Following the signing of Elton Brand as GM last week I’ve started to question the future of the 76ers organization. The organization’s crazy, process-trusting fans are hungry for success. The plan for years has been to allow the team’s former first-round picks to develop and get healthy, and it looks like this year will be the first time that’s happened. This make-or-break season leads me to wonder, when will The Process end?
A Brief History of The Process
Since 2013, the team has been in a drastic rebuild known as “The Process.” After hiring Sam Hinkie in May of that year, the team has nearly changed their entire roster and improved from a 19-win team to a 52-win team last year.
In that stretch, the Sixers fell to as low as 10 wins in a season (2015-16). Throughout it all, Hinkie had asked for more time to let “The Process” come to fruition and for the players he drafted to reach their true potential. His position as GM ended after the 2015-16 season ended because Sixers owners had enough waiting. Fans were impatient and management wanted to see results.
Recent Results
Flash forward a few years to 2017. The Sixers, led by Coach Brett Brown and GM Bryan Colangelo, nearly tripled their win total from the previous year. This past season, they won 52 games and made it to the playoffs. Going in, fans were hopeful that a core of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid could lead the team to victory. After making it to the second round of the playoffs, the Boston Celtics destroyed the Sixers in a “gentleman’s sweep,” leaving fans wanting more but still hopeful.
That was supposed to be it for fans. That was the moment that everyone had been waiting for. The Sixers had qualified for the playoffs for the first time in years and won a series, but it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to conquer the Celtics in coming seasons without more help on the court.
Offseason Drama (and Subsequent Lack Thereof)
The offseason was supposed to lead to drastically important roster moves (the addition of LeBron James at the forefront of discussion), but alas, in proper Sixers form, many things went wrong. For one, their GM was wrapped up in a wild controversy over Twitter accounts and ultimately lost his job. The Sixers weren’t able to land any stars, and fans haven’t seen any major improvements, aside from a few short clips of Markelle Fultz shooting a basketball (somewhat) competently. 
This leads me, and many other Process-Trusters, to wonder, “is the process over?” And the short answer is: no. But, the clock is ticking. If the Sixers manage to make the playoffs this year and finish in a similar fashion, then fans can expect much of the same good-but-not-great play for years to come. And, if the Sixers revert back to their old ways of mediocre play, it may be time to formulate a new plan for success and throw out Hinkie’s unique management style.
Yet, if the Sixers are able to take the East and fare well in the Finals, it will be a testament to Hinkie’s risk and his unorthodox genius.
In any case, this seems to be the last year of “The Process.” Its success, failure, or mediocrity will be decided this upcoming season, at least in fans’ eyes. With the start of the regular season only a few weeks away, Sixers fans should be anxiously awaiting the final outcome of “The Process.”