By Sean Kennedy
Sam Hinkie had a history from his time in Houston of waiting until the last second at the trade deadline, but he didn’t make us wait that long Thursday with the first domino falling in the morning in the form of Spencer Hawes. The Sixers shipped him off to Cleveland (who were obviously very impressed by his blatant disregard for interior defense or overall effort in the game between the two teams Tuesday) in exchange for Earl Clark, Henry Sims, Cleveland’s 2014 2nd-rounder and Memphis’ 2014 2nd-rounder.
Earl Clark has already been waived by the Sixers, but Henry Sims is actually a bit intriguing to me. 23 years old out of Georgetown, Sims, actually has the best DREB% (21.5), overall REB% (16.4), and blocks per 100 possessions (2.0) of anyone on the Sixers roster, albeit in limited minutes. With the Sixers’ top-two rebounders in Spencer Hawes and (Spoiler Alert!) Lavoy Allen shipped out, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Sixers give him plenty of run and see if he can fill that defense/rebounding backup center role they so sorely lack (RIP Daniel Orton and DeWayne Dedmon). Sims has a non-guaranteed contract for about $900k next season, so he could conceivably be back if the organization likes what it sees in him. Of course, the main pieces of the trade are the two second-round picks, which will both fall in the middle of the round. Hinkie is acquiring plenty of potential trade assets to possibly move up a couple spots in the first round with the Pelicans pick or do just about anything else. The man knows what he’s doing so I like the idea of his having more bullets in the chamber.
The NBA trade deadline brought to you by Sam Hinkie was far from over though. The Sixers found a way to involve themselves as the facilitator of a three-team deal that saw Washington obtain old-friend Andre Miller and Denver receive Jan Vesely. For their part in the deal, Philadelphia received Eric Maynor, Washington’s 2015 2nd-round pick, and Denver 2016 second-round pick for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Seriously, no one is even sure what the Sixers traded (you have to technically give up something in any deal); I heard a rumor that it was a trade exception but no one knows for certain.
The 2015 and 2016 2nd-rounder help the Sixers rectify the mistake of the old regime, as the team will owe Miami their own 2nd-rounders those years as part of the Arnett Moultrie deal (assuming the team doesn’t make the playoffs next season, which you never know because they play in the East and we’ll have 4 lottery picks on the team next season). The real cost of the deal was taking on Eric Maynor’s contract, as he has a $2.1M player option for next season. The Sixers obviously have plenty of room under the cap and it might be interesting to see if they can turn Maynor’s career around. The former VCU guard looked like he would be a real player during his rookie season with OKC, but his career has really hit a decline since then, culminating in shooting just 29% from the field in 9 mpg for Washington this season. If you had told 2009-me that the Sixers would obtain Eric Maynor, I would have been really excited, and also really perplexed why you were using your powers of precognition to tell me stuff about Eric Maynor. Like with the Tony Wroten acquisition, we got him for nothing, plus, more 2nd-round picks.
The next trade I’m less excited about. The Sixers received BJ Mullens and the Clippers 2018 2nd-round draft pick, in exchange for their own 2014 2nd-rounder (top-55 protected). In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Sixers will not finish with one of the 5 best records this season, so again, Hinkie received some assets for nothing, in this case, by helping the Clippers get under the tax threshold. Mullens has a $1M player option for next season, which isn’t a big deal except for the fact that he’s a softer, less-efficient version of Hawes. There were a few hours Thursday where I thought I wouldn’t have to watch a 7-footer allergic to the paint shoot outside shots all game and that was a really great time for me. However, whereas Hawes was actually the best outside shooter on the team and an above-average passer to boot, Mullens is a terrible shooter (30.5% career from three), and jacks up shots at an even higher rate. Hopefully, Brett Brown buries him on the bench but I doubt that will happen since Hinkie obviously saw something in him he liked. I don’t want to talk about this deal anymore.
Finally, with the trade deadline already passed and Sixers social media freaking out that Evan Turner was still on the team, word came out that the Sixers had sent Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen to Indiana for Danny Granger and Golden State’s 2015 2nd-round pick. Hinkie’s fetish for second-rounders continues and there were already rumors that Granger, an unrestricted free agent after this season, might be bought out. However, with Earl Clark released, the Sixers are good as far as the number of players on the roster so they’re not necessarily compelled to do anything on that front. If the Sixers want to throw him out there and see if he can re-gain something approaching his all-star form, I’d be alright with that. It’d be nice to watch another NBA-caliber player on the team as the Sixers lose game after game over these last couple months of the season.
Granger has suffered through last season’s knee injury and a calf injury this season and the Pacers clearly thought it would be better to have some younger legs on the wing when they inevitably face Miami in the Conference Finals. As for the departed Turner, while he did some things well, the sheer fact that I’ll never again have to watch him drive to the hoop with his head down, get blocked by a waiting big man (or sometimes the underside of the rim), and then complain to the ref instead of getting back on defense, makes this a win for me. It’s a shame the Sixers didn’t get more out of their former second overall pick but it was a sunk cost at this point. Lavoy parlayed one good playoff series against Kevin Garnett the Celtics into a 2-year contract; I won’t be shedding any tears for the former Temple Owl either. The Sixers take on Dallas tonight. Who will be in uniform? Will there be anyone to grab a rebound? The outcome (L) will be the same, but should be interesting to see how it happens.
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