The downfall of the Philadelphia 76ers

Tuesday, February 23, 2016
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By Rolando Figueroa

The City of Philadelphia has a right to complain about their professional sports teams. However, Sixers fans in particular should be disgusted about what’s been going on for the past four years.

This year has been an all-time low. As of Feb 18., their 8 wins to 45 losses is the worst record in the NBA. The Sixers had a horrendous start to the 2015-2016 season. They tied the 2008- 2009 New Jersey Nets with the worst start in NBA history with a 0-18 start.

Though losing isn’t out of the ordinary for the Sixers at all. It all started in the summer of 2012. The Sixers were two rounds away from the championship until they lost to the Boston Celtics.

Later, the “brilliant” General Manager at the time, Tony Dileo, decided to blow up the whole team and trade their best player, Andre Iguodala, for Andrew Bynum. At the time of the trade, Bynum had a knee injury but he stayed with the Sixers for a year and didn’t play in a single game.

Dileo was fired and Sam Hinkie, former Houston Rockets front office worker, took over his job. After the 2012-2013 season, the Sixers head coach, Doug Collins, resigned and hasn’t coached again since.

The Sixers hired Brett Brown before the next season. These days, Brown takes the blame for why the team is so terrible. But if all he has to work with are young, unestablished players and injured “stars” what do we expect him do? Hinkie gives Brown nothing to work with. He trades away our best players for high lottery draft picks. ESPN’s Stephen A.

Smith believes that 76ers fans should boycott the games and accused the Sixers of “throwing seasons” away. It’s gotten to where the only relevance the 76ers have is as a national laughing stock, with constant bashing from the media and fans online. After a win, the team would celebrate like they have won a championship, which shows how low their expectations are for themselves. Where do we go from here?

Well, the 76ers acquired Hall of Fame coach Jerry Colangelo to help out with basketball operations, which is a good step. They have also signed Point Guard Ish Smith, who has done a pretty good job since he’s been on the team, but they clearly need more help.

The Sixers are sitting at the bottom of the league right now. If the Sixers don’t acquire solid players around them, we will continue to watch them swim in a pool of mediocrity for years to come

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