The Sixer Sense
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We Should Have Known the Sixers Were Up to Something Fishy

By Josh Wilson

Nov 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Philadelphia 76ers logo on the warm up shirt of center Jahlil Okafor (not pictured) prior to action against the Chicago Bulls at Wells Fargo Center. The Bulls won 111-88. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Philadelphia 76ers logo on the warm up shirt of center Jahlil Okafor (not pictured) prior to action against the Chicago Bulls at Wells Fargo Center. The Bulls won 111-88. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Philadelphia 76ers did a complete 180 as far as public relations are concerned on Saturday, and that should have given us a clue as to what was next.

The Philadelphia 76ers did a complete 180 as far as public relations and public perception are concerned on Saturday night, and that has created a very awkward situation for the team. The issue is that the situation is still not solved, and the difference in how they approached things all of a sudden didn’t fix things, it broke them more.

To Bryan Colangelo’s credit, he listened to the cries from fans about being secretive. He had his head coach, Brett Brown, let the media know after the game on Saturday that Jahlil Okafor was benched during the Magic game because trade talks were heating up surrounding him. In fact, Colangelo might have had that information leak intentionally.

He wasn’t completely stretching the truth, although, the idea of trade talks heating up, and the implications from benching a player completely may have been off.

That said, and despite that transparency is a good thing, Colangelo went too quickly, and did too much to be transparent. The shift of ideologies within the management of a team doesn’t shift that quickly without something being up.

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The Sixers have never said when they’re involved in trade talks explicitly. They acknowledge that they happen, but don’t give details. They certainly don’t tell the media that they benched a player because of ongoing trade talks, and definitely don’t follow that up by not bringing him on a plane to an away game.

The reason for that? According to new reports and speculation from sources, Kevin O’Connor says it was in order to give the illusion that there was a significant amount of interest around Okafor, therefore bringing possible more trade suitors in, and forcing the value of him to the Pelcians up.

Here’s an excerpt from O’Connor’s Wednesday morning column:

"The shelving of Okafor was likely meant to flush out the best offers around the league, sources speculate. It’s not uncommon for teams to use leaks to stir interest. The Nuggets and Blazers weren’t pursuing Okafor. The Bulls likely aren’t either. No one is buying what Bryan Colangelo is selling: a one-dimensional center who can’t defend, rebound, or pass on a roster loaded with big men."

At the bottom line — it was a bluff, and Okafor was a card in the hand.

Again, we should have seen it coming. The Sixers, a secretive team, were suddenly willing to tell us all about how there were trade rumors surrounding Okafor, that didn’t actually exist. They more or less made them up.

What was Colangelo’s goal? Drive up the trade value on Okafor to a reasonable value. The actual result? Okafor’s value is lower than ever, and the true value of Okafor was actually just exploited more than ever to teams who might have been interested.

Additionally, the team looks more and more untrustworthy. They practically told us a trade would happen — you don’t sit a player and also not bring him on the road if a trade isn’t imminent — and it turns out, nothing was even in the works.

Now, tonight, we’re going to hear several people talk about the current state of the Sixers. But don’t get it twisted, most of those people who will do the talking won’t represent the people taking these actions.

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Bryan Colangelo won’t talk, he will — similar to Sam Hinkie, despite the initial claims that Colangelo would be more open to the media than Hinkie was — push his head coach Brett Brown to explain the situation. He will force him to detail the awkwardness that is happening in the locker room with Okafor’s return.

Perhaps even worse, Okafor will be forced to answer questions about the situation. And he will be expected to maintain a professional attitude. He shouldn’t have to, this situation has been absolutely terrible to him.

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Everything Colangelo was supposed to be is not what he currently is showing he is. I honestly don’t know how Colangelo rectifies this situation, I am out of ideas for him. Being more transparent is something we want, but he was even able to mess that up by being deceitful and creating a false perception on what the Sixers were getting as far as trade value was concerned regarding Okafor.