Former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie will take at least a year away from basketball to teach at Stanford, he tweeted today. Hinkie, who resigned from the team in April, sent out a series of tweets discussing his present and future. He called this a “gap year,” but didn’t speculate on whether he hopes to return to the NBA (Twitter link). Hinkie, who spent three years in Philadelphia’s front office, refused to comment further on the tweets when contacted by Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. However, a Deadspin report suggests the former GM will be a guest speaker for one or more Stanford classes, rather than actually becoming a faculty member.
There’s more Sixers news this evening:
- Nerlens Noel is the most likely player to be traded to ease the logjam in the Sixers’ frontcourt, writes Bob Cooney of The Philadelphia Inquirer. In a series of predictions for the upcoming season, Cooney says it’s a close call between Noel and center Jahlil Okafor, but he suggests that Noel will be sent elsewhere before the trading deadline in February. Cooney also predicts that a minutes restriction on Joel Embiid will last until about Christmas, that rookie Ben Simmons will start right away and lead the team in minutes played, that Dario Saric will need time to adjust to the NBA but will claim a greater role as the season wears on and that Philadelphia will win 27 games, up 10 from a year ago.
- The Sixers should consider trading both Noel and Okafor, according to Zach Harper of CBSSports.com. Harper suggests Philadelphia could get a nice return for Noel right now and then deal Okafor next spring or summer to a team that gets disappointed in the draft lottery. If Embiid’s health holds up, Harper states that he and Simmons could be the building blocks of a contender. The writer lists the Celtics, Pelicans, Timberwolves and Rockets as possible destinations for Noel, and the Lakers as the best option for Okafor.
Lakers are the top five worst options for okafor. We need a rim protecter and we like to play uptempo with Luke. Something okafor’s not good at all.
Yeah I feel like Noel would better fit Lakers than Okafor.
So if the point was to build a championship contender, then what do the Sixers do for backup bigmen? Haven’t we seen that championship teams have great talent off the bench. OKC, GS, CLE all had top ten picks coming off the bench. Especially as it comes to size.
Okafor is one-way player. So is Noel. They should be coming off the bench behind Embiid and Saric as offensive and defensive specialists. Then the Sixers would have four extremely talented big men, and be able to make deep playoff runs.
Ben Simmons is a guard or wing. And the Sixers will have two top ten picks in 2017 draft along with $50M in cap space to get more guards and wings. Especially since the 2017 Draft is loaded in guards and wings, but very short on impact big men.
Impatience is what led to the Sixers messed up position, which led to hiring Hinkie and a radical rebuild. Patience got us Joel Embiid and a glut of first round picks. Impatience will trade them away for less than they’re worth.
This is why Philadelphia rarely wins championships in any sport. Passion and intelligence are not the same. One often impedes the other.
Trade Okafor. For the love of god trade Okafor.
There’s no reason to move Noel until the Sixers know that Embiid can physically handle the rigors of an NBA season. Noel will be a restricted free agent next offseason and the Sixers can match any offer. They’ll have plenty of cap room to max him out, and given the ridiculous amount of cap space around the league next year, he’ll still be movable for significant value.
As for Okafor, there’s no point in trading him just to get rid of him, and it doesn’t sound like anyone’s overwhelming the Sixers with an offer for him (or Noel). If there’s a great offer, obviously they’d consider it, but there’s no rush for a team that’s highly unlikely to compete for a playoff spot this year.