Sixers Finally Win the Lottery and The Process Pays Off
The Sixers faithful have been waiting for this day since the day when then-new general manager Sam Hinkie traded the team’s star player, Jrue Holiday, to the New Orleans Pelicans for the then-injured Nerlens Noel. Most Sixers fans were livid at that point, but the smart ones stayed patient because they knew that transaction would be better for the team in the long-run. That philosophy was proven true on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, at around 8:28 PM Eastern Standard Time.
It is rather ironic how the Sixers hired league-approved Jerry Colangelo as an advisor to Sam Hinkie in the beginning of last season, and then got rid of non-league-approved Hinkie when he resigned/was forced out in early April. Hinkie’s goal was accomplished on Tuesday, but it was under the rule of NBA-approved Bryan Colangelo, which has made the conspiracy theories run rampant in the Twittersphere. He had wished to build through the draft, which his former team has done, and under his tenure the team got no first-overall picks, even though his teams were atrocious.
With Embiid supposedly healthy now and Dario Saric coming over from Turkey, the Sixers feasibly could go from being the laughingstock of the entire league to being a playoff team. With a combination of Embiid, Noel, and Jahlil Okafor inside and Dario Saric and either Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram on the wings, the Sixers have a great young core, but two questions still remain. Can Ish Smith be the point guard they need, and will the Philadelphia Colangelos take Simmons or Ingram?
Ingram and Simmons play the same position, but they are very different players. Compared to two NBA superstars, Simmons is more like LeBron James while Ingram is almost identical to Kevin Durant. The former is a point-forward type who can pass like he has eyes in the back of his head and can get to the basket at will, but he has a poor jump-shot. Ingram, on the other hand, is extremely athletic and deceptively strong based on his rather frail frame, which is concerning to NBA teams. Although smaller, Ingram is regarded as a better defender, while the slightly taller and heavier Simmons is a much better rebounder, averaging 11.8 per game compared to Ingram’s 6.8.
The main difference between the two wing players is the teams they played their college basketball for. Simmons was the star of his team by some measure, and he did not have teammates to rely on if he was having a bad game. Ingram, on the other hand, had players like Grayson Allen, Marshall Plumlee, and Luke Kennard to help him out. Having to carry a team on his back gives Simmons the edge, but the Sixers may be concerned that he could not carry his LSU team out of a semi-weak SEC into the NCAA Tournament. Ingram helped his team to the Sweet 16 of the tournament.
Ingram’s shooting ability would fill in a gaping hole in the Sixers’ game, even with Embiid and Saric coming, but Simmons’ ability to handle the ball so well at his size and how he uses his athleticism to get to the rim will help him take over games when his teammates are not playing up to par. Simmons is also used to constantly being the first option on offense, so he will come into the league with a greater sense of responsibility on the court than Ingram will.
This decision is a high-class problem for the Sixers Front Office because they really cannot go wrong with either player, but Bryan Colangelo and Brett Brown need to decide on who will be better for their team. Having to decide between Ingram and Simmons will be hard, but at least this way the Sixers can take who they truly think will make their franchise better. With Embiid and Saric coming over, there could be three candidates for Rookie of the Year on the Sixers alone.