PHILADELPHIA — Having preached against The Process for these 11 years, it delivers me no small measure of delight when the Sixers inevitably falter every spring. Losing on purpose to game the system created a culture of losing, and the Sixers have mastered the art of the springtime collapse against every decent opponent they’ve faced, assuming you consider the 2021 Atlanta Hawks decent.

As such, it is a rite of springtime sportswriting in Philadelphia to review how The Process is going.

It’s fair — generous, even — to define The Process as a plan that emphasized losing on purpose for four straight years to maximize the chances of getting high draft choices who would have the best chance of developing into star players. At the same time, The Process would stockpile future high draft picks to either use as trade capital for established players or resupply the talent pool. Finally, it would clear massive amounts of salary-cap space so as to sign superstars as needed.

The devil, of course, is in the details.

Nerlens Noel, Michael Carter-Williams, Jahlil Okafor, Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz never fulfilled their promise, which proved that drafting 20-year-olds to play a game whose stars are usually between 25 and 30 requires a sorcerer’s foresight and a leprechaun’s luck.

Meanwhile, they gave away Mikal Bridges.

And then …

Their veteran acquisitions left them wanting, too. The first big one, and their best, was Jimmy Butler, who led them to the second round in 2019. But that came about only because Butler was a malcontent in Minnesota. He wasn’t content in Philly, either, so, aware that he couldn’t coexist with Simmons, the Sixers traded him to Miami, Pat Riley’s fiefdom and, as such, the only franchise in which Butler’s ego can be controlled.

Tobias Harris arrived a few months after “Jimmy Buckets,” at (essentially) the cost of two first-round picks, and wound up staying the next five years. He was the most professional 76er since Julius Erving — prepared, available, and accountable — but, at $180 million, he was the most overpaid 76er since Matt Geiger. Harris played hard, and he didn’t pay himself, and it wasn’t Harris’ fault that, in the last five seasons, his win shares (30.8) and value over replacement player (9.3) are less than (this is going to hurt) Bridges (33.4, 11.2).

(Disclaimer: All advanced metrics are flawed.)

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