The 100 Greatest Sixers of the 2010s: 40-21
Is Hollis high enough?
Andrew Unterberger is a famous writer who invented the nickname 'Sauce Castillo' and is now writing for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, as part of the 'If Not, Pick Will Convey As Two Second-Rounders' section of the site. You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AUGetoffmygold and can also read him at Billboard.
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This week at If Not, Pick Will Convey as Two Second Rounders, AU is counting down The 100 Greatest Sixers of the 2010s -- ranking players by on-court contributions, as well as general symbolic and cultural importance to the 76ers decade that was. Read on for Nos. 60-41 below, find a more detailed intro and Nos. 100-81 here, 80-61 here, 60-41 here, and check back tomorrow as we finally make our way to No. 1.
40. Nikola Vucevic (2011-12)
It’s funny -- you’d expect there to be maybe more ruefulness and longing surrounding Nikola Vucevic, a prospect who the Sixers dealt in a megadeal for a guy who never played here, and who went on to be an All-Star for another Eastern Conference team. But I don't remember a ton of regret with Big Vooch -- maybe because we staffed the center position pretty credibly not long thereafter, maybe because he wasn't all that tantalizing when he was here, maybe because even when he makes the All-Star team and leads his squad to the playoffs, their ceiling is still no higher than the middling 2011-12 Sixers squad he departed. Anyway, Nik was solid as a rookie here, and he's torched us on the Magic a handful of times since, but it's probably fair that he's played no major part in the hearts and minds of Process Trusters since.
39. Corey Brewer (2019)
Our affair with Corey was brief but passionate: just seven games, remarkably, but since the first three were blowout wins over the Timberwolves and Rockets and then a big road win against the Spurs -- with Brewer playing a combined hour worth of minutes in the last two, hitting some big shots and annoying the shit out of James Harden -- he quickly became everyone's new favorite Sixer. A 20-point, four-steal performance in a big loss to the Nuggets would have seemed to solidify his spot in the rotation, but an 0-fer against the Lakers and a couple other middling showings later -- combined with the temporary reanimation of Wilson Chandler's previously lifeless corpse -- and Brett fell out of love with CB, who was not retained after his second 10-day contract. Could he have been a better option at backup center in the postseason than Greg Monroe or Jonah Bolden? We'll never know for sure.
38. Isaiah Canaan (2015-2016)
Not sure what the ideal role would've been for Isaiah Canaan on a pro team, but he was certainly overextended as the Sixers' starting point guard and/or main gunner over the 2015-16 season, after coming over from Houston at the previous trade deadline in exchange for K.J. McDaniels. Undersized and not particularly athletic, Canaan routinely struggled to get his shot off at a consistent clip, and when the ball wasn't going in, he didn't offer a ton else. Still, dude was one of the ultimate good soldiers of the most frustrating campaigns in modern Sixers history, and he undoubtedly had his moments: Most notably, his four-point play against the Golden State Warriors in what was almost the greatest win of the early Process (and still kinda was, even though they lost) -- commonly referred to as the Isaiah Canaan game. Still one of just five Sixers in franchise history to hit 175 threes in a season, for whatever that's worth.
37. Spencer Hawes (2010-2014)
Not particularly likeable even for his on-court play, Spencer Hawes' obnoxious right-wing tendencies have made him all but persona non grata among Process Trusters since he was traded for Henry Sims and Earl Clark at the deadline six seasons ago (immediately after giving one of the great DGAF pre-deadline performances in league history). There were times when he seemed a fine model of modern center, though, stretching the floor and moving the ball and even blocking a shot or two -- never for long enough to totally convince that he was a future All-Star, but frequently for long enough to make us grateful he was here over Sam Dalembert at least. He got MVP chants in the home opener in 2012-2013, and no one around for that first Process season of 2013-14 will ever forget the Spencer Hawes finger guns game against the Bucks, a moment of pure joy whose memory got us through some long nights in the season's second half.
36. Nick Young (2012-2013)
You remember the falling-out-of-bounds shot, right? That's about all you need to remember from the Nick Young experience. I still maintain the only surprising thing about it was that it didn't go in.
35. Marco Belinelli (2018)
Arguably should be higher due to his primary association with one of the happiest stretches in modern Sixers history -- the 16-game win streak to end the 2017-2018 season, in which he really helped the team open up offensively -- as well as one of the biggest shots in all Process lore, a game-tying buzzer-beater at the end of Game Three against the Celtics in '18, a.k.a. the Confetti Game. Why not higher then? Well, mostly because neither of those are really what Process Trusters first think of when they think of Marco Belinelli -- rather, they think of how annoying it is that people continue to insist the team isn't the same since he left, ignoring the fact that he proved largely unplayable in the postseason when he was roundly exposed for the defensive liability he was. A fun and valuable post-deadline pickup, but ultimately not really a player of huge consequence.
34. Kyle O'Quinn (2019)
Admittedly I formed this ranking before all the Instagram acronym drama, and it seems all too possible that ranking a third-string (fourth-string?) center this high based on less than half a season of work looks ridiculous in a couple years/months/weeks. But wow did we fall for Kyle O'Quinn. Advanced stats be damned -- the dude could rebound, pass, defend (kinda), shoot (kinda), and smile like no backup big we'd had previously. We spent years coveting him, we finally landed him, and he's been everything we've dreamed of since -- even if he's also made it clear why he really shouldn't be more than an 15-minute-a-night guy, and how If all goes to plan, he probably shouldn't even get that much PT in the Playoffs. Our lives are still richer for having found him, certainly.
33. Richaun Holmes (2015-2018)
When asked the then-de-rigueuer "Jah or Nerlens?" question about our ongoing backup center battle at the beginning of the 2016-'17 season by friend of the blog Jason Lipshutz, interviewee Amos Lee threw a curveball by answering "Richaun." The springy big man -- did the Bowling Green Massacre ever catch on as a nickname? -- certainly made some fans with his high-energy, dunk-heavy style, even if he was only fourth on the team's depth chart a lot of the time. That still led to plenty of minutes in those days, as centers above him nursed injuries and trade rumors, though never quite a permanent-enough role to insure his future here, before he was traded to Phoenix for cash in the 2018 offseason. It's kinda fun to now see him killing it in Sacramento, certainly.
32. Luc Mbah a Moute (2014-2015)
The first true taste of veteraniness brought in to instill order during the second full campaign of the Process -- though to be the rookie season for Mbah a Moute's countryman Joel Embiid, who LMAM actually discovered at a Cameroonian basketball camp not that many years earlier. Joel missed the season again, and Prince Luc's mentorship ended up not being that needed. But we were still grateful for the quasi-stability he brought to the lineup and the franchise with his defensive-minded, light-shooting presence, even if he was never quite as productive as we would've wanted him to be. For his role in helping to get Embiid to the States, though, he's top 40 on this list, minimum.
31. Henry Sims (2014-2015)
On the surface, certainly not as productive a Sixer as the fellow big he was traded for in Spencer Hawes -- but Henry Sims was beloved in Philly for his early-Process efforts in a way Hawes probably never could be. He just plugged away at his modest offensive half-court game, finding his way into low-octane post-ups, plodding mid-range jumpers, and other moves of middling efficiency. His numbers were never exemplary (9.0 PPG and 5.5 RPG on 48% shooting for his Sixers career) and as an NBA big he proved quickly outmoded. But the obvious competence to his old-man game made him a Hinkie-era star, a minor victory where the losses were getting more and more all-consuming. Would he find a role on these Sixers? Probably not. Would he always be a welcome presence at the Center? Yeah, you know Lickface.
30. Marreese Speights (2008-2011)
Sadly, most of Marreese Speights' most productive stretchers as a Sixer come in his first year and a half as a pro, thus falling out of bounds for this list. And anyway, Speights was sort of a player out of time as an athletic stretch four who mostly took long twos -- today, you'd persuade him to step back to the three-point line and maybe play him as a small-ball five, unleashing all sorts of offensive possibilities in the half-court. Still, while Mo Speezy would go on to win a title with the Warriors, his greatest contribution to NBA culture of course remains his repeated torching his old Sixers coach on Twitter, with understated missives like "S/o to #dougcollins" and "Doug Collins lol" remaining forever iconic in Sixers lore.
29. JaKarr Sampson (2014-2016)
Perhaps the purest of the "If Only He Could Shoot" Process regulars, largely because the things he could do on the court were obvious extremely and shooting was very clearly never going to be one of them. Still, as a No-3-Yes-D forward for Philly in the mid-'10s, he got a fair amount of burn, still holding the distinction of being the highest-scoring Sixer in Game 82 against Miami at the end of the 2014-'15 season, a.k.a. The Game That Nobody Wanted to Win. Not a great player, but absolutely as Process as it gets, and the fact that he's played on three more teams since -- including averaging 20 a game for Chicago last year (in just four games, but still) -- and remains not only in the league today, but on the same team as T.J. McConnell, can't help but be fairly hilarious.
28. Landry Shamet (2018-2019)
I got into a long debate on Twitter yesterday about whether or not Landry Shamet's perimeter defense had been improving when he got traded from the Sixers at the deadline nearly a year ago. Why? Because as Sixers fans and Process Trusters, these are the matters we simply never stop relitigating, as the sweet-shooting, acceptable-handling two-guard was one of the primary assets that went out in the controversial Tobias Harris trade, and a piece I'm still furious Elton & Co. felt they had to give up. Does it even matter, now that Tobi is averaging 20 a game here, Shamet has struggled through injuries and the dreaded Inconsistency in his first full season as a Clipper, and both teams are finals contenders regardless? Of course it matters. What kind of Results-ass question is that?
27. Lou Williams (2005-2012)
Lou Williams has now been not on the Sixers longer than he was ever on the Sixers, and boy does it feel like it -- the guy has lived a full career since leaving Philly, and grown as a player and veteran presence in a way that few of us could've predicted when he was permitted to walk at the end of the team's unexpectedly lengthy 2012 playoff run. The deadly late-game force and generally irrepressible scorer wasn't nearly as potent in Philly, though he was nearly as efficient, as stats like PER always favored him in a way that the eye test didn't. My primary memory of Lou is still of someone you could take out of games when it really mattered -- someone who was trusted more than he should have been out of necessity, but someone who's own bottomless self-confidence was always more inspiring than his actual performances. Time was I'd rather give Kwame Brown a prominent front office role than bring Sweet Lou back into the fold, but now I can't think of hardly anything more fun than the idea of him infuriating opposing second-unit defenders for us for 25 minutes a night.
26. K.J. McDaniels (2014-2015)
I considered putting him top 20, certainly -- top 10, even. I loved K.J. McDaniels beyond compare; a combo forward of solid defensive instincts, unlimited athleticism and unstoppable forward momentum, who hit his jumpers at a just high-enough rate to convince you that maybe someday he could hit them at a slightly higher rate. A second-rounder signed to the infamous Hinkie Special contract, things went sour quickly with K.J. as he (or his mother?) decided he was worth more than his contract, and Our Once and Always Dark Lord decided to be proactive by trading him to Houston for Isaiah Canaan before he could demand a contract beyond what the Sixers would pay for him. I don't totally understand why he didn't catch on elsewhere, I'd still give him 5 years and $50 million if he asked nicely, and I still wear my No. 14 McDaniels jersey proudly -- even though not many fans recognize the name anymore.
25. Ish Smith (2015, 2015-2016)
The guy who saved the Sixers twice, and by "saved the Sixers" I of course mean "upgraded them from historically bad to slightly less historically bad." But hell, both times we needed the bump -- first to give Nerlens Noel an actually point guard-y point guard to play with and keep him from going completely off the deep end, and then just to help our overmatched roster claw our way to 10 wins and avoid all-time NBA ignominy. Both times he did his job and not a ton more, his lack of a consistent jumper proving too big a hinderance to his overall effectiveness as a heady distributor, proving both how he was able to survive as a journeyman one-guard and why his journey was continually ongoing. Hard to imagine getting through those more brutal Process stretches without him, though.
24. Ersan Ilyasova (2016-2017, 2018)
I hated the trade for Ersan Ilyasova when we made it at the beginning of the 2016-'17 season -- no way was this guy actually going to figure to be a player of consequence for the rebuilding Sixers, I figured, assuming his primary function on the roster would be to steal valuable developmental minutes from Dario Saric. I was wrong: Ilyasova's floor-stretching and rebounding at the four proved key early on to helping give Joel Embiid the space he needed to find his way into the NBA game, and factored heavily into month-long glory of #SixersJanuary. He proved expendable once Embiid went down for the year -- but speaking of two-timers, he came back just in time to help the Sixers realize their late 2017-'18 identity as an up-tempo, shoot-out-the-lights full-court attack. Similarly irritating when fans acted like his missing presence was the reason for everything wrong with the Sixers last year, but unlike with Belinelli, we actually did kinda miss Erasn a bit.
23. James Ennis III (2019)
When James Ennis came over from Houston near the 2019 trade deadline, he had already bounced around enough for us to know that he probably wasn't going to be an automatic three-and-D type player -- and I even remember the Rockets fans I knew sorta cackling at us, like, "You'll see." And we kinda did: Ennis was brutal from the field for the remainder of the regular season, shooting just 31% from three across 18 games for the Sixers. But his energy made him useful anyway, and in the playoffs he hit just enough shots for his defense and general hustle to make him one of only two rotation guys we could trust off the bench against Toronto. This year he's actually been hitting from deep pretty well too, basically making him an MVP candidate -- or at least a fan favorite and Team Fuck Shit Up fixture. It's better than we ever would've had reason to hope for. James Ennis Group forever.
22. Hollis Thompson (2013-2017)
Impossible to imagine the peak Process years without Hollis Thompson, as reliably slightly-below-average a basketball player as you could ask for. Hollis never really lit it up for us, and he never really shot us out of games either -- he just clocked in, hit two out of five triples, and then generally went about his business otherwise. He was nice, he was low-maintenance, he was uncoveted by other teams. The definitive Hollis sequence was in the MLK Day game against the Knicks in 2016, when he got fouled beyond the arc down two late and missed three consecutive free throws, then made the tough go-ahead triple the next trip down -- though the Sixers still lost. That was sorta the Hollis Thompson experience in miniature: You always kinda broke even with him, and then you usually lost afterwards. For a team that wanted to lose a whole lot of games without also losing their collective identity or sanity, Hollis was obviously invaluable.
21. Matisse Thybulle (2019)
Calling Matisse Thybulle a "fan favorite" or "cult favorite" at this point might be reductive to the point of being insulting; no one calls Bruce Springsteen a fan or cult favorite when his cult of fans is big enough to sell out any major stadium across the United States. Maybe Matisse isn't quite Boss-big yet, but his approval rating is similarly unanimous, as the defensive-minded rookie's enthusiasm for deflections and open threes is nearly as infectious as his impossibly dimply smile. We'll still have to see if he can hang in the playoffs, and if he can add enough to his game to make him inextricable to the Sixers once his rookie shine has dulled. But if all the Sixers of the 2010s ran for public office simultaneously, Matisse could easily land himself a Secretary of State slot at a minimum -- and he'd probably even get a spare vote or two for President.