2017–18 Philadelphia 76ers season

2017–18 Philadelphia 76ers season
Head coach	Brett Brown
General manager	Bryan Colangelo
Owner(s)	Joshua Harris
Arena	Wells Fargo Center
Results
Record	52–30 (.634)
Place	Division: 3rd (Atlantic) Conference: 3rd (Eastern)
Playoff finish	Conference Semifinals (Lost to Celtics 1–4)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	NBCSPHI, NBCSPHI+, 6ABC
Radio	WPEN

The 2017–18 Philadelphia 76ers season was the 69th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was 25–25 after the first 50 games, but finished the remainder of the season with a 27-5 record. It was the team's first 50-win season since 2000–01, when they last made the NBA Finals. The Sixers closed the regular season on a 16-game winning streak, a franchise record as well as becoming the only team in NBA history to end the regular season with 16 consecutive wins in the process (the winning streak continued in the playoffs, but was ended at 17 when the Miami Heat defeated them in Game 2 of the First Round).

The Sixers had acquired the first overall draft pick from the Boston Celtics on June 19, four days before the 2017 NBA draft began in exchange for their third overall draft pick that year (which became Jayson Tatum) and another first round pick in 2019, their own or the Kings which ever is better (Sixers would get the pick if it was #1 overall). They used the 2017 first overall pick to select Markelle Fultz, who missed most of his rookie season due to injuries.

Center Joel Embiid became the first Sixers All-Star since Jrue Holiday in 2013.

They finished the regular season with 52–30 record, which clinched the third seed. In the playoffs, the 76ers faced the sixth-seeded Miami Heat in the First Round, and won in five games, advancing to the Conference Semifinals, where they faced their rivals, the Boston Celtics, losing in five games. It was the 20th meeting in the NBA Playoffs for these two franchises.

Draft picks

Main article: 2017 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position(s)	Nationality	College / Club
1	1	Markelle Fultz	PG	United States	Washington
1	25	Anžejs Pasečņiks	C	Latvia	CB Gran Canaria
2	36	Jonah Bolden	PF	Australia	KK FMP Beograd
2	50	Mathias Lessort	PF	France	Nanterre 92

The Sixers ended the 2016–17 season with the fourth best NBA Draft Lottery odds and also due to trades had a chance to have the Lakers pick, which had the third-best odds of staying in the Top 3, as well as held the possibility to swap picks with the Sacramento Kings, depending on whether Sacramento moved ahead of them or not. It ended with them having the third pick of the 2017 NBA Draft thanks to the Sacramento Kings, while the Kings would end up with the fifth pick of the draft and the Lakers kept their pick as the second pick of the draft. Philadelphia would also have four different second round picks this year, with none of them being their original pick due to the aforementioned trade with Sacramento, but all of their second round picks would be acquired from the previous season via trades. Two of their second round picks were the incentive of trading away Kendall Marshall to the Utah Jazz, where Philadelphia would acquire the best and worst of four different draft picks this year. Another second round pick would be had in a trade deadline deal (alongside the incentive to swap their worst second round pick they acquired from Utah with the Atlanta Hawks) which included champion power forward/center Tiago Splitter in exchange for Ersan İlyasova. Their last second round pick would be acquired from the Dallas Mavericks, where they would have the Mavericks' second round pick this year and in 2020 and Justin Anderson in exchange for center/power forward Nerlens Noel. On June 19, three days before the day of the 2017 NBA Draft began, the 76ers would swap Duke University's Jayson Tatum, their #3 pick with the Boston Celtics (as well as either the Los Angeles Lakers' 2018 first round pick or the Sacramento Kings' 2019 first round pick as long as it isn't the #1 pick in 2019) in exchange for Boston's #1 pick, which ultimately became Markelle Fultz.

As the consensus #1 pick of the draft that year, Fultz showed off a considerable display during his freshman season at the University of Washington. While Markelle wound up being in a rather similar situation that his teammate and former #1 draft pick Ben Simmons had back at Louisiana State University before the 2016 NBA Draft, he did display some of the absolute best efforts he could have possibly provided Washington in what was otherwise a losing season for them. At his only season in Washington, Fultz provided an outstanding stat line of 23.2 points, 5.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 1.6 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game in only 25 games played for them; not only would those statistics be some of the best recorded in Pac-12 history in over 20 years (around the time the division was named the Pac-10), but he also was the first freshman to be named to record averages of at least 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game since LaDrell Washington back in the 1994-95 season. Under such results, he would obviously not only be named a member of the All-Pac-12 First Team, but also be considered a consensus All-American Third Team member for the effort he made to help Washington become competitive in spite of a losing season otherwise. On draft night, Philadelphia would end up trading away some of their second round picks in exchange for future assets, while also gaining a first round pick from the Orlando Magic in the process. In exchange for giving up a protected first round pick of sorts and a 2020 second round pick, the 76ers acquired the Magic's 25th pick, which became the Latvian center Anžejs Pasečņiks of the Herbalife Gran Canaria out in Spain. Throughout his international career, he became a three-time champion in his native land of Latvia before winning a Spanish championship and being named a member of the Liga ACB's All-Young Players Team in more recent years. After that, for the first of Philadelphia's own second round draft picks this year, they selected the Australian power forward Jonah Bolden, a former UCLA student before recently playing for the KK FMP Beograd out in Serbia. While not being particularly special at UCLA, Bolden received a second wind in Serbia by averaging 12.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steal, and 1.0 block per game with the FMP Beograd, which earned him the honor of being the Adriatic League's Top Prospect that year. After that, they would trade their next two second round picks (sophomore point guard Jawun Evans of Oklahoma State University and senior shooting guard Sterling Brown of Southern Methodist University respectively) to the Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks respectively in exchange for cash considerations that'd be had for usage once again on July 1. Finally, with their last second round pick, the 76ers selected the Martinique born French power forward Mathias Lessort of the Nanterre 92 in France's LNB Pro A. In his professional career out in France, Lessort won co-Sixth Man of the Year honors with Matt Howard back with Élan Chalon in 2016 before recently winning the French Basketball Cup and FIBA Europe Cup championships with the Nanterre 92.

Game log

Preseason

2017 pre-season game log
Pre-season: 2–3 (Home: 1–2; Road: 1–1) Game Date Time Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 October 4 Memphis L 89–110 Covington, Okafor (13) Ben Simmons (7) Ben Simmons (9) Wells Fargo Center 18,102 0–1 2 October 6 Boston L 102–110 Jerryd Bayless (15) Robert Covington (7) McConnell, Simmons (5) Wells Fargo Center 17,668 0–2 3 October 9 @ Boston L 96–113 Ben Simmons (15) Johnson, Saric (7) T. J. McConnell (4) TD Garden 18,624 0–3 4 October 11 @ Brooklyn W 133–114 Dario Saric (26) Dario Saric (9) Ben Simmons (6) Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum N/A 1–3 5 October 13 Miami W 119–95 McConnell, Simmons (19) Covington, Embiid, Simmons (7) Ben Simmons (5) Sprint Center 11,249 2–3
2017–18 season schedule

Playoffs

See also: 2018 NBA Playoffs

Standings

Atlantic division

Atlantic Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div	GP
Boston Celtics	0	0	–	0.0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0
Brooklyn Nets	0	0	–	0.0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0
New York Knicks	0	0	–	0.0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0
Philadelphia 76ers	0	0	–	0.0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0
Toronto Raptors	0	0	–	0.0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0

Conference standings

Eastern Conference
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	GP
1	Atlanta Hawks *	0	0	–	–	0
2	Boston Celtics *	0	0	–	0.0	0
3	Brooklyn Nets *	0	0	–	0.0	0
4	Charlotte Hornets	0	0	–	0.0	0
5	Chicago Bulls	0	0	–	0.0	0
6	Cleveland Cavaliers	0	0	–	0.0	0
7	Detroit Pistons	0	0	–	0.0	0
8	Indiana Pacers	0	0	–	0.0	0
9	Miami Heat	0	0	–	0.0	0
10	Milwaukee Bucks	0	0	–	0.0	0
11	New York Knicks	0	0	–	0.0	0
12	Orlando Magic	0	0	–	0.0	0
13	Philadelphia 76ers	0	0	–	0.0	0
14	Toronto Raptors	0	0	–	0.0	0
15	Washington Wizards	0	0	–	0.0	0

Roster

File:Philadelphia 76ers players (2018).jpg

76ers players during a timeout vs the Wizards

2017–18 Philadelphia 76ers roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From SG 1 Anderson, Justin 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1993–11–19 Virginia PG 0 Bayless, Jerryd 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1988–08–20 Arizona SG 18 Belinelli, Marco 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1986–03–25 Italy SF 33 Covington, Robert 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1990–12–14 Tennessee State C 21 Embiid, Joel (C) 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1994–03–16 Kansas PG 20 Fultz, Markelle 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1998–05–29 Washington C 22 Holmes, Richaun 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 245 lb (111 kg) 1993–10–15 Bowling Green PF 23 İlyasova, Ersan 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1987–05–15 Turkey SG 11 Jackson, Demetrius (TW) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 201 lb (91 kg) 1994–09–07 Notre Dame PF 5 Johnson, Amir 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1987–05–01 Westchester HS (CA) SG 30 Korkmaz, Furkan 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 202 lb (92 kg) 1997–07–24 Turkey SF 7 Luwawu-Cabarrot, Timothé 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1995–05–09 France PG 12 McConnell, T. J. 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1992–03–25 Arizona SG 17 Redick, JJ 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1984–06–24 Duke PF 9 Šarić, Dario 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1994–04–08 Croatia PG 25 Simmons, Ben 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1996–07–20 LSU	Head coach Brett Brown Assistant coach(es) Jim O'Brien Lloyd Pierce Billy Lange Kevin Young John Bryant (player development) John Townsend (shooting coach) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended (GL) On assignment to G League affiliate (TW) Two-way affiliate player Injured Roster • Transactions Last transaction: 2018–03–26

Transactions

See also: List of 2017–18 NBA season transactions

Trades

June 19, 2017	To Philadelphia 76ers Markelle Fultz (Pick 1)	To Boston Celtics Jayson Tatum (Pick 3) 2018 first round pick (2 through 5 protected from the L.A. Lakers) If pick does not convey in 2018, a first round pick in 2019 (with protections instead)
June 28, 2017	To Philadelphia 76ers 2018 second round pick Cash considerations	To Houston Rockets Shawn Long
July 6, 2017	To Philadelphia 76ers Cash considerations	To Milwaukee Bucks Sterling Brown (Pick 46)
	To Philadelphia 76ers Cash considerations	To Los Angeles Clippers Jawun Evans (Pick 39)
December 7, 2017	To Philadelphia 76ers Trevor Booker	To Brooklyn Nets Jahlil Okafor Nik Stauskas 2019 second round pick

Free agents

Re-signed

Player	Signed
Joel Embiid	Five-year, $148 million extension

Additions

Player	Signed	Former Team
Furkan Korkmaz	July 4, 2017	Anadolu Efes
JJ Redick	July 8, 2017	Los Angeles Clippers
Amir Johnson	July 8, 2017	Boston Celtics
James Blackmon Jr.	August 30, 2017	Indiana Hoosiers
James Michael McAdoo	Two-way contract	Golden State Warriors
James Young	Two-Way contract	Wisconsin Herd
Larry Drew II	Signed 10-day contract	Sioux Falls Skyforce

Subtractions

Player	Reason Left	New Team
Gerald Henderson	Waived
Alex Poythress	Unrestricted free agent	Indiana Pacers / Fort Wayne Mad Ants
Jacob Pullen	Waived	Mahram Tehran
James Michael McAdoo	Waived

Awards and honors

Player	Award	Notes
Joel Embiid	All-Star	1st All-Star appearance, first 76er voted to All-Star game since 2013