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Sixers owner Joshua Harris praises Sam Hinkie

Dec 7, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Jerry Colangelo (R) is introduced as special advisor to the Philadelphia 76ers during a press conference with owner Joshua Harris (M) and general manager Sam Hinkie (L) before a game against the San Antonio Spurs at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 7, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Jerry Colangelo (R) is introduced as special advisor to the Philadelphia 76ers during a press conference with owner Joshua Harris (M) and general manager Sam Hinkie (L) before a game against the San Antonio Spurs at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia 76ers will pick third in the NBA Draft next month and Sixers owner Joshua Harris gives credit to Sam Hinkie for pick swap.

The highly-anticipated NBA Draft Lottery is now behind us with the Philadelphia 76ers getting the third overall pick in the NBA draft next month.

But, the story doesn’t end there because of how the Sixers wound up with the third pick and who is directly responsible for it.

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Stealing from Kings

When Sam Hinkie was still General Manager of the Sixers, he pulled off one of the best trades in Sixers history.

In 2015, he sent the rights of international players Arturas Gudaitis and Luke Mitrovic (both taken in the second round of the 2015 draft) to the Sacramento Kings. The Sixers received Nik Stauskas, Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, the rights to swap first-round picks in 2016 and 2017, plus a future first rounder.

For the sake of this article let’s focus on the pick swap aspect of the trade.

Let the Picks Swap

This was perhaps Hinkie’s greatest moment as general manager. He gave up two second round picks to move up from the fifth pick in the draft to the third. Plus, collecting a future UNPROTECTED first round pick.

Now the reason why the pick swap is so important is because the Sixers would have fallen to the fifth pick if not for this option. Instead of moving up one spot in the draft and theoretically having the ability to draft a better player at three, the Sixers would have dropped back to the fifth pick since they have the fourth worst record in the NBA last season.

“Thank you Sam Hinkie,” said Sixers owner Joshua Harris when all was said and done after the lottery, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Harris acknowledged that Hinkie put the team in a good position. “I’m going to text him (Hinkie) tonight, and give him a big kiss over text,” according to CSNPhilly.com.

Hopefully, he wasn’t serious about the text (how do you send a kiss over a text?) but the point is Hinkie does deserve credit for all the assets the Sixers have in this draft and beyond.

Harris should have handled Hinkie’s departure better instead of trying to force him out of the decision-making process. Harris submitted to the pressure of the NBA by hiring Jerry Colangelo and eventually his son Bryan to take over for Hinkie.

He knew when he hired Hinkie what “The Process” was about and the poor product that would show on the court.

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Perhaps Harris didn’t realize the amount of negative attention this approach would receive and how hard it would be to watch 27 straight losses, which is an NBA record.

Regardless, the Sixers should only look forward with the endless potential this Sixers team has, it shouldn’t be hard to do.

But never forget the man responsible for it.