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Each Tuesday for the 2013-14 NBA season, Liberty Ballers will be rounding up NBA Power Rankings from around the internet, and bring them to you in one place. In all likelihood, they will not be pretty.
ESPN has conducted the two Power Rankings from which we'll be compiling today .
NBA Future Power Rankings-ESPN.com
ESPN's future power rankings is an annual article conducted by a group of writers, projecting the on-court success of teams from this season, to 2015-16. The rating is determined by players, management, money, market, and draft picks. The Sixers were ranked 25th, down one slot from last year's post. It's hard to argue that the Sixers outlook is worse than it was last year, even if just marginally. The team has it's first direction in years, starting by plummeting through the core of Earth into the pits of basketball hell, but then rising back up over the course of the next few seasons.
Here's what Tom Haberstroh had to say:
Now this, my friends, is what a teardown looks like. After years of spinning in the wheel of mediocrity, 76ers owner Joshua Harris made the call this offseason: Out with the old, in with the new. Harris pushed Rod Thorn, Tony DiLeo and Doug Collins out of the front office and brought in the progressive mind of Sam Hinkie, the former right-hand man to Houston GM Daryl Morey, to take over the decision-making duties.
Hinkie left no doubt about the team's new direction: straight into the tank. He traded 23-year-old All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans on draft night for No. 6 pick Nerlens Noel and a protected 2014 first-round pick. He drafted promising point guard Michael Carter-Williams, wiped his hands clean of the Andrew Bynum mess and spent four months looking for a head coach before settling on former Spurs assistant Brett Brown. And the books? The Sixers are currently millions below the salary floor and have no guaranteed money past 2014-15.
It's a fresh start for a team that desperately needed it. The roster is littered with question marks and the team should be horrifically bad, but Hinkie is flush with rebuilding assets ahead of a loaded 2014 draft class. Check back in a couple years. (Not that the Philly faithful needed a reminder.)
The Mag's Ultimate Standings-ESPN.com
ESPN The Magazine conducted a poll, asking fans to rate their favorite teams. Those votes were then split up into eight categories (title track, coaching, players, fan relations, affordability, stadium experience, and bang for your buck). Out of 122 sports franchises, the Sixers came in 94th, just one place higher than the Philadelphia Eagles. They ranked 9th worst in players, with the Sacramento Kings getting the honor of having the worst players in all of sports.