Experts Agree: The Sixers Are Gonna Be the Absolute Worst Next Season

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Well, we traded our only reliable offensive creator, we drafted a guy who might not play at all next year, and we still don't have coach. Aside from that, things are looking bright for the Philadelphia 76ers--seriously, we got all them prospects and draft picks and cap space and whatnot--but obviously, winning games next year does not appear to be a top priority. Indeed, a whole lot of people think that they just might end up winning fewer games than any other team next season.

This includes Bill Simmons of Grantland, who today evaluated the Sixers as the best bet (+120) to win the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes (a.k.a. "Riggin' for Wiggins") in next year's draft lottery. Simbo writes:

Philly (+120): They're cruising a few million under the league's salary floor,11 with no real interest in signing anyone else. (They didn't even halfheartedly pursue Pekovic.) They haven't hired a coach yet. Their offense revolves around Evan Turner and Thad Young. They're bringing in two lottery picks from the worst draft in 13 years — one (Noel) is recovering from major knee surgery, the other (Michael Carter-Williams) can't shoot and might not even be a point guard. And their organization seems totally fine with sucking as flagrantly as possible. This is gonna be tough to beat, folks.

You know what the last piece of the Riggin' for Wiggins puzzle is for the Sixers? I have four words for you: that's right, "Head coach Allen Iverson."

Very original on that last point, Bill.

Simmons isn't the only one who seems to think the Sixers are headed for the cellar in '13-'14. The SB Nation NBA blogger community recently assembled their aggregate Power Rankings going into the next season, with the Heat a unanimous choice for #1, and the Sixers a not-quite-unanimous-but-pretty-close choice for #30. (The average ranking among the 22 bloggers was a 29.7, and no one had them listed higher than 27.) Jason Patt, who assembled the rankings, sympathizes:

And finally, those poor Sixers. It's going to be a rough go for them next year, although that's pretty much the plan. If the Basketball Gods have any mercy, Philadelphia wins the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes in exchange for dealing with the Bynum nightmare.

That would be a start, sure. In the meantime, though, get ready for more L's than a full Tetris screen next season. You heard it everywhere first.

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