The Cubs, The Plan, the World Series and …. the 76ers? Yes.

You don’t need any other reminder of Theo Epstein’s golden touch than the Cubs’ World Series trophy, the one that has been traveling and hamming it up like the Stanley Cup. You can’t move these days without tripping over the trophy, though I dare any fan of the team to complain about a stubbed toe after 107 seasons of futility.

Almost everything the Cubs president has done has been successful, and that’s nearly as amazing as the championship itself. We take his record for granted, and we really shouldn’t. Epstein has been right on so many players that the occasional failure, the Edwin Jacksons of his world, are just something to tease him about now.

Lots of teams in lots of sports are generally following The Plan, Epstein’s approach to tearing down and rebuilding a franchise, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be successful at it. In fact, inevitability was the weakest argument of those Cubs fans who saw The Plan as sacred scripture – that because the franchise was rebuilding and accumulating top prospects, it was only a matter of time before the team won.

Much had to go very, very right for that to happen. Kris Bryant had to turn into a superstar. Addison Russell had to live up to the hype surrounding him. Kyle Schwarber twice had to turn into Mr. October, even though he has played in only 71 regular-season games to date.

None of this was a given when those players were toiling in the minors, and that was what some of us realists were trying to point out to the masses, who were having none of it.

I was thinking about that last week when the 76ers announced that Ben Simmons, the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, would miss the rest of the season because of a broken foot that hadn’t healed properly. He has yet to play a minute for the Sixers.

Despite trade-deadline rumors last week, Philadelphia chose not to move Jahlil Okafor, who has had his struggles on and off the court. The 76ers are in Year 4 of what they call The Process, which sounds a lot like The Plan, mostly because it’s the same thing, only without the success. Okafor, the third pick overall in the 2015 draft, was supposed to be a cornerstone of the franchise. But sometimes the best-laid plans don’t cooperate right away.

The 76ers hit rock bottom on purpose in the 2013-14 season, ridding themselves of anything resembling talent and putting together a team that couldn’t win, all in the name of amassing high draft picks. And amass they did. Going 19-63 that season allowed them to get Kansas center Joel Embiid with the third overall pick in 2014. Duke’s Okafor followed the next season, and then finally, in the culmination of all that glorious losing, the 76ers took Simmons with the top pick.

Three stud players and where are the 76ers? Without Simmons, very much not sure about Okafor, extremely happy with Embiid and third from the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.

Compare that with the Cubs, who went the tanking route under Epstein, starting in 2012.

Bryant, the second pick overall in the 2013 draft, was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2015 and won the Most Valuable Player award last year.

Russell, a former Oakland first-round pick acquired in a 2014 trade, was an All-Star last season, his second year in the big leagues, and drove in 95 runs.

Schwarber, the fourth pick overall in the 2014 draft, starred in the playoffs for the Cubs in 2015 and 2016 – even though a knee injury kept him out of most of the 2016 regular season. Four years after Epstein’s hire, the Cubs were in the National League Championship Series.

Clearly, the jury is still out on the 76ers. But the point here is that just because a team decides to rebuild doesn’t mean it will work. Or, maybe the point is that there is only one Epstein.

Things happen. Players don’t progress the way scouts and general managers expected. Players get hurt, and high hopes are put on hold.

That’s the stunning thing about the Cubs. Bryant was everything they hoped he would be, and more. Much of the young talent they stockpiled before and after Epstein arrived has turned into major-league contributors: Javy Baez, Albert Almora Jr., Willson Conteras and Carl Edwards Jr. Schwarber got hurt early last season, and the Cubs won 103 games anyway.

And don’t forget good fortune. The Cubs have said pitcher Mark Appel was the top player on their 2013 draft board. But when Houston took him with the No. 1 overall pick, the Cubs, choosing second, had to settle for Bryant. Appel has yet to pitch in the big leagues.

Even when you have a plan, you need some luck too.