Sixers' future still taking shape under Hinkie

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We are officially no longer on holiday.  

The Sixers traded their best player in Jrue Holiday for a future lottery pick along with a franchise big man and his marvelous high-top fade. Though, for my money, not necessarily in that order.  

Nerlens Noel was introduced to the media on Tuesday (see story), cementing the start of something that will transform the Sixers organization, even though no one is sure at the moment of exactly in which direction. Right now, the Sixers’ core players are a rookie point guard (Michael Carter-Williams), a veteran tweener (Thaddeus Young) and Noel, who will miss a good portion of the 2013-14 season while continuing to recover from a torn ACL.  

Even before the start of training camp, Sixers president and general manager Sam Hinkie is on the clock. The direction of the franchise is taking the shape of an amoeba, or any other single-celled, microscopic organism for that matter. The Sixers are starting small -- really small -- and hoping to build something with staying power.

Many Sixers fans (me included) are staring at Hinkie the same way kids stare at an adult, looking for answers from the person whom they believe has them or at least holds all the cards.  

We all get the gist of what Hinkie is doing with the team, parlaying five picks in next year’s draft and 2014 cap room into a stepping stone toward contention. Many questions will be asked and answered between now and when the Sixers are really relevant, not the least of which is: Where’s the coach?  

Noel labeled Hinkie a genius on Tuesday and gave him kudos for pairing the 19-year-old big man with Carter-Williams, his former AAU teammate. The actual genius of Hinkie won’t be known for some years as the decisions he imposes on the franchise will either define a watershed moment in Philadelphia sports history or get piled in with the recent morose enveloping the franchise.

Ironically, the Sixers’ previous head decision-makers were heavily criticized for taking a calculated but ultimately poor risk in acquiring Andrew Bynum for a hefty price. Let’s hope the Noel gamble amounts to front office savvy rather than ineptitude.

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