On the one hand, we have the Philadelphia 76ers, who’ve managed to outdo even themselves this season with an 0-18 start, tying them for the worst opening to a season in NBA season. Tack on the 10-game losing streak the Sixers endured to close out last season, and Philly has now lost 28 games in a row – the longest losing streak in the history of American major league sports. The 76ers had their opportunity on Sunday in Memphis, leading a poor and generally disinterested Grizzlies side 76-71 with 9:00 or so remaining as the boos rained down from the rafters of the FedEx Forum – at which point the Griz rattled off a 15-1 run on their way to a 92:84 victory over the hapless Sixers, who started 0-17 a year ago on their way to an 18-64 record, and who were 19-63 the season before that. This 0-18 start is hardly a surprise – in fact, when I was posed the question by Kenji, the (Un)Official Reno Oddsmaker of In Play Lose (but remember kids, gambling is a sin), about whether a Warriors loss or a 76ers win was more likely to happen first, I took a quick look at the schedule and thought to myself, “hmm, that’s not a very promising schedule for the Sixers coming up, and that 6-game road trip looks deadly. I don’t see a win for the 76ers in the first 18 games …”
And at some point, you’d have to start wondering if/when the league is going to intercede in the goings on in Philadelphia, since the organization’s commitment to not winning is such that it’s making a mockery of the league. The 76ers don’t have a single player on their current active roster with more than three years of NBA experience. They are presently paying out about $20 million to two players they waved in the offseason solely because that $20 million allows them to reach the salary floor – thus avoiding having to make up that difference between their actual payroll and the NBA minimum by giving out bonuses to the players on their active roster. They have no reason to give two shits about the players on their current roster, since scarcely any of those players are even remotely in the organization’s future plans. The players presently on the 76ers’ payroll have clearly been set up to fail. This 3-year run during which the 76ers are 108 games under .500 and now own three of the longest losing streaks ever in the league is nothing short of the most elaborate tank job in NBA history.
And for what? If you’re going to be that bad, for that long, you’d better better get something useful out of the draft. We saw the Houston Astros rise from the ashes this past season after enduring some truly wretched seasons in baseball, but the ’Stros were stockpiling young talent in the process, all of whom matured and then gelled this past season. The 76ers have done none of these things. They stumbled their way into drafting center Jahlil Okafor this year, who has a promising future, but being that terrible for three straight seasons should, hopefully, net you more than one good player in the draft. Philly GM Sam Hinkie’s other “talent acquisition” moves have included: drafting Michael Carter-Williams; deciding Carter-Williams wasn’t any good and trading him; trading for Nerlens Noel, who was hurt and missed his first season and is now shooting .410 from the field which is OK if you’re chucking it from three but not so good if you’re 6’11” and play 2 feet from the basket and now have nowhere to operate since the 76ers have Okafor; and drafting Joel Embiid, who missed his rookie season with a foot injury, didn’t rehab correctly, is now missing another season after another foot surgery, and is now also superfluous since, again, the 76ers just drafted Okafor.
The Sixers brass would have you believe that they’re about to hit the jackpot this coming off-season, since three years worth of trades with brain-dead franchises like the Sacramento Kings has netted them three and possibly four 1st round picks in the upcoming draft, but given how poorly they’ve been at acquiring talent of late, it doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence that they’ll get it right this time. In the meantime, the franchise has pissed away a normally pretty tolerant fan base, and the 10,000 who turn up for home games should all get medals of valor.
But come Tuesday, the 76ers may finally have an opponent they can beat. This is because the Lakers are in town.
The Lakers are 2-13 and Kobe Bryant capped off the day on which he announced his retirement at the end of the season by showing all of us why he should retire immediately, chucking up a rock from deep with the Lakers down three to cap off his 4-for-20 shooting performance in a loss to
In fact, the Lakers as much as encourage him to keep doing it. What makes the Lakers both comical and galling is not just that Kobe has been terrible, but that the Lakers keep kissing his ass, particularly head coach Byron Scott, who definitely deserves a Big Tool Award at the moment:
This quote right here from Byron Scott, about how Kobe jacking up junk from the outside affects ball movement on offense, tells you pretty much all you need to know about the state of the Lakers:
“He’s had 20 years of experience in this league. We might not have six players that have 20 years of experience in this league combined. He has that privilege basically. From a coaching standpoint, I want Kobe to be Kobe, other guys haven’t earned that right yet.”
So, OK, so Kobe can just keep freelancing and taking bad shots because he’s been doing it for 20 years, even though he can’t throw it in the ocean off the Santa Monica Pier. OK, got it.
Kobe is still a draw at the box office, which is important in La-La-Land to a franchise still milking their ‘Showtime’ golden eras, but I think most of the people coming to see Kobe these days possess a fondness for ambulance chasing and watching trains wreck. Bryant’s $25,000,000 salary comes off the books at the end of the season, and plenty of delusional Laker fans think they’ll be active in free agency this coming offseason and be able to buy their way back into relevancy, but the core talent level on the team is so poor that no free agent worth their salt would willingly sign there so they can endure another 4-5 years of misery in the prime of their career.
I have no idea whether D’Angelo Russell, the point guard they selected #2 in the draft, is going to be any good, since for some inexplicable reason, the Lakers aren’t playing him in the 4th Quarter. Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson have shown some promise, but the bulk of what you get when you watch the Lakers is Kobe taking bad shots, Nick Young taking slightly-better ones, Roy Hibbert reminding you that Roy Hibbert used to be in the NBA, a few minutes of Meta World Peace and a few odd moments of unbridled joy in the form of Marcelo Huertas.
As bad as Philadelphia is at the moment, the Lakers just might be worse. If the 76ers can’t beat these guys, they may never win a game. They have the similarly lame Denver Nuggets coming to Philly next Saturday, and a game next week with the hopeless and always humorous Brooklyn Nets, but this game with the Lakers offers them the best chance to get off the schneid.
Then again, the Lakers are now beginning a rather ugly 8-game road trip – up next are the Buzzards, Hawks, Pistons, Raptors, Wolves, Spurs and Rockets in succession – so this may be their best chance to win a game between now and the 15th of December, at the earliest. Either way, this has all the makings of the being the worst single game played in the NBA this season. Stay tuned.
