Philadelphia 76ers Trading Top 5 Report: What It Means

A report claiming the Philadelphia 76ers are open to trading a top five pick has come out, and fans should know what this would mean.

A report came out early Friday morning from Scott Howard-Cooper on NBA.com implying that the Philadelphia 76ers may be open to trading one of their top five overall draft picks if they have more than one pick in the top five. Many fans reacted negatively about this report, but there is room to break it all down.

Bryan never said top five

Reading through the report as a whole, one should notice that the only time a top five pick is mentioned is in the headline and by the author of the article. The author claims the Sixers have “nonstop trade options,” and that’s a fair statement. It does not, however, mean that they will move a lottery pick.

More from The Sixer Sense

No quotes from Bryan Colangelo ever say anything about the positioning of a potential traded pick. This could be a classic example of an article writer assuming something and putting a possible scenario down on paper, and fans and other media taking it as a sure thing.

Since Bryan never explicitly mentions a top five pick, I have a tough time believing that he’s running around talking to media about how he wants to trade one of the two possible lottery picks the Sixers will have.

Bryan is trying to out-do Hinkie in several areas

Bryan is talking a lot to the media. He’s appeared on numerous podcasts, radio shows, and now is speaking openly with media at the NBA Draft Combine. This is out of character compared to how past president Sam Hinkie would have handled things, and it was one of the biggest criticisms people had about Hinkie. Perhaps Bryan is trying to show the world that he can be better than Hinkie in every area.

On another hand, he may also be trying to show that he can make big trades just as much as Hinkie did.

Hinkie’s biggest trade may mean very little

Hinkie’s biggest trade in his time with the Sixers was the one that sent Michael Carter-Williams away, and gave the Sixers the Lakers pick from this year (top three protected) or next year. This was a three team trade involving the Lakers and Phoenix Suns.

If the Sixers do get the Lakers pick in this year’s draft (meaning it falls out of the top three) and they trade it away, it means that Hinkie’s biggest deal in his time leading the team ended up meaning very little. Sure, the team could get a decent player in return for that pick, but the ultimate vision when making the Carter-Williams trade was to have a big selection of lottery picks.

The dream scenario is done

There has been a long-running scenario of a Sixers utopia. This scenario is one that latched onto the report that the Lakers were willing to trade their pick if they retained it. It’s a scenario where the Sixers or Lakers land at the top overall pick, and then the opposite team gets the second. Then, the Sixers send a player to the Lakers and obtain their pick, giving the Sixers the first and second overall pick.

Not bad, eh? Well, if the Sixers truly are stepping away from wanting players who need development like Colangelo says, then this scenario is pretty much dead, since it’s one that relies heavily on further development of several players.

Next: 2016 Pre-Lottery Mock Draft

Overall, my main caution would be to take this report with a grain of salt. It takes mostly generic comments from Bryan Colangelo and makes a very generalized assumption about them. I don’t want to damage the writer’s reputation, because I was not there for the conversations he had with Bryan, so I could very well be wrong. Although Bryan definitely has different viewpoints on this team when compared to Sam Hinkie, I’m not sure he would give up a top five overall pick for just anything.