Ben Detrick of The Ringer makes for the Sixers to become the next Thunder:

But after Philly grabbed Ben Simmons with the top pick in the 2016 draft, the Sixers’ rebuild found its keystone. Despite a glut of big men on the roster, the 19-year-old Australian’s talent is so visible — it burns through the fog. Simmons, a 6-foot-10 Range Rover with the ability to rifle pinpoint passes while accelerating up the floor — singularly clarifies the Sixers’ roster composition, offensive philosophy, and style of play going forward. In his first two summer league games, he racked up 15 rebounds and 11 assists, with many of those dimes delivered via no-look passes at needle-threading angles. He hasn’t shown any ability to shoot (or much interest), but he has the speed, poise, and flair of a jumbo-size Jason Kidd.

Going forward, Philly will make its bones with Simmons outrunning bigs, out-muscling littles, lofting oops, and flicking assists to shooters camped around the arc. He can be the Delaware Valley’s answer to LeBron James or Draymond Green: an uber-skilled forward who gives his team the gleam of futurism.

He needs help, though. Joel Embiid is a gifted giant whose potential greatness comes with a tiny caveat: He has spent all of his first two seasons sidelined with a navicular fracture in his right foot. To his credit, he has tweeted through it. We haven’t seen him play in a competitive setting (like, say, half-court, two-on-two games to seven by ones, take everything back), and video snippets of his workouts are pored over like grainy alien-autopsy photos.

But if that bone can support a mammoth, leaping, running human, Embiid has the supreme talent to become a franchise-anchoring interior presence. With hulking size, a deft shooting touch, and the strength of 1,000 Shirley Temples, he may be a top-five center the moment he steps on the floor (minutes restrictions notwithstanding).

Detrick ultimately concludes that the biggest obstacle to the Sixers being great may be themselves. This is what I’ve been saying for months (mostly to Jim). They are so well-positioned that Bryan Colangelo would have to actively screw something up. Between Simmons, Embiid, Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor and Dario Saric, at least one or two players have to hit. They are the fruits of Sam Hinkie’s labor. This is why you collect assets. They won’t all pan out, but even if one or two do, the Sixers will be in a great spot. It’s on Colangelo not to do something stupid and ruin what is shaping up to become a great thing. Detrick argues that Colangelo’s early moves – Jerryd Bayless, Gerald Henderson – emphasize immediate results, perhaps to the detriment of the process. But I disagree. I think Colangelo signed mid-level players like Bayless and Henderson to manageable contracts so the Sixers could form some semblance of a basketball team next year, a necessary existence for young stars who could’ve become tainted by Hinkie’s nonstop losing. They needed to take a step forward.

When we’ll really find out what Colangelo is made of is next summer, when the Sixers will likely have a top 5 draft pick, tons of cap space, and the sudden appeal of playing with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.

Read it here.