Sixers Losing Young, Getting Younger

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Last summer, when Sam Hinkie became the third Sixers GM under the new ownership group, he did so with their blessing to tear everything down and build from the ground up. In no time at all, the new architect of the Sixers’ grand design had completely overhauled the roster and set the franchise on a new pace (for better or worse) for the future. Basketball Reference lists each NBA team’s average age based upon minutes played; at a collective average of just 23 years of age, the Sixers were the youngest team in the league a season ago.

Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of teams on the younger end of the spectrum were toward the bottom of the standings, as they underwent various rebuilds of their own. It’s also instructive to note that 9 out of the 10 oldest teams made the playoffs, with the Knicks and their motley collection of gun-wielding and shoelace-untying guards serving as the lone outlier. Not only does this fact illustrate that teams largely need to gain some level of experience in order to advance to the next plateau of NBA success, but also that teams sign veteran players to fill fringe roles on the roster when they feel themselves to be true contenders (think the Cavaliers going after guys like Mike Miller and Ray Allen this offseason). Sam Hinkie has famously gone to the opposite extreme, refusing to sign any veterans at all because he knows the team is still years away from any feasible sort of contention.

Assuming the Sixers’ trade of Thad Young for Anthony Bennett goes through in some form later this month, not only will the team be losing its best player from a season ago, but also one of its elder statesmen. Young led the team in minutes last season by a long shot, and at 25 years old (note: Basketball Reference uses February 1 as a cut-off), Young was tied as the second-oldest player to see the court for the Sixers (behind 26-year old Eric Maynor and his paltry 112 minutes). With fellow 25-year-olds Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes also receiving significant minutes before being shipped out of town, there is a huge vacuum for players on the roster who have even been of legal drinking age for a few years.

Assuming all of these minutes will be recent high schoolers Nerlens Noel (20), Anthony Bennett (21), and probably the likes of K.J. McDaniels (21), Jerami Grant (20), and old-timer Jordan McRae (23). If this was 1970, the majority of the Sixers roster would still be hoisting shots at a university somewhere (and I assume you’d be reading this article on a newspaper you bought on the street corner for a quarter). With all the storied college hoops programs in the city of Philadelphia, it seems apropos that the professional team in town is probably the average age of a storied mid-major. It remains to be seen how long it will be before the Sixers graduate and join the big boys among the NBA elite.