The Process

The Philadelphia 76ers, under general manager Sam Hinkie, embarked on a multi-year tanking strategy: lose games, acquire top draft picks, build from the bottom up. The front office called it “The Process.” Joel Embiid, their prize asset, spent his first two seasons injured and on the bench. He went to Twitter, embraced the brand, and told everyone to “Trust the Process.” He became the nickname.

It was part irony, part earnest commitment, and entirely self-aware. Embiid understood that he was the bet Philadelphia was making on the future, and he leaned into the absurdity of the whole thing.

That Joel Embiid is the destination at the end of a deliberate, patient, multi-year plan — the proof that trusting in a long-term process was correct and will eventually produce a championship.

Here is APEX’s uncomfortable finding: Joel Embiid has never been the number-one player in the APEX rankings for any season in the model’s dataset. He has been top-five. He won MVP in 2023 and the model respected his season. But the process was supposed to produce the best player in basketball, and by APEX’s accounting, it has produced a top-five center in an era when the top of the list belongs to someone else.

The other issue: “The Process” was about an organizational strategy. It was never about Embiid’s game. The nickname describes a front-office philosophy and adopted a human mascot. What the nickname is actually claiming about Embiid’s basketball is: nothing specific.