA player pool in the next few seasons. And guess which team is building to become legitimate title contenders in two or three years?
You can’t tell me that Hinkie, a man so keen on analysis that he has likely studied the proper ratio of peanut butter to jelly in your standard PB&J, hasn’t thought about how LBJ impacts his team’s championship chances.
While other teams in the East risk their futures and race to have James tell them what round they’ll be going home this season, the Sixers lurk well off the pace.
It’s always best to wait for a King to show vulnerability before going for his throne.