NBA trade deadline winners/losers: In defense of 76ers

Adi Joseph | USA TODAY Sports

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This still could blow up in Sam Hinkie's face.

All the wild trades, out-of-nowhere signings and stockpiled draft picks could amount to nothing for the Philadelphia 76ers, at which point their general manager may need to run for cover.

But the Hinkie experiment lives on for now, its glow brighter than ever with Thursday afternoon's NBA trade deadline. The most successful player Hinkie has acquired in his nearly two years running the Sixers is now gone, as is a prized second-round find.

And in place of 2013-14 rookie of the year Michael Carter-Williams and rookie surprise K.J. McDaniels, Hinkie added more of the same: future assets. The Sixers come out with two more (protected) 2015 first-round draft picks and a future second-rounder, showing a total commitment to Hinkie's plan and emerging as potentially huge winners of this deadline.

Carter-Williams wasn't Hinkie's ideal point guard. He can't shoot for a team that thrives on three-pointers, and he's turnover-prone for a franchise built on efficiency analytics. Trading him (to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team deal with the Phoenix Suns) for what could be a top-10 pick fits Hinkie's mindset and refusal to accept "good" when "potentially great" is on the table. (The Phoenix Suns sent the Sixers a draft pick owed to them by the Los Angeles Lakers that is top-five protected this year and top-three protected next year.)

The added bonus(?): Without Carter-Williams and with backup point guard Tony Wroten out for the season, the Sixers should be even worse, making their own pick higher. They brought in Isaiah Canaan, a talented and cheap backup point guard, from the Rockets in the McDaniels trade, but they simply lack firepower to compete now.

(The McDaniels trade is a little more complicated. He's a talented and athletic player, but he lately has been outplayed by fellow rookie second-rounder Jerami Grant, who seems to have more potential as a shooter. McDaniels also is sure to be overpaid as a restricted free agent this offseason, whereas Grant is under contract for three more seasons, and Canaan has a friendly contract as well. So the move makes sense.)

But Hinkie's unassailable stick-to-itiveness belies his actual assailability. The Sixers have zero healthy players capable of starting on a good team. (Nerlens Noel may get there, but for now he's one of the worst offensive players in the NBA.) Even if his long-term vision works, Hinkie may be out of a job before anything comes to fruition.

Consider this: The Sixers might have added two 2015 first-round picks (the Lakers' and the Oklahoma City Thunder's top-18 protected selection, via the Denver Nuggets) Thursday, or they might have added two 2017 first-round picks as both have protections on them. Hinkie needs at least one of those picks to pay out, along with the Miami Heat's top-10 protected pick, in order to keep his plan on a realistic timeline.

The GM refuses to talk on the record about his logic, hammered home in a recent ESPN The Magazine profile of the Sixers in which his only quote was about his favorite author (detail-oriented biographer Robert Caro). But those guarded secrets and future assets won't keep him employed forever. So while the Sixers won Thursday, their mastermind may not be around for the spoils.

Other winners and losers from the trade deadline:

WINNER: Kevin Garnett

The greatest player in Minnesota Timberwolves history goes back after a 7½ years away. Garnett, 38, might not even be done playing, but he also sets himself up for a future role with the franchise. His goal, he told Yahoo Sports back in November, is ownership.

The trade (Garnett for Thaddeus Young, straight up) pretty clearly was won by the Brooklyn Nets from a basketball perspective. But Garnett's old nickname shows exactly what the T'wolves gain in the move: "The Big Ticket." Fans will be excited Friday when he should make his debut, and he could help Andrew Wiggins, the franchise's next star, develop.

LOSER: Detroit Pistons

They land Reggie Jackson, a good combo guard who thinks he's a great point guard, in exchange for D.J. Augustin, a good-enough point guard who knows he's a good-enough point guard. This move might mean trouble when Brandon Jennings, who was playing so well before his season-ending injury, is back next season. Jackson, the former Thunder sixth man) is a restricted free agent who wants to run his own team next season, and it's easy to imagine the Pistons losing him for nothing.

They also gave up three of their best shooters: Kyle Singler and, in a seperate trade, Jonas Jerebko and Luigi Datome. They gave up Jerebko and Datome to bring Tayshaun Prince back. But Jerebko had some value as a stretch power forward, and Singler might be the best shooter on the team. These are the kinds of moves that make many question the coach-president role in general: Coaches always think about the next game and the current season. Stan Van Gundy, in his first year in that role, seems to have done just that.

WINNER: Complainers

Jackson, Goran Dragic (traded by the Suns to the Heat) and Enes Kanter (Jazz to Thunder) all forced their teams hands successfully. None is an All-Star, though Dragic was pretty close last season. But all three are free agents this offseason and knew they could make power moves by going public with their issues and demanding bigger roles. They all got moved, and only Kanter risks having a smaller role with his new team.

LOSER: Miami Heat's future

The Heat undoubtably improved for 2014-15. Dragic is the exact kind of lead guard who will help keep Dwyane Wade fresh for the playoffs, and with those two and a frontcourt of All-Star Chris Bosh, veteran Luol Deng and rapidly improving Hassan Whiteside, the Heat have one of the best starting lineups in the Eastern Conference.

But they gave up two potentially very valuable draft picks in the process, now owing the Suns their 2017 first-rounder (protected in the top seven) and their 2021 first-rounder (completely unprotected). The Heat are an old team right now, and this is reminscent of the draft haul the Boston Celtics landed from the Nets in their Garnett-Paul Pierce trade of 2013. Of course, Heat President Pat Riley might have retired by 2021.

WINNER: Phil Jackson

The Knicks made a simple trade, moving Pablo Prigioni to the Houston Rockets for two future second-round picks and guard Alexey Shved. Everyone won in the trade, as Houston did need a veteran guard off the bench. But the big winner might be Jackson, who is doing something so rarely seen in New York: collecting assets. He's rebuilding, and this trade made sense.

LOSER: Thomas Robinson

The No. 5 pick of the 2012 draft now has been traded three times, as he went from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Denver Nuggets in a five-player deal. (The Blazers clearly won the deal, too, as they brought in Arron Afflalo to give them much-needed wing depth at a cheap price.) What's worse than going from a potential title contender to a lottery team in a pivotal contract season is Robinson probably won't play any more in Denver, which has ridiculous depth in the frontcourt.

WINNER: New Orleans Pelicans

The Pelicans needed a point guard for the stretch run and gave up nothing other than salary cap space to add Norris Cole, who was superfluous for the Heat and Suns in their trade.

Follow Adi Joseph on Twitter @AdiJoseph.

GALLERY: EVERY PLAYER DEALT AT THE DEADLINE