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Passing on Michael Porter Jr. in NBA draft shows change in how Sixers view themselves | Bob Ford

It isn’t easy to judge at any given moment where the 76ers stand on the elongated time line designed to take the team from laughingstock to last laugh on the rest of the NBA.

That’s a relative measurement, one that trends upward every time a player develops faster or better than anticipated, and takes a dip downward when the occasional top pick in the draft becomes unable to shoot a basketball. The finish line advances and recedes, but the idea is to keep plodding forward regardless.

There’s no doubt that the past season, with 52 wins and a playoff series victory, represented a large step in, for want of a better term, the Process of developing a champion.