The NBA’s trade deadline is at 3 p.m., and you know what that means: The Sixers are coming back for seconds.
They almost always do.
Sam Hinkie and Co. have fattened up on second-round picks since the stealth general manager came aboard in 2013 — almost laughably so. They have four in June’s draft, and no fewer than 14 over the next six. They surely will not use all of them. They surely will include some of them in trades.
But no matter how those selections are used, they have value. How much? After a careful study of basketball-reference.com (and a bunch of scribbling on the back of an old Sixers-Suns boxscore), the conclusion was this: More than any of us might imagine.
Besides stockpiling assets for potential deals, the team can only increase its chances of finding potential contributors. And maybe, just maybe, the Sixers will get really fortunate and pluck a surpassing player like San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili, the 57th overall choice in 1999, or Memphis center Marc Gasol, the 48th pick in 2007 (by the Lakers).
More often than not, of course, such stars are found in the first round, or free agency. Foundational guys can, meanwhile, be unearthed in the second round, or after. Guys to flesh out a rotation. Guys to complete a team. Guys who can help you win.
Very few of the league’s non-No. 1s would qualify as difference-makers. By my own subjective measure, I count 10: Gasol, Ginobili (still a formidable player at age 37), Portland’s Wes Matthews (undrafted in '09), Minnesota’s Nikola Pekovic (No. 31 in '08), Golden State’s Draymond Green (No. 35 in '12), Dallas’ Chandler Parsons (No. 38 in '11, by Houston), Phoenix’s Goran Dragic (No. 45 in '08, by San Antonio), Atlanta’s Kyle Korver (No. 51 in '03 by New Jersey, and immediately sold to the Sixers), Washington’s Marcin Gortat (No. 57 in '05, by Phoenix) and the Suns’ Isaiah Thomas (No. 60 in '11, by Sacramento).
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If you want to expand the definition of “difference-maker” to include defensive studs, feel free to include the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan (No. 35 in '08), New Orleans’ Omer Asik (No. 36 in '08, by Portland) or Houston’s Patrick Beverley (No. 42 in '09, by the Lakers).
But again, there’s value to be had in the draft’s lower reaches. Danny Green (No. 46 in '09, by Cleveland) and Patty Mills (No. 55 in '09, by Portland) made gigantic contributions to San Antonio’s championship run last season. Ex-Sixer Jodie Meeks (No. 41 in '09, by Milwaukee) has quietly fashioned a nice career; his latest stop is Detroit. P.J. Tucker (No. 35 in '06, by Toronto) is one of the Suns’ core players. Charlotte's Mo Williams (No. 47 in '03, by Utah) has been productive wherever he has played.
It should come as no great surprise that Hinkie’s former team, Houston, has six guys on its 14-man roster who were second-round picks or undrafted free agents, as the Rockets have attempted to build around the James Harden-Dwight Howard nucleus (and currently just Harden, as Howard is injured). That is in keeping with the approach of Hinkie’s mentor, GM Daryl Morey.
Four of those six players are in the rotation: Beverley, forward Trevor Ariza (No. 43 in '04, by the Knicks) and backup forwards Joey Dorsey (No. 33 in '08, by Portland) and Kostas Papanikolau (No. 48 in '12, also by the Knicks).
(Papanikolau’s nickname, by the way, is the “Greek Army Knife,” as he is a native of Trikala, Greece. Interesting thing, basketball-reference.com.)
The Sixers, for their part, already have made some promising low-profile acquisitions, like those of second-rounders K.J. McDaniels and Jerami Grant and undrafted free agent Robert Covington. Now they can only hope that similar players are in the pipeline. And that Joel Embiid regains his health, Michael Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel fully develop and future lotteries prove fruitful.
Other than that, they’re right on the brink of contention.
It’s no surprise that the preponderance of the league’s second-rounders (37) have been taken in the last three years, but it is interesting to note that the well is deeper some years than others — that, for instance, there are still six No. 2s in the league from 2005 (including ex-Sixer Lou Williams, now with Toronto) but only three from 2010.
But more often than not, useful guys are there. Now Hinkie and his henchmen need only go out and find them.
The odds of them doing that are better than any of us might have realized.