Sixers: The East's next dynasty?

Sam Hinkie has an end-game in all his move-making, and it's not for the Sixers to be marred in mediocrity, as they were for much of the previous decade before his arrival. 

Successful NBA teams are propelled by stars, and Hinkie has been adamant about his desire for the Sixers to land at least one central 'star' for the franchise's rebuilding process to be a success. He has made move after move in the vein, casting aside replaceable, albeit established players, in order for increased opportunities to land said star, through the draft. 

At this point of the 'plan', there are more question marks than answers, as two of the four lottery picks Hinkie has made since he took over the team have yet to play a single second for the Sixers, and a third, Michael Carter-Williams was traded. 

(Agree with it or not, the trading of Carter-Williams was an example of Hinkie trading what he viewed to be as an ultimately replaceable player, for another shot to land a star in the lottery, via the pick received by the Sixers for Mike). 

It remains too early to judge the rebuild. Just because questions remain unanswered at this point, it doesn't mean that the plan hasn't been, or won't be successful. In the pretty near future, whether that be in the upcoming season, or in the seasons after, the questions will be answered, and the answers have a chance to be very favorable for the Philadelphia faithful. 

In a recent article, respected NBA writer Chris Sheridan wrote that the Sixers might be well on their way to becoming the league's next dynasty, despite the lack of on-court success up to this point. While some may view Sheridan's article as a tad idealistic, but he does make some potent points in the piece. 

Image taken by Michael Kaskey-Blomain

Although no team has gone about a rebuild quite like Hinkie's Sixers, Sheridan points to the Seattle Supersonics-turned-Oklahoma City Thunder under Sam Presti. After taking over control of the team, Presti got rid of the team's two most accomplished, experienced, and highly-priced in players in Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis in order to acquire assets and begin building back up from the bottom, through the draft. The Thunder used their picks to build a core of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Serge Ibaka, and in turn developed into one of the league's most formidable franchises. 

Obviously, salary cap issues prevented the Thunder from hanging on to James Harden, but with the expanding salary cap after next season, that is not something that the Sixers will have to worry about. When the time comes and all of these guys are coming off of their rookie deals, Hinkie should have the space to sign several, and not have to worry about losing a potential star, for fear of cap ramifications, a la Harden. Hinkie has done such a solid job of clearing the team's cap room for future contracts and signings, that the team should be able to afford top-tier talent for years to come. 

Hinkie has already assembled a solid base of talent: Embiid, Noel, Saric, McRae, Covington. If a couple of these guys pan out, the team will already have a solid base with which to build around. They then have plenty of picks and cap space for free agents to complement the developing core. (Embiid remains the largest question mark, but if he is able to perform close to as well as he projects, and stay healthy, the Sixers have something special). 

Hinkie also has it set up so that the Sixers will have a continuing influx of assets over the next few seasons. This summer, Joel Embiid and whoever the team selects with the third overall pick will be added to the roster which began developing, and showing some signs under Brett Brown last season. Next summer, Dario Saric will likely be joining the squad in addition to the Sixers' own likely lottery pick. They will also still have the rights to the top-3 protected pick from the Lakers that didn't convey this summer, in addition to the Thunder and Heat picks which also didn't convey. The Sixers also have a whole pile of second-rounders through 2020 that they could utilize. So while some prominent pieces are beginning to materialize for the team, there are still many more reinforcements, unnamed at this time, on the horizon. The increasing salary cap will help the Sixers retain these players when the time comes, or help them attract other free agents. 

The Cavs (or whatever team LeBron plays on) are going to be good for a few more years. Other than that, you're looking at a pretty wide open Eastern Conference. With the development of the team's current talent, their salary cap space, and the continual influx of assets through the draft over the new few years, the Sixers could be something special, and sustainable.