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The Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks, two marquee NBA franchises, are in the midst of rebuilds, but they took far different paths to reach this point.

When these teams meet at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, we'll get a small glimpse of which team has the brighter future.

The 76ers have been bad on purpose in their rebuild, make no mistake about it. General manager Sam Hinkie, who at some point in the next few years (possibly sooner) will be labelled as a genius or a huge fool based on the success of his long-term plan, has put his team in a position to fail.

And fail they have. The 76ers are 1-18 and avoided the worst start in league history by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

The Knicks, meanwhile, have tried to compete for most of the last five years by making signings and trades designed to win now. Instead, the Knicks have missed the playoffs in each of the last two seasons after qualifying from 2010-11 through 2012-13.

This strategy, a common one in James Dolan's tenure as owner, has left them without many valuable assets. New York has made just three first-round picks in the last six drafts and only one of them, 2015 fourth overall selection Kristaps Porzingis, has the potential to be a foundational player. The Knicks also don't own their 2016 first-round pick because they traded it for Andrea Bargnani (a classic Knicks trade gone bad).

The only way for them to acquire quality assets is trading Carmelo Anthony, but how many teams will be willing to give up young players and/or good draft picks for an aging star whose offensive production is no longer elite? He's also a below average defender.

The 76ers have a brighter future because of their stable of draft picks (including future selections acquired in trades), quality of young players already on the roster and coaching staff -- head coach Brett Brown, a former assistant to Gregg Popovich in San Antonio, is a smart basketball man.

However, there are still plenty of question marks surrounding Philly's roster. Jahlil Okafor, the No. 3 pick in the 2015 draft, is a tremendous offensive player, but he's not close to the rim protector you'd expect from someone his size (6-foot-11, 271 pounds). He recently got involved in an altercation before a road game in Boston and now will be accompanied by a security guard when he's out and about, sources recently told ESPN.

Joel Embiid, the No. 3 pick in the 2013 draft, still hasn't played in an NBA game because of injuries, and it's unclear if he will ever see the court. Back and foot ailments have derailed the careers of many big men.

The 76ers also had the No. 10 pick in that draft and selected Elfrid Payton, but they traded him to the Orlando Magic for Dario Saric, who's currently playing in Turkey. Saric is talented, but his time of arrival to the United States isn't certain and there's no guarantee he'll be a good player. Payton already is making a positive impact, particularly on defense, and could have been Philly's starting point guard for many years.

Philly has made several trades as well (both before and during the rebuild), and most of them have not resulted in immediate improvement. The future benefit is there, but just about all of the future draft picks it's acquired have lottery protections.

It's one thing to lose when you have a plan and an attainable goal at the end of the process, and it's quite another to be stockpiling draft picks and making all sorts of trades without a clear roster vision. The 76ers might be the least desirable destination in all of sports at the moment, and that's not going to help them in free agency or the trade market.

Granted, they're in better rebuilding shape than the Knicks, but the advantage is not substantial, and Philly's approach carries a lot of risk. What if Saric and Embiid don't meet expectations or never play in the NBA? What if the additional first-round picks owed to the 76ers in 2016 don't result in anything because of the protections placed on them?

Hinkie has taken many gambles in his time as 76ers GM. If he loses just a couple, Philadelphia's pain could last as long as a decade. That would be a shame for a franchise that used to rank among the league's elite with Hall of Famers such as Julius Erving and Moses Malone giving 76ers fans reasons to cheer each night.

Thumbnail photo via Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports Images