The Philadelphia 76ers, after signing Paul George in the offseason, find themselves 15-27, on the outside looking in on the play-in picture. A team that, for the past 5 or so seasons, has been considered a lock for the postseason year after year. A team that, for the past 5 or so seasons, has been considered a strong contender for the top 3 seeds year after year. However, this same team, like so many others in the NBA, has been plagued by long-term injuries to key players. In an attempt to preserve their stars' health over the course of the season, the Sixers, like so many others in the NBA, entered the dungeon of load management.
At the beginning of the season, Head Coach Nick Nurse informally announced that two particularly injury prone stars -- Paul George and Joel Embiid -- would not play any back-to-back games during the year. So far, this hasn't actually mattered for Embiid, who has played a whopping 13 games (out of 42) due to various different injuries all over his body. The team has struggled to find a rhythm, as backup center Andre Drummond, who was also signed this offseason, has struggled with his fair share of injuries. Drummond was most recently out with a sprained big toe for an astounding 6 games.
Many of these problems that Philly face are more of an issue with the NBA as a whole. A lot has been made over the past few months about the steady drop in NBA ratings. Continued injuries to superstars, much like Philly's problems with Embiid, have caused teams to give players extended recovery times and entire games off, sometimes being late scratches. My problem isn't that these players are resting, because teams are resting players with health first in mind, my problem is with just how late these scratches are. People are paying for tickets well in advance, and just as they get to the stadium they could find out that their favorite player won't be playing that night.
Tanking has plagued each major sport at one point or another, but has become increasingly relevant in the modern day NBA. The lottery system was crafted to deter teams from exactly this, but one could make the argument that it makes teams do it more. When an organization in another sport is on the verge of the playoffs they do everything in their power to make it, but NBA teams tend to rest key players, hoping for there shot at a high pick thanks to the draft lottery.
This one doesn't exactly relate to the 76ers, but there are plenty of examples around the league. Just a couple of years ago, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban openly admitted to tanking to save his protected draft pick. He was punished, but it was just a fine that, for Cuban, was essentially a slap on the wrist. NBA commissioner Adam Silver obviously should have taken away at least a second round draft pick that year. In the NFL, you have teams with the #1 pick securely in their hands in week 18, and they still win for pride despite possibly losing that hold on their pick.
This Sixers team has dug themselves into quite the hole. They don't exactly have a pick to "tank" for, and they really shouldn't because of the aging nature of their core. This team is watching their championship window close, and there definitely was one. General Manager Daryl Morey did what he needed to do, giving his coach the tools to win in the playoffs. However, this team was always just short, and several of those Conference Semifinal series' could live in fans' heads for years, assuming this core is still unable to scrape their way past the second round. It will be a hard thing for fans to accept, but as of now, it doesn't seem like Maxey + Embiid + 3rd star = championship.
As for Adam Silver, this so-called ratings crisis is not an easy fix. I do think that he needs to seriously consider shortening the season, to help those injury prone stars stay healthy and keep fans interested throughout the course of the year. This would likely include spacing out time in between games, which could give players rest days on non-game days.
The league's problems stretch onto the court, though. Some players have looked checked out when on court, and it takes a real hit on viewers' enjoyment. Team game plans have shifted more to jacking up 3s instead of moving the ball around and attacking the hoop. There's really nothing that Silver can do about this, and some fans may even like it more, but for me it speaks more for a loss of players' patience.
These types of problems won't exactly fix themselves, and it likely will come from the teams rather than the league office, but it needs to be addressed soon if the NBA wants to stop the ratings from plummeting.
Eli Knight
Add comment
Comments