It hard to believe, but now known to be true, that the 76ers could face worse roster problems than they had last year when Brett Brown team was able to conjure up only 18 wins in 82 games.
Remember, the front office promised fans that players would not be shuffled in and out this season.
The third pick in the draft, which fell to them last June, produced Jahlil Okafor. He has proven to be a legitimate scorer in the NBA, with a few flaws in some areas, most notably defense. But he has struggled trying to play alongside Nerlens Noel, and his defense is, at best, suspect.
After a season in which he proved to be a promising defensive player with a questionable offensive game, wholesale nfl jerseys from china Noel hasn really done much this season to provide hopes of stardom.
Once again, Joel Embiid didn participate in a practice, let alone a game, as he continued to try to rehab his twice surgically repaired right foot.
And general manager Sam Hinkie didn do Brown any favors at the beginning of the season, handing him a roster devoid of a starting point guard, knowing that Tony Wroten and Kendall Marshall, both recovering from ACL surgeries, wouldn be on the court until December.
Wroten, though, was cut after just 31 games and Marshall now possesses a game more fitting of an over 30 league than one that can be a big factor in the NBA.
Adequate shooters were still at a minimum, veteran leadership absent. So it all appeared to be a recipe for another disastrous season.
But if there was any hope for optimism, those who have a hand in making up the NBA schedule stomped it into oblivion.
While many factors go into creating a team schedule mostly surrounding arena availability the league certainly didn do the Sixers any favors this season.
This is not to say an easier schedule would have improved the Sixers current record, cheapnflauthenticjerseys but you get the feeling they were done no favors after collecting only 37 wins over the past two seasons.
Brown has been in the league 15 years and has never gone through a schedule like the one he faced this season. Numerous times throughout the season, people around the league have told me the Sixers schedule is horrific.
A little over a month and a half into the season, the Sixers had already faced the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James three times. By Jan. 10 they had lost four times to the Eastern Conference favorite.
There was also the six game November road trip, surrounding Thanksgiving, that had them going from Charlotte to Miami to Minnesota to Boston to Houston to Memphis. The Sixers played six games in a 10 day span. Usually November is a home heavy month for the team as it does its first West Coast trip in December when Disney On Ice invades the Wells Fargo Center.
This column is being written as the team is mired in a six games in nine days period that includes a pair of back to backs and finishes out in Denver.
A casual fan, and the Sixers have many of them at this point of The Process, doesn really delve into how an 82 game schedule plays out. It a game here, a game there. But this year schedule was a real head scratcher. Perhaps a little punishment for the poor product run out there the previous two seasons? Maybe, just maybe.