MagicMadness wrote:Philly had the right idea.
Let's talk about Philadelphia...
Sam Hinkie got hired in July of 2013. Here's the major moves from the process.
1. Traded Jrue Holiday to New Orleans for 2016 1st round pick (Nerlens Noel) and 2017 1st round pick (Elfrid Payton)-So right off the bat, Hinkie started out in a better place than Weltman/Hammond did. He had a player on the roster he inherited that he was able to flip for TWO lottery picks. Magic had no such player. Outside of Gordon, they didn’t inherit anyone that would be worth one 1st rounder, much less two lotto picks.
2. Sixers finish 19-63 in Hinkie Year 1. Draft Joel Embiid 3rd overall in 2014-Hinkie actually benefitted from Embid breaking his foot just days before the draft because Embiid was a lock to go No. 1 overall to Cleveland before that news broke. Remember this was before LeBron decided to come back and before the Cavs knew they were trading for Kevin Love. Philadelphia would have been left with the vastly inferior Andrew Wiggins as the Bucks were locked into Parker at 2 regardless. Hinkie also benefitted again from Embiid missing TWO full seasons with injuries, thus ensuring the Sixers would stay horrible those seasons he missed.
3. Traded the 10th overall pick in 2014 (Elfrid Payton) to Orlando for the 12th overall pick (Dario Saric) and a 2018 1st round pick (Landry Shamet)-One of Hinkie’s better moves. Found out Rob Hennigan was hot for Payton and swindled him into giving Philadelphia their own 1st round pick back that the Magic had from the Dwight trade to move up two spots. Turns out Saric was the better player too!
4. Signed Robert Covington in November 2014 -One of the keys to effectively tanking is putting a massive premium on player development. Full credit goes to Brett Brown and his staff for uncovering a diamond in the rough.
5. Traded Michael Carter-Williams to Milwaukee as part of 3-team trade for the Lakers 2018 1st (Mikal Bridges who eventually became Zhaire Smith and a 2021 1st round pick from Miami)-Another quality Hinkie trade. MCW won Rookie of the Year, but wasn't actually a good player. Hinkie traded him away shortly there after for what ended up being a higher lotto pick than they used on MCW in the first place.
6. Sixers finish 18-64 in Hinkie Year 2. Draft Jahlil Okafor 3rd overall in 2015.
-Okafor was a bust
7. Acquired Carl Landry, Nik Stauskas and Jason Thompson from Sacramento for the rights to swap 1st round picks in 2016 (didn’t swap) and 2017 (Sixers used the pick swap to jump from 5 to 3) and a 2019 first round pick (traded to Boston to move up from 3 to 1 to draft Fultz)-Hinkie’s masterpiece. Swindled an inexperienced and unaware Vlade Divac by absorbing a lot of bad salary for what amounted to two years of the Kings’ ping pong balls and a lotto pick. But… the only reason this trade was able to happen in the first place is because the Sixers had the financial flexibility to absorb the money, something the Magic do not currently have.
Hinkie leaves the team in April of 2016, two months before the 2016 draft.
8. Sixers finish 10-72 in Hinkie Year 3. Draft Ben Simmons 1st overall in 2016.
Star player. But again, the only reason they won 10 games in the third year of their rebuild is because Embiid was injured and Okafor was a bust. Simmons breaks his foot and misses the entire year.
It's easy to say "just tank like the Sixers did!" but that overlooks the fact that Embiid missed his entire first two seasons which DIRECTLY led to them being bad enough to even be in a position to draft Simmons and Fultz in the first place.
People like to say the Sixers got unlucky with their injuries, but realistically it was actually a benefit for them in the long-run. Embiid's injuries put them in a position to get Simmons. Simmons' injuries put them in a position to get Fultz. Not to mention that Embiid's pre-draft injury was the only reason why they were able to land him in the first place!
DraftExpress"
