After Sam Hinkie spent a lovely week in Chicago evaluating the prospects who were invited to participate in the 2013 NBA Draft combine, Philadunkia nation has had Cody Zeller shoved down their throats.  A number of draft “experts” are predicting the 76ers will select Zeller in late June.  Additionally, Philly.com reported that the Sixers interviewed the sophomore big man out of Indiana and that the conversation went swimmingly.

Whether Zeller is available when the Sixers first round pick arrives and whether they select him largely depends on three factors:

1)  Will Zeller still be available at #11.

2)  Do the 76ers like other players more than Zeller.

3)  What pick the Sixers draw in tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery.

Based off of the combine’s results and reactions, there seems to be a decent level of talent in the first ten picks and then a there is a drop off.  One prospect that is on the rise after the Chicago combine is France’s Rudy Gobert.  Gobert with his 7-9 wingspan and impressive shooting touch, really impressed the NBA scouts and front office types and appears to be moving up draft boards.  If Gobert continues to wow scouts during individual workouts and other pre-draft camps, he may crack the Top 10.  Gobert is another name that has been linked to the Sixers by draft “experts”.

So, can the 76ers move up in 2013 Draft and grab Zeller or Gobert?

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“Hope is a dangerous thing.  Hope can drive a man insane”

That quote from Shawshank Redemption holds true for 76er fans, now more than ever.  Hope is all that is left, I guess.

Seriously, sit back and think about the Philadelphia 76ers for a moment.  Not much, right?  Maybe Sam Hinkie pulls a rabbit out of his hat, a bunch of other things go right and certain guys elevate their game in 2013-14.  Still, how much will that help?

$12,000,000 in cap space is just enough to do something stupid, but not enough to pull off a miracle.  Between Turner, J-Rich and Kwame; the 76ers have more than 25% of their roster as dead weight.  Even getting players at their true value won’t be enough to do anything but keep the team in an awkward spot.

Our man Bynum looks ready to screw the franchise for the next 5 years by being Shawshank quote incarnate.  If not Bynum, it will be some other player.  Let’s just hope that Hinkie’s advanced analytics inform him that he should avoid the players I am write about after the jump.

(WARNING: LOOK AWAY NOW if you really like OJ Mayo…)

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On Friday Yahoo Sports reported via Twitter that the Sixers have reached an agreement to hire Houston Rockets assistant GM / executive VP Sam Hinkie to a multi-year deal to be their new president and GM.

Although the 76ers organization has yet to comment on the rumors, it seems certain that Tony DiLeo is officially out and Hinkie will be the new man in charge of the 7-6.

As you probably know by now, Hinkie was Daryl Morey’s right hand man in Houston and was involved in all decision-making on Rockets personnel moves.  Now he’ll be charged with rebuilding the 76ers — which will be a big challenge.

After the jump, the Philadunkia scribes express their opinions on the Hinkie hiring.
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The Sixers need a scorer.  It seems like a pretty simple sentiment.  In fact, there will be those that criticize this post as being too simplistic.

“Of course, every team could use a scorer.”

“We want a name!”

The point of this post isn’t to postulate about potential players, but rather to point out a decade long problem.

The Sixers have not had a legitimate go-to-guy since Allen Iverson was shipped to Denver, which happens to be about the same time that the franchise’s success stalled.

This is not a coincidence.

Every team that has found extreme success in the NBA over the past decade plus (Heat, Mavs, Lakers, Spurs, Celtics) have a clearly defined go-to-guy.  This is also not a coincidence.  The best NBA teams are well-structured and well-rounded, as a one man show rarely makes it very far (save for an ’01 Iverson and an ’07 LeBron James).

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The Sixers have been abandoned again.  It was another three seasons of wasted basketball instead of moving closer to the ultimate goal of a championship.  There were risks taken, hearts broken and blood vessels busted.

Yet, taking a trip down memory lane, what if I told you that the Sixers’ woes began way before the Andrew Bynum trade last summer?  What if I told you that if the Sixers had just taken my advice that they’d be in the hunt for an NBA Championship right now as you’re reading this?

Without tooting my own horn too much, I’ll just let you see for yourself…
http://philadunkia.com/?p=263

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Early Tuesday afternoon, ESPN’s NBA Draft Insider Chad Ford reported that UNLV freshman forward Anthony Bennett will be out four months after surgery on his rotator cuff in his left shoulder that is expected to go down today.

Agent Jeff Schwartz confirms Bennett will be out up to 4 months.No draft workouts or summer league for Bennett

— Chad Ford (@chadfordinsider) May 7, 2013

 

That timetable will sideline him for the NBA Draft Combine and likely all of Summer League as well, but he will be scheduled to return for training camp.

Bennett will now join Nerlens Noel and Alex Len as the crop of talented big men that will enter the 2013 NBA Draft injured. Noel’s torn ACL might have knocked him out of the top pick in the draft and Len’s ankle surgery will also likely hurt his draft stock, too.

So, if Noel, the one-time shoo-in for the No. 1 Overall pick in this year’s draft, can have his stock lowered by a devastating injury, why can’t Bennett’s stock drop as well?  Could it drop enough so the 76ers have a chance at drafting him?

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One day after the Brooklyn Nets failed to defeat the Chicago Bulls on their home court in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Bill King and company announced they would not retain interim head coach P. J. Carlesimo.

Carlesimo took over the reigns of the Nets in their opening season at the Barclays Center after the team fired Avery Johnson on December 28.  Brooklyn went just 3-10 in the final month of 2012 under Johnson.   After assisting Johnson, Carlesimo came into the head coaching role and let his players play freely and their natural games.  Brooklyn responded and finished the rest of the season 35-19.

Brooklyn’s improvement under PJ wasn’t completely due to his stellar coaching.  A significant portion of Brooklyn’s success over the last 54 games was because the Nets finally got healthy and Deron Williams suddenly played the final 50 games of the season like a franchise point guard.

Still, Carlesimo does deserve some of the credit for the Net’s turn around and with the 76ers currently in need of a turn-around of epic proportions, shouldn’t Josh Harris, Adam Aron and Tony DiLeo at least explore the option of bringing in Carlesimo to fill the head coaching vacancy?

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The other day, I wrote how the 76ers should approach building a real contender by tanking and trading for superior but injured players.   Today, we will assume that their are enough parts in place to build something.

Like a hostile takeover of a corporate entity, cutting the dead weight is an obvious first step.  From there we will look at some undervalued assets around the league, similar to what was done in (A plan for 13-14).

What to do with “The Enigma”, Evan Turner?  It’s quite simple actually.  Whomever the GM for the Sixers is, he needs to call ET into his office on a weekday morning.  From there, they should ask, “Evan, if we can trade you to another team, is that something you would be interested in?”

The obvious answer will be yes.  The next move is to pick up the phone and call every single NBA team.  It will certainly be a humbling experience for Mr. Turner.  A combination of quick hang ups, laughs and outrageous demands (give us your lottery pick, is Thad coming too, We will give you Beasley/Bargnani/Ellis for ET, we require all the tea in china etc etc) will make it obvious to ET that the NBA truly has no interest in his services at $6,700,000 for the 2013-2014 season.

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According to a report over at Yahoo Sports by Adrian Wojnarowski, the 76ers have received permission to interview Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Malone as well as Utah Jazz assistant and former Sixer Jeff Hornacek for the franchise’s head-coaching vacancy.  According to Woj’s sources, “Malone is considered a serious candidate for the Sixers job.  The Sixers have been doing a great deal of research on Malone and getting excellent feedback”

Earlier this week, Dei Lynam of csnphilly.com fame posted a story in which her sources said the 7-6 have “contacted” Pacers’ associate head coach Brian Shaw about their vacant head-coaching position.  Obviously the Pacers are currently in the playoffs and hold a 3-2 lead over the Atlanta Hawks in their first round series, so it could be sometime before Shaw will actually interview for the Sixers job opening.

Now, I know the rumor mill is going to churn out a lot of these stories until the opening is filled.  Some of them will be accurate and others not so much.  And I am happy to see that the Sixers front office is doing their due diligence and interviewing a number of prospects.  Lastly, let me just say that I have nothing against giving any of these alleged candidates (so far) a look see.

Still, I have to ask, ‘Has anyone in the Sixers organization even sent Phil Jackson so much as a introductory text message?’

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Last night, I watched the Denver Nuggets narrowly defeat the Golden State Warriors in the Pepsi Center in order to extend their first round series to a sixth game.  Naturally, I found the Warriors play through the first four games of the series refreshing and thrilling.  But, in Game 6, the Nuggets morphed into the Pistons of the “Bad Boys”  era with a touch of  pop and pizazz and secured a win.  The player who pushed the Nuggets to the win last night was former Sixer Andre Iguodala.

The once heir apparent to Allen Iverson, Iguodala dropped a line of 25 points, 12 boards and 7 assists in 40 minutes of play on 10-17 shooting from the field.  On the series, Iguodala is averaging 16.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game while shooting 53.4 percent from the floor in 40.2 minutes per (Those stats are much improved over his regular season numbers of 13, 5 & 5 and 45% shooting from the field).

With his playoff averages, Iguodala would have ranked second on the Sixers in points, tied-second in rebounds, second in assists, second in field goal percentage and first in minutes during the regular season. And, the dude is doing this in the playoffs no less against a stingy defensive team in the Dubs.

Regardless, I still say the Philadelphia 76ers are better off with Iguodala elsewhere.

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