The initial reaction to a recent report was interesting. Even if it was widely believed before last year’s draft that Kristaps Porzingis preferred to play in New York instead of Philly, the details of Adrian Wojnarowksi’s piece played on the fears of the pro-process crowd, while seemingly validating the suspicions of the anti-Sam Hinkie assembly.
If you somehow missed it, here’s the germane passage about Porzingis’s agent, Andy Miller, keeping his client away from the Sixers before the draft:
Whatever happened, Miller didn't make it easy for Philadelphia to draft Porzingis at No. 3. The Sixers wouldn't be afforded Porzingis' physical, nor get a private workout, nor even a face-to-face meeting. After most of the pro day executives cleared out of the gym in Vegas in mid-June, 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie lingered to meet with Miller. Hinkie stopped him in the lobby area and asked Miller about a chance to sit down and visit with Porzingis.
"You said that I would get a meeting with him here," Hinkie told Miller.
"I said, 'I'd try,' and it's not going to work out, Sam," Miller responded.
An awkward silence lingered, the GM and agent, standing and staring. The Porzingis camp wanted no part of the Sixers' situation at No 3. Miller couldn't stop Philadelphia from drafting Porzingis, but he could limit the information they had to make a decision. And did. No physical. No meeting. No workout. The Sixers passed on Porzingis on draft night, clearing the way for the Knicks to select him.
It wasn’t a terrific look for the Sixers as public perception goes, and it came shortly after a different report that claimed ownership forced Hinkie to pass on Porzingis and take Jahlil Okafor. (Scott O’Neil denied the veracity of the latter story on Twitter before deleting the tweets.) Taken in total, it was a one-two combination for an organization that has absorbed quite a few blows in the ring of public perception.
While the information wasn’t exactly new, the scene used in the Woj piece was powerful. Accordingly, the general takeaway on social media seemed to be something on the order of see, agents don’t want to deal with Hinkie or the Sixers. It’s a convenient crutch to lean on and prop up yet another argument against Hinkie, though the logic isn’t very sturdy.
The PR hit was reflexive, and there isn’t much the Sixers can do about it. People who don’t like or understand the rebuild, read something like that and it reinforces preconceived notions. Thing is, agents frequently steer players away from one team and toward another. They share info with some teams and not with others.
It’s worked in reverse in the past for the Sixers. After Joel Embiid’s initial foot injury was revealed pre-draft, his camp, at the time, shared the medical information with the Sixers, who picked third that year. They did not share that same info with the Magic and Jazz, however, who picked fourth and fifth respectively in that same draft. But they did share it with the Lakers, who selected seventh. It’s how it goes.
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It should also be noted that Porzingis has the same agent as Nerlens Noel. Miller and Hinkie talk. By all accounts, they have a good relationship. But it’s also a business on both ends. If you’re Miller, would you want Porzingis in New York — the biggest market in sports — where the frontcourt was decimated and there was a quick and obvious path to stardom, or would you want him in Philly where there’s a potential logjam of frontcourt players with Noel and (eventually, maybe) Joel Embiid and Dario Saric? For Miller and Porzingis, their pre-draft strategy seemed entirely focused on landing the Latvian in New York.
It’s just not that unusual. It’s been widely reported that Stephen Curry’s agent, Jeff Austin, didn’t want the Warriors to take him back then and kept Curry from working out for Golden State. It happens.
The Woj story was interesting for a lot of reasons, but if there’s a further conversation to be had about what went down, the operative question ought to be whether the Sixers should have channeled the Warriors and selected Porzingis anyway. There are area fans — and some media types — who look at Okafor’s age and his traditional counting stats and think the Sixers made the right move. Others, including me, have Porzingis rated higher because, in really general terms, he does more things on the court and, to date, he can guard more positions defensively. Not to mention that putting Porzingis on the Sixers would help space the floor and allow Noel to play closer to the rim, where he thrives defensively. You can imagine a Porzingis/Noel fit pretty easily. The Okafor/Noel fit is trickier.
Porzingis and Okafor are young and they’re barely more than halfway through their first seasons in what should be long careers for both men. But who’s better and who would have been a better option for the Sixers is a topic of debate now, and it probably will be for a long time. The Sixers and Hinkie swear Okafor was always going to be their guy if he fell to three, and maybe that’s true. If it’s not — if Hinkie secretly coveted Porzingis but went with Okafor as a safer pick for whatever reason — Hinkie would never let on. Maybe not even to himself.
If there’s an important takeaway and conversation to be had after the Woj piece, it isn’t about agents’ not wanting to deal with the Sixers. It’s about whether – despite not getting a full look at Porzingis before the draft — the Sixers should have selected him anyway.