Where do we go from here?
Well, It’s very clear that the direction of the team has changed. What is that shift? Well it’s both directional and speed. It’s quite clear to all that the days of drafting and dealing in the second round of the NBA draft has gone the same way as the willingness of the Philadelphia 76ers to absorb castaway player contracts for a fee of draft picks as compensation. The days of signing talent to contracts and then sending them onto the basketball court to see if they can hold their own against the likes of NBA competition will likely be a thing of the past as well.
The Philadelphia 76ers are impatient. As painful as that sounds, feels, and seems to those who have patiently awaited the day when the Philadelphia 76ers would grow their team from the humble beginnings of marginal rookie seasons into a host of six year savvy NBA veterans, it is the course now.
That certainly places names on the “will listen to offers” which I had thought, and hoped, would not be available to be traded. In the days ahead, I expect trade rumors to heat up on both Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel. Not just one, but both. It would seem as though the team is prepared to entrust the advent of Joel Embiid, and that means that the team wants to build a team around the big man. Dario Saric’s arrival will slot into the power forward role. That leaves the team shopping or drafting for the small forward, shooting guard, and point guard positions.
The speed at which the team has already announced the intention to hire Jerry Colangelo’s son Bryan as general manager of the team suggests that this was not in response to the resignation of Hinkie, but rather was a cause of that resignation. In fact, that may have been one of the key elements which persuaded Jerry Colangelo to return to an NBA teams front office initially. Rather than his appearance immediately generate a hiring of his son, the four month delay gives an impression that it was not already a done deal back in December.
But a hiring of that magnitude, even in the instance of a father and a son, is not merely a phone call. The background of selling the candidacy to owners would take time to prepare, present, and then discuss. The background of selling the opportunity to his son, who had already begun the process of becoming a Canadian citizen, would likely have been equally as long. In fact, the timeline for today’s events likely were seeds that were planted as early as January. Such is the business side of the NBA.
Next: Phoenix Suns II