The Sixers are a team on the right path in a league that now dares its teams to look for shortcuts. The race to catch Golden State and restore a measure of parity is so intense — and NBA free agency is such a dominant factor — that old-fashioned, draft-based team building is becoming less attractive. But it is still the preferred route to sustained success. It will get complicated for Philadelphia because, if it re-signs Butler, he will join Embiid as the franchise's second max-contract player. Then the window to sign Simmons, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 draft, will begin this summer. And he's definitely a max player, too. The Sixers must figure how out to build depth before those contracts take away most of their roster flexibility.