Don't trust the process: Top five worst moves of the Sixers' process era

The Philadelphia 76ers “The Process” era was supposed to be a period of throwing away seasons in order to build a perennial championship contender.

While the process has done that to an extent, the organization shot itself in the foot with some awful decisions over the years. As a Sixers fan who has trusted the process, I am going to be ranking the top 5 worst moves of the process era, and this was painful to make.

5. Drafting Markelle Fultz 1st Overall in 2017

The 2017-18 Philadelphia 76ers were a top draft pick away from being a legit title contender, after losing seasons from 2013/14-2016/17. The idea of a big three consisting of University of Washington’s star point guard Markelle Fultz, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid was a fever dream for the Sixers’ front office.

The Sixers traded with the Boston Celtics for the 1st pick and selected Fultz with Jayson Tatum right there for the taking.

Fultz all of a sudden developed a broken jumper, which took the team over a year to figure out that he was actually dealing with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, all while Tatum (drafted two picks later) became an instant star in Boston

Philadelphia eventually gave up on him and shipped him to Orlando at the 2019 trade deadline, making the Fultz selection a disaster.

4. Hiring Doc Rivers

After the mess that was the 2019-20 season and getting swept in the bubble by the Boston Celtics, the Sixers decided to fire head coach Brett Brown and replace him with championship-winning coach Doc Rivers. Rivers had coached some of the biggest names in the history of the game, however, had not won a ring since 2008.

Rivers was supposed to be the guy who got us to the promised land, but all he did was choke in Philly.

He looked incompetent coaching the Sixers. He lost to the Atlanta Hawks as the No. 1 seed in the 2021 playoffs in seven games, while blowing multiple 20-plus-point leads in that series. He blew a 3-2 lead to the Celtics in the 2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals when his team led in the fourth quarter of Game 6.

Rivers was fired following Game 7 of the Celtics series, failing to make it past the second round in each of his three seasons in Philly.

3. Bryan Colangelo

The process caught the attention of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, for bad reasons. Silver did not like how the Sixers were ‘tanking’ for high draft picks, so he forced owner Josh Harris’ hand and made him dismiss the brains behind the process, former GM Sam Hinkie.

The league forced seasoned executive Jerry Colangelo on the team, who hired his son Bryan to be the GM. Bryan drafted Ben Simmons over Jaylen Brown and Brandon Ingram in 2016. A year later he took Markelle Fultz over Jayson Tatum. Colangelo should have known that Simmons was a red flag after he declined to do a pre-draft workout with the team. We know how Simmons’ tenure with Philly played out a few years later.

Don’t think I forgot about the burners! Bryan Colangelo’s wife was operating burner accounts on Twitter, criticizing players on the team, most notably Joel Embiid and disclosing classified team information. The burner grate forced Colangelo to resign, ending his awful spell running the show in Philadelphia.

2. The Mikal Bridges Draft Night Trade

The 2018 NBA Draft, is a night that will live in infamy for Sixers fans. Head coach Brett Brown was acting as general manager post-Colangelo Burnergate. Philadelphia selected Villanova’s Mikal Bridges 10th overall. Brown decided to trade Bridges to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Texas Tech’s Zhaire Smith who was drafted 16th and a 2021 first-rounder.

Bridges has enjoyed a successful NBA career, averaging 14.3 points per game and making the All-Defensive team in 2022. On the other hand, Smith broke his foot prior to his rookie season and then had a deathly peanut allergy. Add that to the Mount Rushmore of Sixers injuries. Smith would make 13 appearances in two seasons for Philly and has been out of the league since 2020.

1. The entire 2019 off-season

Where do I even start? This off-season was abysmal… to say the least.

The Sixers let Jimmy Butler walk in free agency after he carried the team in the 2019 playoffs. Then they overpay Tobias Harris with a 5-year, $180 million contract and subject fans to watching him stink it up in big moments for the next five seasons.

They then signed Al Horford to a 4-year $109 million contract, one of the worst contracts in NBA history. He was so bad for Philly that the fans thought he was a double agent for the Celtics.

To top it off, they gave Ben Simmons a 5-year $177 million contract which was another one of the worst contracts ever.

In the span of one off-season, the Philadelphia 76ers managed to dish out three of the worst contracts in NBA history, while letting the player that carried them through the playoffs walk in free agency.

The process era has been nothing short of what-ifs and front-office blunders for the Sixers, leaving their fanbase thinking what-if our organization wasn’t a dumpster fire.

Ian Rothenberg is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email imr5327@psu.edu.