The Philadelphia 76ers are now in the headlines not because they're winning.
The recent hiring of Jerry Colangelo was expected to spark some changes and possibly abandon the long-term process that GM Sam Hinkie started.
Another possible Sixers personnel change is the imminent hiring of former head coach Mike D'Antoni, former head coach of the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and LA Lakers. However, the Sixers claimed that hiring D'Antoni was already pushed even before the Colangelo move, as the mentioned to Philly.com.
"Having a graybeard, true-veteran-type NBA coach has been discussed for a while as it relates to growing my staff," Sixers coach Brett Brown said. "Vance Walberg and Chad Iske left last year. We opted to take our existing staff, which I think is fantastic and I love and has been great to me, and grow them.
"The timing is disturbing of the leak," he clarifies. "We have been talking about it for a while."
D'Antoni is best known for his "Seven seconds or less" in Phoenix anchored on Steve Nash and his success allowed him his two other head coaching stints-which ended with both teams firing him. The debacle with the Lakers left a bitter sting on their fans and many thought D'Antoni would never be in an NBA bench again-until now.
Suffice to say, D'Antoni's system is only as good as his personnel, and if they choose to adopt it here, the Sixers do not have the tools to pull it off. There is no Steve Nash type of guard to run it, and the best assets are two centers who clog the paint. If D'Antoni could not pull it off with Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor won't cut the cake.
Sixers fans at Liberty Ballers have identified Jahlil Okafor as the odd man out. Comments propose trades with the LA Lakers who have a logjam of two young point guards in Jordan Clarkson and D'Angelo Russell.
The Sixers would want Russell more, as they targeted him in the draft. Clarkson is playing better and the Lakers acknowledge that his trade value is at its peak, but Clarkson is due to become a restricted free agent and likely to have a big payday. Russell will stay on his rookie contract longer and has considerable more upside.
One of the major factors in a Sixers-Lakers trade is LA's draft protection. The Sixers would want that removed to assure them of two top 5 picks, but LA would want an asset just for that. The speculated scenartio is that Sixers could accept Clarkson for Okafor if the protection was removed-but the Lakers probably would not agree to it.