Sixers’ draft strategy shows commitment to the Process

Colangelo summoned his inner Hinkie for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2017 NBA Draft, selecting three players who will likely spend a season or two overseas.

It’s easy to dream when you have a team this talented. It’s easy to picture Markelle Fultz, Ben Simmons,  and Joel Embiid pick-and-rolling opposing teams to oblivion, with two shooters playing alongside them and spacing the floor. And wouldn’t it be perfect if those two shooter spots were filled by a couple of young, (mostly) homegrown players like Robert Covington and, say, Sterling Brown?

That’s why many fans were frustrated when Bryan Colangelo and the Philadelphia 76ers chose to spend two of their four second round picks on draft-and-stash big men, of all positions (Jonah Bolden and Mathias Lessort) and trade away the rest, both of whom looked to fit well with the current roster (Jawun Evans and Sterling Brown):

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There’s no doubt that the Sixers passed on quite a bit of intriguing talent in the 2nd round, not to mention players like Derrick White and Josh Hart that the team ignored to take center Anzejs Pasecniks after trading into the end of round one. As dedicated as many fans are to the Process, it still hurt to watch prospects like the uber-athletic Frank Jackson get snatched up while the Sixers chose international big man after international big man, and promptly agreed to deal the players who could have made an immediate impact.

Hinkie tested, Hinkie approved

But as Sam Hinkie noted in his now-famous resignation letter, growing a crop of international players who can be stowed away for future use is an essential way for teams to maintain optionality into the future. “These sets of players are viable players for the Sixers and viable options to trade in the interim,” Hinkie wrote. “The goal is simple—a larger quiver. This quiver will give us more options immediately and more options over time.”

It’s a strategy that the team already reaped (and will continue reaping) the rewards from with Dario Saric, and when you consider the state of the Sixers’ current roster, the wisdom of their approach becomes all the more clear. There will continue to be an abundance of youth on the team next year, with the immediate insertions of Fultz and Simmons into the starting lineup and the continued development of players like TLC, Richaun Holmes, Nik Stauskas, and Justin Anderson (though the question of whether that last player is worth developing is a valid one). A lot of youth requires a lot of patience, and it’s unreasonable to expect the team will mesh perfectly from day one.

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That’s before you even get to free agency, where the Sixers are expected to pursue veteran players like J.J. Redick and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Expectations are already skyrocketing for the team next season, and the Sixers know it. If the team plans on making a run for the playoffs, odds are that Jawun Evans and Sterling Brown would be seeing a lot of bench and not much court.

There simply isn’t enough space on next year’s team to add second-round prospects like Evans and Brown when there are already so many young players in place, and more veterans to be added. Instead, the Sixers chose optionality over immediate gratification, a decision that would’ve received the Hinkie stamp of approval.

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Pasecniks, Bolden, and Lessort are all prospects with genuine long-term potential. The Sixers might bring them over next year, the year after, or trade them as a part of some future package. The team has time and plenty of options, and that’s the beauty of the Process.