Screen Shot 2012-09-24 at 3.26.01 PMPhoto: Sixers PR man Mike Preston

OK– I don’t have the full quote here, mostly because I wasn’t part of the throng (read: handful) of media on, um, hand as the Sixers introduced their 80th choice for GM, Tony DiLeo, this afternoon. DiLeo said that expectations are the highest they’ve been since 2001. But also that it’s a transition year:

Screen Shot 2012-09-24 at 3.28.05 PM

I’m sorry, transition? Why is this OK? Hasn’t it been a transition year for, like, the last 11 years? Are there steps involved– rebuilding, retooling, transitioning, winning? Are we just in year three of a four-year process? Is this The Song That Doesn’t End? IS FUCKING LAMB CHOP'S STILL ON THE AIR?

I don’t know.

Here’s what I do know, though: The Sixers held a goddamn public press conference at the Constitution Center to celebrate the arrival of Andrew Bynum and the one-year remaining on his contract (and Jason Richardson, who, if you haven’t heard, has the 15th most made three-pointers in NBA history). And now the in-house GM has the nutsack to call it a transition year? 

I’m not really angry. I’m fake angry. I’m not yelling– I’m kind of laughing. But for real, hoss, transition year? When do we get out of transition years and go to years in which we’re going to take a fucking swing at this thing

I know it’s only year two of a new ownership group, so things will take time. And I get that DiLeo is slowly transitioning to Rod Thorn’s role. But if the Sixers want to find themselves in the same breath as the Phillies, Eagles and Flyers, then they need to stop transitioning to some end goal and start, you know, actually at least acting like they belong.

In the past five years, this town has seen two World Series, a Stanley Cup, a perennially contending (on paper) NFL team, Ruben Amaro's swinging dick and, probably unrelated, the emergence of Sheena Parveen and Jillian Mele. We like winning formulas… and NBC's shameless pimping of hot young personalities. A constantly rebuilding NBA team interests very few people. The Sixers have done many things right this offseason, but it sucks to hear transition year, because I thought they actually had a shot of being a real NBA team. 

DiLeo also mentioned that the Sixers will hire an advanced stats guy— that's kind of cool.