How Mike Gansey Will Tell 76ers Fans the Direction They’re Heading Towards in His First NBA Draft

On Tuesday night, it will be the unofficial “first day of work” for Mike Gansey. The new man running the show of the 76ers front office will make his first selection of his career in Philadelphia at No. 22. It felt that way for years; Sixers fans wanted the former president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, out of the front office for a multitude of reasons. And now, Gansey will get his first chance to put his mark on the newest franchise he will be running. 

What Gansey does with pick 22 will tell fans everything they need to know about what comes next.

The writing was on the wall for Morey. Following another playoff collapse in the second round, he was finally let go after six seasons with the team. He was aggressive, and now it feels like he set the team back. He wanted to maximize the window around Joel Embiid by bringing in superstars, but that eventually caught up with him. After trading away multiple first-round selections and wasting too much money, he paid the price. He left Gansey in a tough position.

“I don’t look at it as a timeline,” Gansey said during his introductory press conference earlier this month. “I just look at like we have those four, and we got to maximize those four. Obviously, VJ [Edgecombe] and Tyrese [Maxey] are younger, but Paul [George] and Joel can still play at a high level. … We gotta rely on those four, and obviously keep them on the floor, and then just build around them.”

Gansey can’t erase the past, but he’s not trying to. He knows this team can still play at an elite level.

After spending the bulk of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Gansey worked all the way up to becoming the team’s general manager. He had a sustainable approach to roster construction with great success. He assisted in drafting Darius Garland, developed Evan Mobley, and built a culture around a core led by Donovan Mitchell rather than trading picks or wasting cap space. Because of this, Cleveland became a contender in the Eastern Conference. They trusted the development process, something the Sixers failed to do. 

“And then the big part is just internal development,” Gansey said. “With Tyrese, VJ, and some of our other young guys, they’ve got to get better, too. I think it’s internal growth, 22, free agency, and trying to add as much depth as we can to this roster.”

In Gansey’s introductory press conference with the team, he told everyone the Sixers weren’t a championship-level team. For a team that has had the aspirations and the players to win a championship, it stings to hear that. But it feels like this has been the norm for fans who have been dealing with nothing but playoff disappointment.

“They got swept in the second round, so it’s not a championship-caliber team right now,” Gansey said. “But we’re going to work on that. Getting the big four together on the floor, but we’re going to do everything we can to bring players in here that fit, and that obviously can help.… We got a great staff here, and we’re going to do everything we can to get the best players in here to help us get to the mountaintop.”

So, how does this tell Sixers fans what to expect during draft night?

Under Morey, the Sixers would have used the No. 22 pick as part of a trade for another superstar, a decision that would have drawn mixed reactions from fans given the circumstances they have witnessed over the past few seasons. It was Morey who was able to get the first-round pick, but it came at a cost of trading rising youngster Jared McCain, which left a sour feeling in the Sixers’ mouths. But Morey is gone, and the Sixers won’t be trading that first-round pick. They want someone whom they can develop, and if it has to wait a couple of seasons, the front office will wait. 

“I think with where we’re at now … we have Pick 22 in the draft. We got to hit on that,” Gansey said. “We got to get a good player there. Just building depth. We got to get guys in here in free agency that we like; we got to get minimum guys.”

This is what the Sixers really do need. There’s no need to bring in another superstar here. It hasn’t worked. Embiid’s health will always be in question. George is in his mid-thirties. Maxey and Edgecombe can’t carry this team by themselves. The team needs players who will grow into contributors, not someone whom they are going to “sell high” on.

Obviously, the draft won’t fix Philadelphia overnight. No single draft ever does. All the fans and the team can hope for is that Gansey can change how the team operates under him now. After years and years of frustration from Morey, Tuesday night will give some sense of whether or not fans should start believing that Gansey is the right man for the job.

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