‘You guys wanna see a dead body?’ The slow death of the Philadelphia 76ers’ Process era
The Sixers’ season ended in a humiliating sweep at the hands of the Knicks.There are reasons to believe the franchise can recover though“You guys wanna see a dead body?”Old heads remember that scene in Stand By Me, four boys hike through the Oregon wilderness to find the body of a dead boy.They walk for miles for the morbid prize of seeing something that can’t be unseen.When they finally arrive and stand over the body, nobody says a word.There’s nothing left to say.
That is what it feels like to be a Philadelphia 76ers fan,You guys wanna see a dead body?Here it is,Right here on the hardwood of the Xfinity Mobile Arena, swept in four games by the New York Knicks, getting beaten by 30 points in the finale, in an arena colonized by enemy fans,“The Process” – capital T, capital P, the grand basketball philosophy that was supposed to redeem a franchise and a generation of suffering fans – is dead,It has been dead for a while, actually.
We’ve just been too stubborn and too sentimental to admit it.When The Process’s architect, Sam Hinkie, took over as 76ers general manager in May 2013, the 76ers were in purgatory.Hinkie’s diagnosis was correct: the middle of the standings is the worst place to rot.His prescription was ruthless tanking, draft capital accumulation, asset hoarding.All analytically sound and, in a narrow sense, successful.
He delivered Joel Embiid.He delivered the framework that would eventually produce Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.But broaden it out and Hinkie’s vision failed.In the 13 years since he rolled up in Philly, the team have failed to reach the Conference finals, let alone win a title.The corpse of The Process was wheeled out to face the Knicks in the second round of the playoffs, Weekend at Bernie’s style.
The modern NBA title contender needs athleticism, perimeter versatility, switchable defenders who can guard one through five, and above all, youth.Current Sixers general manager Daryl Morey has built the opposite.He stockpiled aging, injury-prone max-contract stars and surrounded them with buyout-bin veterans, undrafted role players, and whatever Quentin Grimes is.In 2024, he signed Paul George – then 34 and with a well-documented history of struggling to stay fit – to a four-year maximum contract.He kept Embiid, another player with an injury history – on an extension that will pay him $60m a year until 2029.
This is a roster built for 2006, not 2026,Iso-heavy, big-man-centric, predicated on one dominant center, Embiid, taking over games through sheer will and free-throw volume,The league has moved past this,The Knicks – deep, switchy, young, relentless – looked like they were playing a different sport as they swept the Sixers,And there is no way to write honestly about the 2026 76ers without confronting what Embiid has become, and it’s uncomfortable as hell.
He was, for a few seasons, one of the best basketball players alive,The footwork, the face-up game, the passing out of the post, the three-point shooting – at his peak, Embiid was a legitimate case for best offensive center since Shaquille O’Neal,His MVP season in 2022-23 was a masterpiece,His ability to carry a structurally compromised roster to the second round of the playoffs, year after year, while fighting through injuries that would have ended other careers, deserves respect,That Embiid is gone.
What remains is far inferior.Embiid hasn’t played more than 40 games in a regular season since his MVP campaign.He was injured in Game 1 against the Knicks, missed a game, came back limping, and was reduced to holding his hip, his back and his ankle.There was no better encapsulation of this version of the Sixers than the sight of Embiid’s teammates attempting to pick him up from the floor and failing.But the decline in his body isn’t even the most troubling part.
It’s the decline in his conduct.Embiid has spent recent seasons cultivating one of the dirtiest reputations in the NBA.The sweep-through moves designed to draw fouls that don’t exist.Flops so theatrical Buster Keaton would blush.The crystallizing incident came in the 2024 playoffs, when Embiid fell to the floor and grabbed the Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson by the foot, dragging him to the floor and injuring him in the process.
Yes, pun intended.The 76ers fans who spent 13 years trusting a process deserve better.But here’s the strange, almost perverse mercy for the Sixers: despite everything, they have something most failing contenders don’t.They have two young cornerstones.Maxey is 25 years old.
He’s fast, creative, a legitimate offensive engine who was systematically double-teamed into submission by the Knicks because his supporting cast was demonstrably non-threatening.Maxey operating in an offense with shooters, athletes and a coach who actually designs plays rather than letting it free-flow into George post-ups is a 25- to 28-point scorer who can lead a team deep into May.Edgecombe is 20.He had 34 points in his NBA debut.He had a 30-point game in the Boston series.
This is a young, explosive wing with Dwyane Wade-level upside.Those two players are a gift.Most rebuilding teams don’t get one player like that coming out of a failed era.Philadelphia have two.The draft capital situation, while complicated by the obligations owed to Oklahoma City and Brooklyn, is far from hopeless.
The Sixers own their own picks in 2027, 2029, 2030, 2031, and 2032,They hold the Clippers’ 2028 first-round pick – potentially a high one, depending on how Los Angeles continues their rebuild,They have swap rights with the Clippers in 2029,There are second-round picks scattered across multiple teams through the decade, several of them from contending or mid-tier franchises that could carry real value,A new front office, with a mandate to rebuild fast and modern, has modern ammunition.
The path forward requires doing things the current regime has shown little appetite for: acquiring speed, athleticism, perimeter shooting, and youth.Players who can switch defensively, run in transition, and make open threes at a league-average clip.Fix the roster around the edges first.Then find your third piece.Do not – under any circumstances – sign a 34-year-old maximum contract player to anchor the next era.
Focus instead on unloading the albatross contracts of George and Embiid.But unfortunately still in the present.Philly just got swept.Left with a dead man walking for $60m a year.It is time to end this.
Blow it up.Fire the coach.Fire the general manager.Hire a developmental coach who knows how to build young players, someone who can turn Edgecombe and Maxey into the most dynamic backcourt in the league.The body has been lying in the road long enough.
It’s time to bury it, and finally, actually, start over,
Joseph Fiennes on parenting, politics and banning children from social media: ‘Stand up, Keir, this is your kids’ generation’
He’s played English titans from William Shakespeare to Gareth Southgate, but what does the actor really think about the country today?The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.We are at a corner table in a breakfast place in Chelsea, Joseph Fiennes opposite me on the banquette with his jack russell, Noa. “Dog duty,” he says, apologetic
From The Sheep Detectives to Rivals: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson star in a farmyard mystery, while the spirited bonkbuster returns for a smutty second outingThe Sheep DetectivesOut now Few can claim a writing career as varied as Craig Mazin, creator of TV’s Chernobyl, co-writer of several Scary Movie and The Hangover films, and co-creator of The Last of Us. Here, he turns his hand to a comedy-mystery about sheep, starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson. Adapted from a novel by Leonie Swann.KokuhoOut now Two-time Japan Academy film prize best director winner Lee Sang-il directs this prestige adaptation of Shuichi Yoshida’s novel. It holds the record for the highest-grossing Japanese live-action release ever in Japan – an impressive feat for a nearly three-hour-long period drama set across five decades in the kabuki theatre world
Historic Oxford cinema under threat as Oriel College refuses to extend lease
The survival of one of the UK’s oldest independent cinemas is under threat while its landlord, the University of Oxford’s Oriel College, refuses to extend its lease to allow what its director says are vital renovations.The Ultimate Picture Palace in east Oxford opened in 1911, and has entertained generations of students and residents, including the Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes. It sells tickets for its 106 seats through an old-fashioned box office window to patrons queueing on the street, and its screen is behind a manually opened curtain.After decades of instability, the UPP, as it is known by locals, recently became a community-owned business when more than 1,200 supporters raised funds to keep the cinema operating in the Grade II-listed building.But plans to secure its long-term future have been dashed by Oriel College’s reluctance to approve an extension that would allow further investments and renovations to take place
Arthur Miller opens up about marriage to Marilyn Monroe in newly unearthed recordings
He was one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century and she was one of the greatest actors. In newly unearthed recordings made over a period of nearly three decades, Arthur Miller opened up about his short-lived marriage to Marilyn Monroe, saying she wanted a husband who was a “father, lover, friend and agent,” and the child she longed for would have been an “additional problem”.In taped conversations with his friend and biographer Prof Christopher Bigsby, Miller said he had felt “death was always on her [Monroe’s] shoulder – always”. He had believed that if he did not “take care of her life” she would come to a “catastrophic end”.“One time I brought doctors to pump her out because she had swallowed enough stuff [drugs] to kill her,” he said
Man charged over bomb hoax after Peter Kay show evacuated
A man has been charged over a bomb hoax after a live show by comedian Peter Kay in Birmingham was stopped when a “potentially suspicious bag” was found around the venue.The Utilita Arena Birmingham was evacuated and a 19-year-old man was taken into custody, West Midlands police said on Friday evening.On Saturday, the force said: “A man has been charged in connection with the events which led to the evacuation of the Utilita Arena in Birmingham last night.“Omar Majed, 19, has been charged with false communications relating to a bomb hoax,” a police spokesperson said. “Majed, of Washwood Heath, Birmingham, has been remanded to appear before magistrates in Birmingham on 4 May
Royal Opera House calls for release of Georgian bass singer jailed over democracy protests
The Royal Opera House in London has urged Keir Starmer to intervene in the case of Paata Burchuladze, a world-renowned bass singer who has been imprisoned in Georgia since October on a charge of leading a coup against the country’s authoritarian leader.The 71-year-old has performed at the Royal Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York and collaborated with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. He was arrested after joining a protest outside the presidential palace in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Last week he was given a seven-year jail sentence which Burchuladze suggested to the court was equivalent to a life sentence given his age.Burchuladze became a rallying figure at nightly demonstrations against the government’s perceived pivot away from the west last autumn
‘Hold the line’: Burnham tells allies in parliament he still has options to return
EU proposes end to ‘five tabs, three apps and a prayer’ for cross-border train bookings
What is the king’s speech and what is the state opening of parliament?
Online safety campaigners reveal Starmer frustrations after Phillips exit
Are working-class voters lost to Labour for good? | Letters
Labour MPs channel Tory psychodrama as Starmer keeps hiding in plain sight | John Crace