The day that Sam Hinkie resigned from the Philadelphia 76ers was the same day Jerry Colangelo decided to bring in his son Bryan in one of the most nepotistic moves I have ever seen from an NBA franchise.
Right then and there I had lost all hope in an organization that I had just regained trust in. The way that they decided to think outside the box in order to bring a championship to a city that has not had a basketball parade (no, Villanova does not count) since 1983. I thought that dream was over. I had jumped to the conclusion that Bryan Colangelo would take advantage of the cap space and assets of the Sixers to field the next Charlotte Hornets and just be a “nice team.” This notion that I had conjured up in my mind was not subsided with the rumors that discussions were held to send Nerlens Noel to Atlanta for Jeff Teague . A move that without knowing what you have in Joel Embiid made no sense at all. To make matters worse, Sixers fans had to sit through an entire day with trade rumors flying from all over. We heard about packages that involved Nerlens Noel , Robert Covington , and picks 24 and 26 just to get back into the top 8.
Then nothing happened. As each pick went by I was waiting for that trade that would make me lose all hope. Instead, Bryan Colangelo had the best draft in a couple of years for the Sixers.
It had been reported days earlier that the 76ers had already told Ben Simmons that they would take him first in the draft. That did not change how great it felt to see Adam Silver announce his name. We got the top pick. We had to watch Wiggins go to Cleveland. We had to watch D’Angelo Russell go to Los Angeles. Now we finally got the guy that is going to help turn the franchise around. Bryan Colangelo was not done pleasing “process trusters” quite yet. With the 24th pick the Sixers drafted Timothe Luwawu who I did not think would fall as far as he did. Luwawu has the ability to become a good 3 and d role player that would fit nicely alongside Ben Simmons . Since he is coming from France I expect there to be an adjustment with the level of competition. The 26th pick was also a special move by Bryan Colangelo because now the 76ers can say they have had the only 2 Furkan’s in NBA history with the selection of Furkan Korkmaz .
In the WWE, you have half of the roster as “baby-faces” or “faces” that are supposed to be the fan favorites. You also have “heels” that are the villians and hated by the crowd. When someone goes from a “heel” to a “face” it is known as a “face turn.” The moves that Bryan Colangelo made last night made me feel comfortable with him running the organization. Colangelo is going to build this thing the right way to make sure that over a million people are lined up and down Broad Street witnessing a championship parade that is over 30 years in the making. Colangelo also basically said that all of the trade rumors were bogus, exposing Danny Ainge .
The Bryan Colangelo face turn has been confirmed.
The big question is what happens next. The Sixers still have three centers with Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor , and Joel Embiid . Having all three of them at the start of the season will only lower their value with limited minutes available. I have been an advocate to ship Okafor out of town if there was one center that had to go. Although I really like the point guards in next year’s draft with Lonzo Ball out of UCLA and De’Aaron Fox from Kentucky, you need to find someone to play both back court positions. Oh god, I am already talking about next year’s draft and this year’s is only 24 hours old. I need help. Anyways, trading Okafor to acquire a back court player under 30 is ideal and I expect either him or Nerlens Noel to get moved before the season. Some free agents I would contact first are Jordan Clarkson (RFA), Jeremy Lin , Evan Fournier (RFA), Kent Bazemore , and Chandler Parsons .
There is only a week left to go until fre agency and it is setting up to be a wild one. It should be exciting to see where the, now “baby face,” GM Bryan Colangelo goes from here.
Oh yeah, Ben Simmons posted a picture on Instagram that said “Trust the Process.” So that’s awesome.