Porter: Report Of Sixers 'Willingness To Talk About Embiid' Is Aimless
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- It's no secret. Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie has often admitted he will listen to offers on all of his players.
However, a valueless report from Forbes.com confirming the Sixers' willingness to listen, has the "Hinkie haters" with their pitchforks out, again.
"In an unnoticed development at last week's trade deadline," the report says, "the 76ers were still trying to trade up for a top pick in this draft, indicating a willingness to talk about Joel Embiid or any player on their team, an NBA source told Forbes.com."
Isn't that what every general manager, or I should say successful general manager, does in professional sports? In fact, isn't that what every successful fantasy sports general manager does? Every player has a value, what is the harm in listening?
During last Thursday's NBA trade deadline, Hinkie made three deals, the biggest---and most controversial---of which was trading point-guard Michael Carter-Williams for the Los Angeles Lakers' 2015 top-five protected first-round pick.
Hinkie explained, during a 45-minute press conference on Friday morning, how he constantly declined offers for MCW before finally finding---what he thinks---is proper value.
"People have called and assumed we might move him and assumed that maybe they could get his hands on him and tried to do it," Hinkie said. "We said the same thing every time, 'We're not interested in moving him, we like him.' The only way that we would move him is if someone really blew us away. We rejected offer after offer over the last year or more. But something came along. The thing that came along was really, really interesting and really scarce. It's that pick from the Lakers. Those picks do not move around very much."
In an extensive piece for ESPN The Magazine, Pablo S. Torre detailed Hinkie's polarizing plan. Specifically, Torre wrote about how the Sixers play at the sixth-highest pace in the NBA, ultimately elevating stat lines for players like Carter-Williams and Thaddeus Young, increasing their values for potential future trade opportunities.
"Carter-Williams might not be traded, but if he is, rest assured that his Rookie of the Year award -- which he won while hoisting 15.1 shots a game -- will factor into his new employer's calculus," Torre wrote. "Or take the aforementioned Thaddeus Young, of OMG fame. After Hinkie took over, the forward took a career-high 16.2 shots and 3.7 3s a game, producing a career-high 17.9 points despite shooting a career-low 45.4 percent overall. That summer Philly flipped Young to Minnesota for two players and a 2015 first-round pick."
Will Joel Embiid pan out? Will all of these assets turn successful NBA players? Will Hinkie's plan ever work? All of these are certainly fair questions, I'll give you that.
But a fruitless report telling us an NBA source says the Sixers were "willing to talk about all of their players?"
No, I won't give you that.
