Sixers sitting at comfortable point in rebuild

By George Kondoleon | Sep 19, 2017

PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 26: Head coach Brett Brown of the Philadelphia 76ers puts his hand out against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Wells Fargo Center on October 26, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. The Thunder defeated the 76ers 103-97. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

The Sixers are sitting on a nice cushion when it comes to their long rebuild.

For long, the Sixers rebuild looked suffocating. Three big men were drafted with consecutive top picks, with the most talented one never seeing the court. One was disgruntled about playing time, another falling short of his expectations.

The feeling improved slightly when Ben Simmons was drafted, but fell to disappointed when he suffered a season-ending injury in training camp. Fast forward a complete year, and everything is looking and feeling good. As it should.

The Sixers not only made the move to secure top draft pick Markelle Fultz, who is an incredible complement to Simmons, but are expecting Joel Embiid and their top pick from last year to return at full health. They’ve also added high quality veteran J.J. Redick to ease any growing pains.

With the Bryan Colangelo regime, the only two blemishes that come to mind are the Nerlens Noel trade (as debated as it is), and signing Amir Johnson to $11 million this past summer. Not that Johnson is unworthy of the money, but it seemed restrictive in terms of having the money to negotiate with Robert Covington on a contract extension.

Beyond those mishaps, the Sixers should feel confident about what their team will look like in the next five years. It isn’t only what Philadelphia has done to make themselves better, it’s watching the rest of the league either implode or chase the Golden State Warriors.

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You’ll remember the 2016 NBA free agent period. The one where the salary cap jumped so high that owners and general managers were practically shoving money into mid-level free agents’ mouths. The Sixers stayed relatively put, with their signings being short-term deals for Gerald Henderson and Sergio Rodriguez, and manageable Jerryd Bayless deal.

Why is this summer important? That 2016 free agency period, combined with this past summer, has created a relatively dried out market. One in which the Sixers can play to their advantage. Yes, Covington and Embiid are up for extensions. Yes, the Sixers are nowhere near a prime free agent destination. But more often than not, players will go where the money is.

And the Sixers hold one of the better organizational positions in terms of chances to win, out of any other free agent players with major cap space. This isn’t an some false assurance that Philadelphia will land a top free agent, but they can make a major impact depth-wise in building a competitive force to challenge an NBA currently at the mercy of the Warriors.

Philadelphia put themselves in a position to succeed. They’ll continue to grow as Western Conference Goliaths start to see the latter half of their glorious reigns. The timing of this rebuild somehow worked out perfectly. Before their prime period of winning is here, they’ll take their early bumps while winning a championship seems like an impossibility.

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The hope is they blossom into the next powerhouse, but for now, the Sixers can sit comfortably in the promising state they are currently in. It’s not complacency, but further patience.