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Philadelphia 76ers Redefining the Term “Bad”

By Michael Dunlap

Feb 10, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown speaks to point guard Michael Carter-Williams (1) on the bench during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 123-80. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 10, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown speaks to point guard Michael Carter-Williams (1) on the bench during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 123-80. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
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When the season started, we expected the Philadelphia 76ers to enter a new realm of sucktitude. We thought they’d wear army fatigues out to the court due to their obvious love of the tank. Instead, they started out 5-4, with wins over the Miami Heat, Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets. All they’ve done is gone 10-34 since then.

Bad: adjective

  • low or poor in quality
  • not correct or proper
  • not pleasant, pleasing or enjoyable
  • pretty much the whole Sixers season since that 5-4 start

The Sixers became the first team to lose consecutive games by more than 40 points….since the last Sixer team that did it. Not even the historically horrendous Charlotte Bobcats team that had the worst winning percentage in league history was so bad to lose consecutive games by 40 points.

In order to reach that level of dreck, in order to be that atrocious, you’ve got to have a lot of things going for you. Not only do your starters have to play horribly, but you’ve got to have your bench play even worse. Then, you’ve got to have the opposing team’s bench play poorly.

This is the NBA, where every team

except this year’s 76ers

makes a run, right?

To give the Sixers a little bit of credit — and I mean very little — they did face the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors on the road. Those are two teams with title aspirations. We certainly don’t expect the Sixers to beat either of them.

Still, the Sixers had regulars in for quite a while. Evan Turner played 32:05, Michael Carter-Williams played 31:04 and Thaddeus Young played 28:17. The Sixers were down just 29-21 after the first quarter, but were outscored 37-12 in the second quarter. They were outhustled and manhandled by the Warriors.

The Sixers were outrebounded 60-38. It’s not like the Warriors came out and set an NBA record by making 80 percent of their shots or anything. They shot a respectable 48.9 percent. Still, the Sixers couldn’t even find it in themselves to keep the score close.

This team isn’t tanking…this team is just plain bad right now. I’d be willing to bet the 76ers brass is on the phone as we speak begging somebody to throw a first-round pick their way for Turner. The Sixers are lucky they started so hot (5-4 is hot for this team), because they could have been the worst ever.

Michael Dunlap is an NBA credentialed writer who is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief for the Sports Illustrated/Fansided NBA site HoopsHabit.com and the Arizona Sports site HeatWaved.com. He also covers high school sports for The Arizona Republic. Follow me on Twitter @DunlapNBA.