Sam Hinkie’s biggest purported flaw is that he didn’t view his players as people. They were just names on a spreadsheet. Assets. Ideas. They could be moved around, used to bring in returns on investment, or saved for big potential in the future. The thing they couldn’t do was feel.

Was that actually how he looked at his players? No (probably). But Nerlens Noel’s recently voiced frustrations with the Sixers – and Bryan Colagelo in the post-Hinkie age – show that the idea of looking at players like assets – or dare I say objects – isn’t unique to Hinkie.

For a refresher, here’s what Noel said to Keith Pompey:

I think it’s just silly . . . this situation that we are in now with three starting centers. With the departure of [former general manager and president] Sam Hinkie, I would have figured that management would be able to get something done this summer. I think something needs to happen…

I feel like it definitely needs to be figured out, I think at the end of the day, again, you have three starting-caliber centers. And it’s just not going to work to anybody’s advantage having that on the same team. That’s how I’m looking at it. I’m not opposed to anything, but things need to be situated.”

Nothing Nerlens said above is incorrect, irrational, or out of line. He later told Pompey he thinks he’s “sacrificed a lot.” Again, he’s right. But here’s the thing*: We don’t like hearing it.

Nerlens and Hollis Thompson are the only people to be here for the entire Hinkie era who are still standing. That “losing culture” that we were all warned about? It hasn’t touched Hollis, who is getting minutes he would not have gotten elsewhere and had a chance to show what he can do and who he is. For Nerlens, who is in the final year of his rookie deal – the team has until Halloween to extend him or he’ll be a restricted free agent this off-season – he has to start looking to his future. Three things can happen:


First, if the Sixers won’t match an offer anyway, they can do whatever they want with him. They’ve got Jah and Embiid, so whatever happens with Nerlens happens. Minutes, touches, etc. don’t matter. And if they don’t get an offer they like enough for him, just let him go at the end of the year.**

Second, if they do plan on keeping him and matching any offer – which makes zero sense – they now have incentive to play him as their reserve center, cut his minutes down, and keep his price down. They want to see what they have in Embiid anyway, so why not have him take a chunk of Noel’s minutes rather than work in a real three-man rotation? I don’t think this is what the Sixers are thinking, but I’m sure it’s something Nerlens’ agent has taken note of.

And finally, Nerlens’ value right now may be the lowest it’s been since he missed his first season. He’s the third center – in the eyes of many – on a team with big aspirations. He only has one year of roster control left (teams can offer a contract and the Sixers must decide whether or not to match this off-season). And what his value is among other GMs looks up-in-the-air. Playing out of position a lot last season skewed both statistics and the eye test. The league’s dumber GMs may see him as a low-value player because of that. The league’s savvier ones see a bargain. Either way, it’s likely not an enormous payday. That’s probably why a source told Pompey that the Sixers “turned down several offers for Noel.” What he’s actually worth is really in the eye of the beholder. If there was a way to quantifiably nail down what Noel’s real value was, there’s no reason for another team to offer that to the Sixers’, because they don’t hold the power. They’ll have to sell low.

Nerlens is in a tough situation. And as Max and I discussed on our podcast last night – coming a little later today – there’s no way this wasn’t shared internally before Noel talked to Pompey about it. He’s been a good little soldier for 142 games. Someone is going. We all know that. And if Noel thinks it’s going to be him (it’s gotta be him, right?) then he’s only human to express this. It stinks, and we don’t like hearing it, but you can’t blame him one bit.

*Max and I discussed this in an episode of The Stepover coming later today, so I apologize to him if I stole some of his lines by osmosis. But not really.

**This isn’t assuming some grand conspiracy that Brett Brown would be involved with to lessen Nerlens’ playing time, but GMs have meddled hard before.