January 13, 2016
Even before Jerry Colangelo showed up in Philadelphia a month ago (well, at least before going back to Phoenix), the 2016 NBA offseason was shaping up as a crucial one for the Philadelphia 76ers. Just think about how many questions that there are with big-picture implications:
• After playing the lottery (and playing it hard) for three years, will the Sixers finally hit the jackpot and land a superstar?
• Will that valuable Lakers pick going convey or roll over for another year?
• Will Joel Embiid finally make it back to full health before summer league, or more importantly, at least the 2016-17 season?
• Is this the year that Dario Saric (“the player from Europe,” according to Colangelo) comes across the pond?
• Will the Sixers utilize free agency in a manner that resembles the way that the other 29 teams do?
Colangelo, in town for a couple of days, seems to believe that the time for action will be soon.
“‘16 is the year, it’s a big year,” Colangelo said. “To look at all the assets and say, ‘How do we best utilize them? What do we do here? Do we take a couple picks and move up? Do we make a trade? Do you look at it from free agency, realistically, and see what you can do there?’”
On more than one occasion, Colangelo emphasized that he believes Hinkie has put the Sixers in a good position with patience and constant wheeling and dealing over the past few years. He also stressed that luck will play a factor (“the stars have to be aligned,” he said) in what the Sixers are doing moving forward.
But make no mistake here: If Colangelo has his druthers, the Sixers will get going in 2016-17.
“There’s no guarantee [of a big splash in ‘16], but the thing that you have to do is give people hope that, ‘Listen, this isn’t like let’s look down the road five years to see where we are,’” Colangelo said. “No, I don’t see that at all. I see the opportunity here to get some big things done over the next year.”
For a few years now, Hinkie and Brett Brown have said that the Sixers' leap needs to happen organically. The addition of Colangelo might not change that philosophy, but there at least seems to be a possibility that the 76-year-old executive would want to put his foot on the gas earlier than the Sixers previously planned. So, what does the man who laid the groundwork think about all of this? Get out your Farmers’ Almanacs.
“I think if you zoom out a little bit the summary of what we’ve done is plant seeds for a harvest and it’s not out of the question that that harvest might come in even this summer,” Hinkie said.
the process is agrarian in nature https://t.co/D7WuvoSPel
— ☕netw3rk (@netw3rk) January 13, 2016
@rich_hofmann LAND THE HARVEST SAM pic.twitter.com/BzY1JOvLLI
— D'antPiratebroni (@Piratebro) January 13, 2016
I don’t think that harvest line is going away anytime soon. Right after Colangelo and Hinkie spoke, Joel Embiid got in another workout on the Sixers’ practice court. If (key word there) the Sixers land a top pick and Embiid joins the fold next season, they might not have to do a whole lot in free agency to look very different in 2016-17.
Hinkie is optimistic about Embiid. He feels that the 2014 third overall pick has taken a better approach to his rehab this year, whether that is due to Embiid’s own maturity or the Sixers having a better understanding of the injury. According to Hinkie, the team has taken a different approach to Embiid’s recovery the second time around and the big fella “has really stepped up.”
“I’d say his bone is healing really well, that’s probably even a little faster than we anticipated,” Hinkie said. ”But he’s not able to be on the floor in a real way. He’s still sort of ‘both feet on the ground.’ If you see him over there working right now, I would say he’s right on schedule”
But are the Sixers on schedule to make that big splash in 2016? Will Sam and Jerry LAND THE PLANE?
“Thus far, I think Sam’s done a terrific job of accumulating all of the assets that he has, the draft picks,” Colangelo said. “There’s a lot of good things that could happen real quick.”
Stay tuned on that front, but whether or not the team takes a major step forward in 2016-17, the upcoming offseason figures to be very important for the Sixers.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
