The Philadelphia 76ers are flush with big men. It’s all part of Sam Hinkie’s decades-long plan of one day, far into the future, assembling a winning basketball team in the City of Brotherly Love. He’s a man who likes variety, as evidenced by his assortment of both old-school and new-school models of frontcourt players: those who are supremely athletic yet strictly defense-oriented, those who are grounded and have a throwback post game, and those who have a little of both but who may never actually suit up for the team.
We got a brief, yet tantalizing, glimpse into one potential future Sunday when No. 3 draft pick Jahlil Okafor led the fast break and found a streaking Nerlens Noel for the alley-oop slam. They would, however, go on to lose 92-91 to the Brooklyn Nets, an outcome that is in no way foreign to current members of the team but one that Okafor will have to get acclimated to during his rookie campaign as the Sixers have no immediate plans to end up anywhere else but back in the lottery next summer.
Okafor had 14 points and five rebounds, but was just 5-of-13 from the field, while Noel chipped in 15 points and 11 rebounds.
