The Philadelphia 76ers are no longer interested in rebuilding.
Step one of The Process was to sacrifice four painful and humiliating seasons for future assets. They now have Joel Embiid, two incoming No. 1 picks, and a handful of other young pieces to show for it.
Philadelphia is now at step two, which is to actually start winning games. Sixers guard Nik Stauskas stopped short of predicting a playoff appearance, but he said unequivocally that the Sixers are looking to compete.
"We've dealt with what people called The Process for a long time," Stauskas told theScore at the Kiss IPF Goodbye Charity Event.
"It's time that The Process is over, it's time that we start winning games, and start competing. That's really the main goal moving forward."
It was plainly obvious that the Sixers intended to lose in recent seasons. They eschewed established contributors to stuff the roster full of unproven prospects, while also ignoring free agents to sell their cap space for draft picks. Add in a plague of major injuries to their key players and losses naturally added up at a record rate.
The priorities have now changed. Philadelphia made their intentions loud and clear this summer when they committed $34 million next season to veterans Amir Johnson and J.J. Redick.
Redick is expected to provide reliable outside shooting, but more importantly, the 33-year-old will be counted upon along with Johnson to establish a culture of winning. The 23-year-old Stauskas sees Redick as an inspiration for how he could model his career going forward.
"He's someone that I look up to. He was a guy that, as a young player in the league, he made strides every year and he continuously got better. Because J.J. Redick wasn't this level of player when he first came in. He was a great player at Duke, but it took him some time to figure it out," Stauskas said.
"It's someone who I feel like I could learn a lot from this year as far as his regiment and routines, and his mentality towards the game. I'm really looking forward to playing alongside him," he added.
Vegas is evidently buying what Stauskas and the Sixers are selling. Philadelphia's over-under total for the upcoming year is being placed at 42.5 wins despite the team averaging less than 19 victories over the last four seasons.
