General manager Elton Brand used a lot of draft choices to make the Tobias Harris trade occur. Did he exhaust the large stockpile of picks that former GM Sam Hinkie had so carefully obtained to leave the Philadelphia 76ers no assets for future use?
One of the hallmarks of Sam Hinkie’s stewardship of the Philadelphia 76ers was his infatuation with second-round draft choices.
During his time as President of Basketball Operations (2013-2016), Hinkie mystified other NBA general manager’s with his fascination with stockpiling second-round draft picks. According to Spotrac.com, Hinkie acquired 15 second-round picks (in addition to the Sixers’ yearly draft choice) during just under three years at the helm.
Of course, Hinkie was not looking for players who could win games, winning was not the objective. He wanted assets for future (whenever that was) use to build a championship contender.
After NBA Commissioner Adam Silver (oops, I mean owner Josh Harris) replaced Hinkie with Bryan Colangelo, the stockpiling stopped.
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Some of Hinkie’s bounty was used on Eric’s Jr’s more bungling moves. He threw in a second-rounder to the Nets to get rid of Jahlil Okafor and Nik Stauskas because he had waited too long and the former No. 3 overall pick’s value had evaporated.
The 76ers had Oklahoma City’s first-round pick in 2020 (from Colangelo’s Jerami Grant trade), but Colangelo then traded it to Orlando, in the most boneheaded move of his tenure (Fultz was considered at the time a good move, this never was) for center Anzejs Pasecniks as he passed on Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart . Pasecniks is still averaging single digits for his Spanish club team.
Ironically, Brand got that Orlando pick back in the Markelle Fultz trade.
While Colangelo wheeled and dealed second rounders like a traditional old-school general manager (even selling some of them), when coach Brett Brown became interim GM in the summer of ’18 his Hinkie-influence showed when it came to the second round. He made it clear the ‘For Sale’ sign had been taken down.
Brown collected three additional future second-round picks on draft night, and traded one second-rounder and got two back shortly thereafter in the Wilson Chandler deal. Oh, and there was that little trade where the Sixers got Miami’s unprotected 2021 first rounder.
Elton Brand played for the Sixers when Hinkie was in charge but had been part of the management team for a year under Colangelo/Brown so he sort of had the best of both perspectives.
The ‘Old School Chevy’ showed that he wanted to finally complete ‘The Process’. Soon after getting the job he swung the Jimmy Butler trade.
Brand (and Brown, do not think for an instant any of this was without his support) then took his time to evaluate the squad and see what they needed the most. Many opinion-makers were concerned he was not going to do anything of substance he was so low-key.
But, as we know now, it was merely the calm before the storm. Brand came out in the wee hours of Feb. 5 to shock the NBA world (and test the media’s ability to stay awake) by pulling off a trade with the Los Angeles Clippers that brought borderline All-Star talent Tobias Harris and two solid role players.
The Clippers were looking for a bunch of draft picks more than players. Their future pick stash was pretty empty and they wanted to load up with assets so they could try and swing trades for big names in the future.
Brand decided it was finally time to go deep into the stockpile.
The Clippers received (along with Wilson Chandler, Landry Shamet and Mike Muscala): Detroit’s 2023 and 2021 second-round picks, the Sixers own 2020 first-round pick and the precious Miami 2021 unprotected first rounder.
The Sixers first-round 2020 pick is lottery protected for three years. Of course, if the Sixers are in the lottery that means they did not make the playoffs.
After shipping so many draft picks to California, following the trade, according to Jackson Frank, the Sixers draft pile was pretty low compared to what it had been:
For those curious in the Sixers' remaining draft capital: pic.twitter.com/5koEJrBqga
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) February 6, 2019
At this point, it looked like Brand was Mother Hubbard, leaving a bare draft cupboard.
However, fooling people again, there was still about 20 hours left until the trade deadline and Brand was about to show he could gather assets as well as give them away (all transactions info courtesy of Spotrac.com).
In a Hinkie-esque move, Brand extorted a 2022 second-round pick from Toronto to take Malachi Richardson (since released) off their hands to save them $5 million in luxury tax and give them some flexibility. Many think the 2022 draft might be the first one that will include high school graduates, making all draft picks for that year extra valauble.
The Sixers still desperately needed a wing defender so Brand swung a deal for Houston’s James Ennis. However, instead of giving up a draft choice, Brand got the Rockets to agree to a pick swap of second-rounders in 2021. So the Sixers got a badly needed player for moving back a bit in in the second round two years later.
With time ticking down, Brand got two more draft choices in the Fultz trade . Besides Jonathan Simmons, another solid wing player, the Sixers got from the Magic a 2019 second-round pick (most favorable of Cleveland, Orlando, Houston, or Portland) and, as already noted, the Thunder 2020 top-20 protected first rounder Colangelo had given them for the chance to draft Pasecniks.
Brand obviously agrees with the saying: “Scared money make no money”. If the 76ers reach the NBA Finals this season or Harris signs a long-term deal, giving up all the draft choices, including the Miami pick, will be seen as following Hinkie’s philosophy to its natural conclusion: Compile assets and then use them to be a championship contender.
With the 2019 trade deadline passed, the Sixers cache of draft choices is certainly not what it was just a few days earlier. The only first-round pick they now own besides their own is Oklahoma City’s, which at best would be 21st, and the Sixers will not even have their own first in 2020 if they make the playoffs, which they certainly expect to do.
On the bright side, the 76ers still have multiple extra second rounders the next three years and the Richardson trade now gives them a second rounder in 2022.
Not quite the load Hinkie had in his halcyon days but Brand also has not turned out to be Mother Hubbard. He has made sure the cupboard is not bare, even though he did give away some of his best china.