Fansided

Financial Experts Embrace Tanking With Philadelphia 76ers

By Cory Buck

Dec 3, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard K.J. McDaniels (14) and forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (12) clap during the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The 76ers defeated the Timberwolves 85-77. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 3, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard K.J. McDaniels (14) and forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (12) clap during the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. The 76ers defeated the Timberwolves 85-77. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /
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The owners of the Philadelphia 76ers are applying what they’ve learned in the financial world to enforce a long-term approach to building the team.

The Philadelphia 76ers aren’t just bad. They’re the worst team in North American professional sports and it might not even be close. It took them 18 games just to win one, and that win came against the nearly-as-bad Minnesota Timberwolves. The 76ers are plain awful and that’s exactly how their owners want it, thanks to a system that rewards the worst teams in the NBA, and makes tanking the foremost strategy for a rebuilding club.

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“They’re tearing it down from a performance standpoint, while building it up on the management side,” said Scott Rosner, a sports business professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of business, per the New York Times. “It’s unorthodox. It’s risky. And it may not work.”

It might not work, but the team has little other choice in the matter. The NBA isn’t a league built on depth. It’s built on star power, and the best way to get stars is in the top half of the draft.

“In taking that approach, you’re going to struggle,” Rosner added. “That means you’re going to lose in the short term to win in the long term.”

That’s the best case scenario anyways, and it’s one the Wall Street-based owners of the 76ers have embraced.

“This is the youngest team in NBA history. With that comes the perils of youth,” said chief executive Scott O’Neill.

It’s a controversial and fan-unfriendly approach to team building, but it’s one 76ers owners haven’t shied from. How it works out will be determined not just this season, but in seasons to come.

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