Philadelphia 76ers Should Be Ready to Compete in 2015 Free-Agent Frenzy

The Philadelphia 76ers were one of the worst teams in recent memory during 2013-14.

They finished 19-63; fielded, according to ESPN.com, the worst offense and fourth-worst defense in the sport; posted the sorriest scoring differential in the NBA; lost a league-record-tying 26 consecutive games; routinely trotted out lineups that were more fit for the NBA D-League than the Association; traded every veteran with even a modicum of value at a deadline fire sale; precipitated a tanking crisis that led to the league voting on, and nearly passing, a measure to disincentive deliberate losing; and literally caused one of their fans to fall asleep courtside during a March game.

And this offseason, they somehow got worse.

Philadelphia, even with two top-10 picks in the ballyhooed 2014 draft—and enough cap space to finance the invasion of a medium-sized nation—managed to enter 2014-15 with a team that was lousier than the one that preceded it.

This remarkable fact is underscored every time the team steps on the floor and makes basketball-like gestures for 48 minutes or so. The Sixers' offensive rating of 90.7, if it holds up, would be the lowest mark in NBA history. They’re on pace to win 11 games. Robert Covington, Henry Sims, Hollis Thompson and Brandon Davies—before he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets—each play more than 19 minutes a night.

Of course, there’s a plan in Philadelphia. Which is why, rather than calls for his job, general manager Sam Hinkie is the subject of triumphant .gifs and the ubiquitous—in the Philadelphia region, at least—#inhinkiewetrust. He’s viewed as a genius because the Sixers, of course, are bad on purpose. They’ve constructed a deliberately awful roster, so they lose enough games to draft the superstars who will (eventually) catapult Philadelphia back into contention.

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But while the first part of the plan, the failure, is going swimmingly, it’s worth wondering when phase two, the unfailure, will begin. My sense is that it will get underway this offseason.

There are a couple reasons why, this summer, it appears the Sixers will shift gears and attempt to actually, possibly, win basketball games.

The first is the roster the franchise has already built. Reinforcements are coming, soon. The kids are growing up.

2014 No. 3 overall draft pick Joel Embiid will likely miss all of 2014-15 with a stress fracture in his navicular bone—the foot injury that ultimately derailed the career of Yao Ming—and Sixers management thinks Embiid will be able to return at full strength by the start of next season.

Embiid is potentially a franchise-altering talent. Before his injury was diagnosed, he was the consensus No. 1 pick in the draft. The center was viewed as a game-changer on the level of Hakeem Olajuwon—raw, maybe, but brimming with rare natural ability.

Several scouts, including one who spoke with Yahoo.com’s Marc Spears in May, identified him as the lone franchise building block in the draft.

And when he makes his NBA debut next season, the center will make it alongside a frontcourt mate who’s also generated his share of hype.

Nerlens Noel was also slated to be the No. 1 pick in his class, 2013, before a torn ACL and some character concerns dropped him to the the No. 6 selection—where the Sixers, after trading All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday, happily snapped him up.

Embiid and Noel, if all goes according to plan, could form a new set of Twin Towers in Philadelphia.

(Granted, the plans might be changing. Philadelphia originally envisioned Noel—with a rebuilt shot—manning the 4, with Embiid slotting in at center. But Noel, since making his debut this season, has shown himself to be a much more adept 5. It's unclear which way this will go, but it’s a situation that bears monitoring. Scott Howard-Cooper covered the development, and its implications, for NBA.com.)

Embiid and Noel, along with 2014 ROY Michael Carter-Williams and 2014 No. 12 pick Dario Saric—who’s playing overseas and will likely join Philadelphia before the 2016-17 season—form an interesting core that feels like it’s ready to start winning games, soon. Also consider that the Sixers are in pole position to snag the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft, and it looks like the future could be now in Philadelphia.

The primary weakness of the Sixers is on the wing—where the team presently gives minutes to promising 2014 second-round pick KJ McDaniels and a handful of other players you almost certainly have never heard of. But, lo and behold, the 2015 free-agent class has two potential superstar wings.

Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler will both be available and make a ton of sense for Philadelphia, who, according to HoopsHype.com, has only $14 million committed in player salary in 2015-15.

Leonard, the 23-year-old reigning MVP of the NBA Finals, is very close to stardom and, in the form of Sixers coach and former San Antonio Spurs assistant Brett Brown, has ties to the organization.

And while his game is improving rapidly, he’s already plenty productive. Leonard led the Spurs in wins produced in two of the last three full seasons, according to BoxScore Geeks and led the 2013-14 NBA champs in win shares, according to Basketball-Reference.com.

In 2014-15, before a torn ligament in his hand sidelined him indefinitely, he was putting up one of his best seasons ever, by measure of conventional counting stats at least. Leonard was averaging 17 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.2 steals, all career highs.

And Butler has been even better.

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The 6’7” shooting guard, just 25 years old, is third in the NBA in win shares, per Basketball-Reference.com, and is also averaging 21.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in his fourth NBA season. He’s a tremendous defensive player and an absolute workhorse, leading the league in minutes played with 40 a night.

Hinkie cut his teeth in the Houston Rockets organization, and it’s helpful to consider the possibility of the Sixers making a move at one, or both, of Leonard and Butler through this lens of that experience. The Rockets catapulted themselves into contention when they traded for James Harden, but, when the trade occurred, Harden wasn’t really Harden yet.

He was a great player who’d been very productive and efficient on a tremendous basketball team but only as a tertiary threat. He wasn’t a superstar, a go-to-guy. That didn’t happen until he arrived in Houston.

Of course, it's an open, and valid, question whether any top-tier free agent would sign in Philadelphia given the franchise's woes, especially a pair like Butler and Leonard who are playing in winning situations. But Philadelphia, for two reasons, might prove to be an attractive destination for each.

The first is financial. Both the Spurs and Bulls have, thus far, passed on the opportunity to extent their stars with max contracts. The Bulls only offered Butler a four-year, $40 million contract this offseason, which he turned down, while Leonard decided to enter restricted free agency this coming summer after San Antonio decided against offering him the max. While both teams could match any offer the Sixers made, it's not clear if they would. Philadelphia might be the spot where they could both cash in.

And not only could they make riches in Philly, but they could, and please stifle your laughter, win there soon. The Sixers, as mentioned above, have a surfeit of young talent that's getting closer and closer to making an impact. The team also has, in Sam Hinkie, a GM who's recognized in league circles as one of the savviest in the game. This is a team that, despite it's current troubles, is near universally regarded as having a bright future. And, if both Leonard and Butler take the plunge together, it's a future that suddenly looks even brighter.

There’s a notion, and it’s largely a correct one, that the Sixers are putting themselves, and their fanbase, through hell so they can land one, or several, superstar players. But that doesn’t necessarily mean LeBron James, Kevin Durant or Chris Paul. It could be through identifying players who are capable of superstardom, then giving them the opportunity to distinguish themselves.

The Sixers are close to rewarding their fans for their suffering. They could get several significant steps closer this summer.