Philadelphia 76ers: Sam Hinkie’s Heist Of Kings Calculated, Criminal

Wednesday was a lull for Philadelphia 76ers fans as teams targeted and signed big-name talent on the market. Wednesday night had the faithful in a state of nirvana, elation and even more optimism. When it’s free-agent season, reporters like Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski and ESPN’s Marc Stein encapsulate your Twitter experience.

Waiting out every new tweet results in a jump scare and intrigue.

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At 11:06 EST, the “Woj Bombs” came like a barrage. The first, an unexpected invite to the free agency festivities. I wasn’t ready.

There has to be more, but Thompson and Landry are both serviceable PFs on any team.

The Sauce! A player the Sixers reportedly coveted, Nik Stauskas seemed to be the kicker to the cap shedding transaction. Then panic came into focus.

I got a Facebook message from my friend regarding the trade. “I think we gave up Saric,” he said. One does not give up Dario Saric in a salary dump. Assets are attached to the players with toxic contracts, not vice-versa. In the moments of angst and anticipation, the versatile Croatian was staying in Philly, albeit overseas.

Two less-than-ideal contracts and Stauskas seemed like a hefty haul for what turned out to be two second-rounders in Arturas Gudaitis and Luka Mitrovic and a future second-round pick. Business Insider’s Kevin Manfred explains the risk-reward tied to the trade for the Sixers.

"It’s hard to overstate how little the Sixers have up here. Gudaitis and Mitrovic were second-round picks in 2015, but they’re both playing in Europe, and it’s not a guarantee that they will ever play a game in the NBA, much less contribute in the next few years. The future second-round pick is equally expendable the Sixers have 11 extra second-round picks in the bank from various trades over the past two years. The $13 million in Landry/Thompson salary doesn’t matter at all because the Sixers were never going to spend that money anyway. In fact, over the past few years the Sixers have flirted with the salary floor (the minimum amount of money an NBA team has to spend on player salaries).The Sixers gave up nothing! And they got Stauskas, who played poorly in an awful situation last season but was still a top-10 pick 13 months ago, and draft picks out of it. Hinkie lives."

Hinkie wasn’t done. Assets, in terms of picks, had to be had. Grantland’s Zach Lowe gave striking additives that put the trade into overdrive for Philadelphia.

That happened. For a team devoted to future optionality and asset accumulation, this perfect storm came at a perfect time. As stated in a recent article, the Sixers were criticized over the Jrue Holiday injury debacle and non-existent attempts at free agency.

Philadelphia might not have made noise early to open the mad rush for marquee talent, but they ended the opening day of free agency as another team finding their ideal piece in Stauskas. Hinkie practiced what he preached; patience. While he bided his time for others to inherit cap space, he gave Vivek Ranadive, who wanted the Kings to shed some of their salary, a call .

It’s still unfathomable what Sacramento gave up to just dump two players whose contracts were bloated by their own management’s ineptitude. The Sixers capitalized on another team’s management fallacies and absorbed various assets.

Hinkie’s wish list reads as this: 1. second-round draft picks 2. first-round protected draft picks 3. first-round draft picks 4. swap rights to draft picks 5. the ability to hijack a GM’s central nervous system and make implausible trades.

That’s what this deal feels like. You’ve turned off the trade sense in NBA 2k and you’re making moves so lopsided you screenshot them. Something along the lines of this:

Was Sacramento that desperate for immediate help? For just two of Philadelphia’s 2015 second-round draft picks in Gudaitis and Mitrovic, they banked heavily on a remaining free agent looking for a lucrative paycheck. The Kings reportedly dished them out, but couldn’t reel in a significant contributor.

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Both Matthews and the now-Pacer Monta Ellis bypassed the chance to play for a less cohesive organization where rifts have been a constant the last couple of weeks. Shedding more than $12 million to acquire the high-profile names remaining in an attempt to pair with DeMarcus Cousins still gives Sacramento options.

While the talent pool dwindles to role players and veterans, the opportunity to sign someone of significance becomes increasingly unlikely. Unable to find a quality talent on the market plays favorably into the caveat of the pick swap.

Oh, the dreaded pick swap. It got Brooklyn in 2015 and is agreed upon by those who have a brash sense of confidence in their respective organization. The Sixers now have the ability to know that their chances at a No. 1 pick become exponentially better.

Sacramento’s recent organizational and on-court struggles could carry over to the next few seasons and no moves hasn’t changed that notion one bit.

This gives Philadelphia an incentive to make more moves to bolster their roster and attract a premier talent in the 2016 free-agent class. While the 2015-16 season looks to be another rebuilding year, the following season could have the necessary pieces in place to be a contender in the East.

Saric is likely to come over from Europe and Joel Embiid will have more of an impact when fully healthy. Those are serious speculations for the organization, but it epitomizes the options Philadelphia has. Throw in a top-10 protected pick that could be available in 2018 at the earliest and Sam Hinkie’s genius is highlighted profoundly in this deal.

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Stauskas was never given a fair opportunity to succeed for the Kings, who cycled through three head coaches before settling on George Karl. In Philadelphia, whose primary mantra is player development, the Michigan product will get the looks he deserved after being tabbed No. 8 overall in the 2014 draft.

Don’t take stock in his points per game (4.4) or shooting percentage (36.5 FG%, 32.2 3PFG%). He’ll see a spike in playing time as well as the luxury of playing with plenty of young options around him.

Thompson, a Camden, N.J., native and Sixers fan growing up, gives Brett Brown a second-unit big whose play is reminiscent of Thomas Robinson. Both do the dirty work without polished offensive games. Thompson averaged 6.1 points per game on 47 percent shooting in addition to bringing in 6.5 boards per contest.

He’s set to be paid just more than $6.4 million next season per spotrac.

Landry, who could become an instant fan favorite due to his motor and veteran presence, put up 7.2 points per game with a true shooting percentage of 57 percent, per sports-reference. He’s more advanced than Thompson offensively, but isn’t as bulky at 6’9″ and 248 pounds.

His contract gives him a similar paycheck to Thompson as the Purdue product will make $6.5 million next season and has another year remaining on his salary, per spotrac. Both will have a chance earn minutes in a frontcourt rotation lacking a quality backup. Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey reported that Thompson and Landry will stay with the team.

Even the salary dump players are rotational players who Hinkie can utilize currently or in the upcoming seasons. He gets a lot of crap for a GM. Reading plenty of established journalists overlook his brilliant moves and instead focus on the amount of losses and lack of talent on the roster is outdated and stale. Hinkie’s an opportunist.

He let things take shape before executing his theft of the Sacramento Kings. The salary cap can be played out in various attempts for utilization. The Sixers might have some of the most to spare, but they certainly know how to use it.

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