What if Sam Hinkie was still the Philadelphia 76ers’ general manager?

2018-19

If you’ve been bored by how small the changes have been from Colangelo to Hypothetical Hinkie, fasten your seatbelt. The 2018-19 season brought about dramatic change from start to finish.

Just like the real-life iteration, these Sixers are on the other end of a disappointing playoff loss. There’s a narrative building that Simmons and Embiid can’t coexist if the team wants to win a championship.

Colangelo won’t get a chance to see it through though, because he’s caught up in a Twitter scandal. He and the team agree to part ways in early June, a few weeks before the 2018 NBA Draft. Since that’s not happening in this world, the Sixers might be better positioned to tackle the draft class.

That’s not to say the real-life team did poorly. In fact, they did quite well in 2018, getting an extra first for Mikal Bridges, hitting on Landry Shamet and hitting on Shake Milton.

There were extra picks that the Sixers didn’t use in real life, but instead of trading them for cash, Hinkie probably gets more draft capital for them.

Holmes and Luwawu-Cabarrot are not Brett Brown’s best friends by this time, which was why he traded them for pennies in the gap time between Colangelo and Elton Brand’s tenure. But he doesn’t have that power this time around; Hinkie does. They stay on the roster, as Hinkie believes they have value to the team. Ditto for Korkmaz, who was mostly in the G League in 2017-18.

Trading down for Zhaire Smith and a future first is a very Hinkie-esque move, and Shamet was a steal at 26. Both are reasonable mainstays in this version. The Milton trade probably isn’t though, because Hinkie seldom felt a need to trade up for anyone. For argument’s sake, let’s say they keep Ray Spalding and Kostas Antetokoumnpo (the 56th and 60th selections) rather than trading up.

Heading into free agency, the Sixers have oodles of cap space to throw at either LeBron James or Paul George. Their chances of signing one are slim to none though, just like in real life. Keeping cap space for the summer of 2019 should be a priority if they cannot land a star, because that will be their last season of significant cap space before Simmons’ extension kicks in.

So basically, this summer has to be all or nothing. And we know the “all” doesn’t happen, so one-year deals on role players is once again the move. Fultz developing a jumper would be extra cool, but we know that doesn’t happen either. The Sixers give him a chance at a backup role, but have to be prepared to look elsewhere.

The wing rotation is pretty thin unless Korkmaz or Luwawu pops. Signing a bargain-bin backup wing, or retaining one that was signed a few seasons ago, is a smart play here. The backup center spot is also in flux, but it must be addressed due to Embiid’s injury concerns. Someone like Danuel House or Glenn Robinson III might make sense to fill the former, and Ed Davis would be fine for the latter hole.

Jerami Grant is also a free agent, and the Sixers happily sign him back, probably to a similar deal as what he actually got from OKC. Though he’s technically the backup 4 on the depth chart, his defensive versatility and willingness to shoot is very helpful at the highest levels of playoff basketball. Simmons, Covington, Grant and Embiid are one of the staunchest defensive units in the league.

The starting five of Simmons, Bogdanovic (unrestricted free agent in 2019), Covington, Saric (unrestricted free agent in 2020) and Embiid was very good in hypothetical 2017-18, and is still good in fake 2018-19. The bench unit of T.J. McConnell, Fultz, Shamet, Korkmaz/Luwawu/Robinson, Grant and Davis is much better than what the actual 2018-19 Sixers’ bench had. But the team has a Fultz-sized hole: a three-level perimeter scorer/playmaker hybrid.

Also, Embiid doesn’t lead all centers in minutes for the first month of the season. Hinkie stays diligent with a plan for his franchise player, and Embiid’s rests are more structured than sporadic.

The Fultz experiment still goes on in the early part of the season, but his role fades away quickly. The Sixers get off to a slow start, unable to close games at times. Philly doesn’t seem to be much better than last year, and the urgency for a third star increases.

But instead of making a big splash for someone like Jimmy Butler, Hinkie opts for a two-way guard of lesser popularity in George Hill. Hill doesn’t fill the hole of a crunch-time scorer, but his excellent shooting, above-average defense and ability to run a simple pick-and-roll is a breath of fresh air for the Sixers.

The contract is terrible, but like what the Milwaukee Bucks did after they traded for him in real life, the Sixers have the potential to re-negotiate his 2019-20 cap hit and maintain cap space.

Hill fits like a glove as the backup 1, moonlighting as a starter when necessary. The rotation is actually somewhat deep with a 3-and-D point guard, and the Sixers go on a late-season run to snag the 3-seed.

Though the Sixers are a well-oiled machine, it’s hard to know how they’d fare against Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors. The series is probably still close, but not having Butler or Tobias Harris definitely hurts their chances. They make it a series, but the Raptors’ machine is ultimately too much for them.

Embiid, Simmons and shooters is still very effective, but might not be enough to win a Finals. Their supporting cast going into next season is Covington (locked up through 2022), Grant (locked up through 2021), Hill (restructured through 2022), Saric (restricted free agent in 2020), Shamet (locked up through 2022), Fultz (team option for 2020-21), Korkmaz, Holmes and whatever they have in Zhaire Smith (locked up through 2022).

Bogdanovic and Korver are free agents. The Sixers can approach max cap space, but their window to acquire a third star is getting tighter.