Philadelphia 76ers: The Last Dance – The Process Sixers
By Uriah Young
Episode I
JRUE FOR WHO?
“With the 11th pick in the 2013 draft, the Philadelphia 76ers select Michael Carter-Williams.” — David Stern
If you remember these words from then-commissioner Stern, you were as shocked as Jrue Holiday, who had just been traded to the New Orleans Pelicans for Nerlens Noel and the 42nd draft pick. A point guard with similar styles and physical features, Michael Carter-Williams had potential to be an athletic guard, but his pick came out of nowhere. Nonsensical to even the casual Sixers fan, this move came just after Jrue Holiday made his first All-Star appearance. The only face in the room that wasn’t squinting to the idea of “Huh?” was Sam Hinkie, the godfather of the Process.
After spending time in the Houston Texans organization and the Houston Rockets franchise, Sam Hinkie was hired by the Sixers’ executives to usher in a new era. His initial deals, controversial as a Dennis Rodman 90s antic, would come to define the 76ers in subsequent years.
On a chessboard, the Jrue Holiday trade for Nerlens Noel was like moving your queen into harm’s way with the expectation of a gambit. This game Hinkie was playing wasn’t for the short term. He was in it for the long haul. For Sixers fans, it was just the start of something completely odd and incomprehensible.