The Biggest Takeaways from the Philadelphia 76ers' 2014-15 Regular Season
Philadelphia 76ers fans can all let out a collective sigh as the NBA's 2014-15 regular season has finally come to an end.
Clap as loud as you can because we can finally look toward the future, all while evaluating some of this year's biggest takeaways.
Finishing with an 18-64 record was better than general manager Sam Hinkie wanted as he put together the league's youngest and least-experienced opening-day roster. There were even talks of the Sixers potentially having the worst team in NBA history, so the franchise definitely overachieved.
It was still a unique ride, though.
The beginning of the year started a countdown to the 2015 offseason that truly couldn't come fast enough. It was difficult to think about anything other than the draft and what kind of players Philadelphia would come away with.
Then the unthinkable happened.
The Sixers turned into an incredibly entertaining team. Thoughts of the future were still there, but focusing on the present actually had its place as well.
It was a very refreshing feeling.
Trading Michael Carter-Williams Was Needed
The initial reaction to Michael Carter-Williams being dealt to the Milwaukee Bucks for a protected first-round pick was one of shock more than anything else. There had been rumors since the 2014 offseason of a potential trade involving the former Syracuse product, but nothing had ever come to fruition.
Twitter had an especially entertaining reaction to the move:
His departure was certainly sudden, but it also ended up being the correct call.
Carter-Williams simply did too little with how often he had the ball in his hands. He had the team's second-highest usage rate (the percentage of time that a ball goes through a player while he's on the court) at 27.6 percent, and was wildly inefficient in multiple categories.
His 15.0 points, 7.4 assists and 6.2 rebounds look nice from a statistical standpoint. The problem is they don't compare to how rough shooting 38.0 percent from the field, 25.6 from three and 64.3 from the free-throw line looks.
All of that and we still haven't talked about his turnovers.
Here's a look at Philadelphia's turnovers per game broken down by the month. Take note of what happens in March—the first full month without Carter-Williams:
| Month | Turnovers Per Game | NBA Rank |
| November | 19.3 | 30th |
| December | 19.7 | 30th |
| January | 17.2 | 29th |
| February | 19.6 | 30th |
| March | 15.5 | 24th |
| April | 15.6 | 25th |
There was a clear drop in turnovers once Carter-Williams was traded to Milwaukee on February 19, 2015 as the Sixers gave the ball up four less times in each contest during both March and April.
Oh, and do you have a guess as to which team finished in last place during March? That would be the Bucks.
Winning the 2013-14 Rookie of the Year award was well-warranted. The rookie point guard put up ridiculous numbers and was genuinely one of the Sixers' only bright spots.
He just failed to improve much, and wasn't efficient with the basketball in his hands.
Carter-Williams hurt the team more than he helped them.
Trading him was in the best interest of both parties.
Nerlens Noel is a Centerpiece
Nerlens Noel finished the season averaging 9.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.8 steals per game.
The numbers are certainly solid, but his two most important statistics were that he played 30.8 minutes in 75 of the team's 82 games.
The Sixers took a major risk in the 2013 draft by trading All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday for Noel and a 2014 first-round pick. The Kentucky big man was four months off a torn left ACL, and who knew what would happen after giving up a 23-year-old point guard who was clearly the best player on Philly?
Knee problems rarely end careers like they used to, but there is still some danger in never returning to normal.
Philadelphia kept Noel out of the entire 2013-14 season in hopes that he would both return to full strength and stay healthy.
The Sixers have to be incredibly optimistic about Noel playing in 2,311 minutes over the course of his rookie season.
Stability is now the most crucial matter for Noel.
Philly has a franchise center who is in the process of moving to power forward. There is no need for Hinkie to get a random light-bulb idea, and attempt to trade him for something "better."
Keeping Noel in the Sixers' organization while bringing on new talent and developing them will be essential to his growth as a player.
It will also be critical for the team to succeed down the line.
Brett Brown is the Perfect Head Coach Moving Forward
Brett Brown has a collective record of 37-127 in two years with the Sixers. We can go even further with the lack of wins and say that Philadelphia has lost 77.4 percent of the 164 games that he has coached.
The crazy part: That losing percentage would likely be much higher if anybody besides Brown was at the helm.
He is the perfect head coach for Philly.
Despite loss after loss and talks of tanking, Brown has continued to carry a positive attitude with him in regard to the Sixers' future. He knows where the team is headed better than any of us can predict.
And he's very excited about it.
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Bob Cooney wrote an article about Brown's positive attitude. Here's what the Sixers' coach had to say following this year's rough season:
"The last words out of their mouths was that we're going to have a kick-ass summer. We're going to invest time. We're going to have a great summer. That means something to me. When you say after 2 years, 'Where are we?' there's so much going on behind our record. I love coaching those guys, because they gave their best effort.
"
Philadelphia power forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute couldn't have been happier about the kind of person Brown is, according to the same Cooney report:
"It's more than just basketball. Sometimes we just get caught up in the game, but we're still human beings, we still have to live. We're not just basketball players, and I think that he does more than just draw X's and O's. I think his personality just embraces everybody. Everybody kind of feeds off of him. He's not a yeller, he's more like a teacher. He works with guys, he develops guys, he's patient. I thought he's been great. My short experience here is probably the best experience I've had with a coach. I think he's a very, very good coach.
"
Operation "suck for awhile in order to be good down the road" is a long-term process. We're two years in, and it could finally be starting to tilt in the winning direction.
The roster is definitely still a work in progress.
The coach leading them is exactly who he should be.
It Wasn't the Prettiest, but the Team Improved
Remember when the Sixers started the 2014-15 season with a 0-17 record?
The level of hope surrounding the team had never felt lower—even though the roster was built to lose—and there wasn't anything to look forward to apart from the upcoming draft.
The excitement level is completely different, now.
The draft is obviously a big deal, but there is so much more to be enthusiastic about. When it comes to players, Noel's development is at the top of the list. Finding a hidden gem in Robert Covington also couldn't have come at a better time.
Break it down on a team level, and there was a fantastic jump in defense as the year went on.
Defensive rating is a measure of how many points a team gives up per 100 possessions. Here's a look at how Philadelphia's transformed each month:
| Month | Record | Defensive Rating | NBA Rank |
| November | 0-14 | 106.6 | 24th |
| December | 4-10 | 99.9 | 8th |
| January | 6-12 | 102.0 | 13th |
| February | 3-7 | 99.0 | 4th |
| March | 5-12 | 99.6 | 5th |
| April | 0-7 | 109.5 | 25th |
Take out the last month of the season where everyone was clearly ready for the year to end, and you can see that the Sixers took a legitimate seven points away from the opposition per 100 possessions.
Finishing the year at 18-64 ended up being pretty remarkable.
Sure, it's a little disappointing that they don't have the best chance at a No. 1 pick in the draft as they have the third-worst record in the league.
Still though, everything about Philadelphia seems to be trending in the right direction. It's wild to think about, but a productive offseason in terms of development and a successful draft could lead to a potential postseason run next year.
The past two years have been very difficult, but we're almost there Sixers fans.
We're almost there.
All stats courtesy of NBA.com unless otherwise noted.
Zachary Arthur is a Featured Columnist for the Sixers on Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @Zach_ArthurSLC for thoughts on everything basketball.
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