Was it the 24-win season or the 18-win season?
No matter, these were the respective win totals my first two seasons as the TV voice of the 76ers.
Let me take you back to the mid-90s and those 24- and 18-win teams, coached by John Lucas.
Luke was an energetic, excitable guy who would frequently pace the sidelines and unintentionally obscure the view of yours truly as I’d try to announce the game. One night we were in Detroit and, as was the custom with those Sixers teams, they were getting beaten badly -- I want to say they were down 30 or more points to the Pistons in the fourth quarter. At one point, Lucas was getting particularly agitated with the play of his team, so he decided he would take a seat on the scorer’s table right in front of me! But as the action proceeded, Lucas stayed put, totally obstructing my vision, causing me to weave left and right of him in order to view the game. After a minute or two, there was a timeout, but Luke just continued to sit in the same spot. After we got into commercial, I tapped him on the shoulder:
“Luke, what are you doing?” I asked. “You’re sitting right in front of me. I can’t see the game.”
“Zoo,” he responded, “trust me when I tell you, you don’t want to have to see this game.”
The mid-1990s were not a good time for Sixers basketball. The centerpiece of the team was Shawn Bradley. Players like Lloyd Daniels, Alphonso Ford, Elmer Bennett and Trevor Wilson came and went. There was little direction and no plan.
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That’s the one thing Sixers fans can hold true to 20 years later -- there is a direction and there is a game plan.
The team’s current free fall will only help the Sixers come the draft lottery, hopefully leading to having the top pick in a talent-rich draft. And if the teams end up drafting in the inverse order of the current NBA standings, the 76ers would get to use New Orleans’ pick (protected top 5) at the 11th spot. This is aside from the fistful of second-round picks accrued by Sixers president/general manager Sam Hinkie and the substantial amount of salary cap room the team will have, as well.
As of this writing, the 76ers have lost 18 consecutive games. The franchise record for consecutive losses is 20. They’ve already broken the old mark of 13 straight home losses with their 14th in a row on Wednesday night to Sacramento.
Indeed, these are tough times to be a fan. But interestingly enough, as I meet and greet many of you outside as well as inside of Wells Fargo Center, the feeling is close to unanimous -- you like the direction of the program and anticipate the changes this coming summer.
So while we watch the Sixers go through the last 18 games of the season, take heart in the fact that there’s a plan ready to be executed. It’s certainly a lot better than the time John Lucas insisted I shouldn’t watch.