It's not just that he tanked, but he made solid moves along the way too.
-Trading MCW for a first round pick
-Traded Jrue Holiday for Nerlens Noel and a first round pick (Noel was a decent prospect at the time)
-Traded Elfrid Payton for Dario Saric and a 2nd rounder
-Traded Thaddeus Young for Luc Mbah A Moute and a first
-The Stauskas trade
Drafting record certainly not the best, but he recognized that the 76ers were a perennial 8th - 10th seed, 40 max win team, that struggled to sign top free agents. Now what team does that sound like? So he wheeled and dealed, and yes definitely tanked, to try and eventually acquire as many impact players as he could to make the team a more sustainable playoff team long term. Whether or not he would've accomplished that is unknown. The team now is more of a reflection of current management. But his logic was very sound whether anyone wants to admit. To win you need stars. To get stars you need to be in Los Angeles, or get them in the draft. He tried to increase his odds of having the latter happen by employing this aggresive strategy. After years of us failing to put anything meaningful together by the "Approved" method, I certainly wouldn't mind us trying this strategy out.