Marks: Dreaming of the Day When Sixers’ Master Plan Comes True

PHILADELPHIA – Joel Embiid passed the ball effortlessly, the navicular bone in his broken left foot hardly seeming to present a problem. His endearing smile lit up the place and thrilled the crowd, happy to see their hoops savior looking well and wondering if the civic basketball nightmare was about to finally end.

Don’t worry, Sam Hinkie. Nobody’s raining on your “parade,’’ which continues to look more and more like the only celebration Philadelphia 76ers fans will ever see — if we call it a parade back to the draft lottery next spring.

Because this wasn’t Embiid on a basketball court, ready to prove to the cynics that he – rather than former Kansas teammate Andrew Wiggins, Duke’s Jabari Parker or anyone else – was the prize of Adam Silver’s inaugural draft.

This was Joel Embiid, the world’s tallest soccer player, gingerly kicking the ball around as honorary captain of the MLS Philadelphia Union before Sunday’s game vs. the San Jose Earthquakes.

As for basketball, what’s the rush? Why mess with the master plan? Why play someone who might actually help the NBA’s unofficial wasteland denizens climb out of the abyss? Not when there are more games to be lost, more draft picks to be acquired and eventually used, more “assets’’ to be acquired and stashed.

While the Cleveland LeBrons are assembling an offensive juggernaut (defense? that’s another matter) the Sixers are assembling … well, who knows what they’re assembling?

That “Together We Build” slogan which became their rallying cry last season has already gone stale. Asking Sixer fans to sit through one crummy 19-63 season was one thing. Now suggesting they should do it again – and perhaps again the following year – while mad analytics scientist Hinkie, sacrificial lamb coach Brett Brown and a crew of unknown players try to make something of this mess isn’t going over very well.

For a while it was kind of amusing watching Hinkie gut the roster, holding his personal Broad & Pattison garage sale, where once valued possessions were going for pennies on the dollar. Well, it’s no longer funny. Folks aren’t laughing with the Sixers anymore. They’re laughing at them.

And they’re wondering just when does the demolition stop and the supposed new construction begin?

Right now, no one seems to have a clue. The party line to the fan base has been “Stay patient and eventually you’ll be rewarded.’’ But with each passing day and each transaction it becomes harder and harder to buy into the thinking that such a revolutionary strategy will wind up being anything more than revolting, time-consuming and fruitless.

Their latest move – as part of the Kevin Love trade, the worst secret on earth – sent Thaddeus Young, by far Philadelphia’s most accomplished player, to the Minnesota Timberwolves. While Young’s contractual status (player option after next season) made him expendable, the Sixers reportedly were getting decent value in return.

For weeks, it was rumored to be Anthony Bennett, last year’s No. 1 pick and No. 1 bust but a player Hinkie was said to be enamored with. The Cavs would ship him, Wiggins and a future pick to Minnesota for Love, who would then reroute Bennett to Philly for Young,

Reality became something else. Instead of Bennett, who will join Wiggins and Young in Minnesota, the Sixers acquired two of those always treasured expiring contracts, along with Miami’s first-round draft pick — Top 10 protected in 2015 and 2016 and unprotected in 2017.

“That’s important. You don’t see a lot of first-round picks changing hands these days,” Hinkie said Tuesday.

Say hello to forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, a career 6.3 ppg scorer who will be joining his fourth NBA team in six seasons. Please welcome shooting guard Alexey Shved, who has shot just 36 percent while averaging 6.5 points since arriving from Russia two years ago.

Oh, they got one more thing: That coveted draft pick, giving Hinkie & Co. yet two more first-rounders barring one unlikely development: the Sixers actually qualifying for the playoffs.

In that case their pick would go to the Celtics, redirected as part of a 2012 draft trade with the Heat for the pick they used to select Mississippi State forward Arnett Moultrie, whom following the trade of Young becomes Philadelphia’s longest tenured player, despite as one local columnist pointed out that he has accumulated more suspensions for various offenses (3) than starts (2).

That should tell you something about these Sixers, who have unloaded everyone from a team that was four minutes from the 2012 conference finals, plus a whole bunch who have followed.

The current roll call, headed by reigning Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams and stringbean rookie big man Nerlens Noel, will be hard pressed to match last season’s 19 wins.

As for Embiid, he’s a long shot to suit up, but at least he will have someone to provide company for his misery. That’s because Mbah a Moute, who befriended him a few years ago in their native Cameroon, will becomes the world tallest babysitter.

“We’re very close,” Embiid told Comcast SportsNet, which televises most of the team’s games and was the only media permitted to speak with Embiid at the soccer game. “He’s the one who gave me the chance to come to the USA. For him to come to the Sixers I think is a great addition. It’s gonna help me and the other guys, because he’s been in the league a long time.”

If the theory was to bring a couple of players into this losing culture to teach all these kids how to win, then somebody missed the boat. Mbah a Moute has played in 11 playoff games over six seasons, which is 11 more than Shved.

So why are they here? The popular answer is they have expiring contracts that will come off the books after next season. Hinkie has gone out of his way to latch onto as many expiring contracts as he can the last two years, which will translate into oodles of salary cap space to snap up available free agents.

NBA rules mandate that teams spend 90 percent of the salary cap (about $57 million) on player salaries. If they fail to do so, the team must cut a check for the shortage to the Players Association. Currently, the Sixers have about $25 million in unused cap space.

“At this point, that is not something that is a concern for us,” Hinkie said. “”As for cap planning, we have lots of flexibility this summer, which enables us to be in some conversations and have some opportunities.”

(RELATED: Sixers salary cap situation and analysis)

There’s just one flaw in that thinking. Whom does Hinkie think will sign on to this sunken ship? Free agents go for two things: money or a shot at a ring. Why else do you think Mike Miller, James Jones and Shawn Marion have latched onto the S.S. LeBron while Love was willing to pledge allegiance to the Cavs rather than becoming a free man when he would have been eligible next summer?

So that leaves money, which might be enough for you or me. But it’s silly to think Hinkie’s pile of dollar bills will lure a Kevin Durant. LaMarcus Aldridge or Marc Gasol to sign on the dotted line. There will likely be a half dozen or so other teams with the cap space to match anything Philadelphia will have to offer. And none of those teams figure to be on-the-court disasters like Sam’s Club.

In their perfect hoops world, the Sixers will develop players like Carter-Williams, Noel, Embiid, Eurostash forward Dario Saric and more child prodigies to be drafted later. Then they will mix that group with an elite free agent or two and voila! They will have the ingredients for a legit NBA contender that will wreak havoc throughout the league for a decade or so.

But only a fool would think such a plan is foolproof. Even assuming the multitude of players they draft and cultivate from NBA infancy turn into legit stars, just how long will it be until they want to get out of Dodge? If all they know is losing, developing bad habits, never getting the adrenaline rush that comes with playing big games where they are tested mentally as much as physically, how can they truly expect to compete with everyone else?

By the time all the pieces are in place, many of them may want out. They will have served their sentence under the terms of their initial contract and be ready to go someplace else, any place to get away from here.

Or maybe the plan will work. The Sixers will build their own team of All-Stars the way Oklahoma City did a few years back. Instead of being perpetually mediocre as they and many other teams have been for far too long, Philadelphia will become the scourge of the NBA.

Under that scenario, Embiid will be able to put away the soccer ball and find the same kind of joy when, with a healthy left foot, he steps onto the court with his new playmates .

Oh, well, at least we can dream.

Jon Marks has covered the Philadelphia 76ers from the days of Dr. J and his teammate, Joe Bryant (best known as Kobe’s dad). He has won awards from the Pro Basketball Writers Association and North Jersey Press Club.  His other claim to fame is driving Rick Mahorn to a playoff game after missing the team bus. Follow him on Twitter.