After looking at the best draft picks by Sam Hinkie, it’s now time to take a look at his 5 worst. The draft meant everything to Hinkie. Tank and stockpile draft picks. The only problem was Hinkie swung and missed a lot. In fairness, so does every NBA GM. Let’s take a look back at Hinkie’s 5 worst draft picks.
5: The other second round picks that didn’t work out
GM’s miss on second round picks all the time. Pierre Jackson, JP Tokoto, and Russ Smith are just some of the examples. No need to spend much time there.
4: KJ McDaniels
I’m only adding KJ McDaniels into a separate category because there was a fuss over his contract for no reason. McDaniels ended up signing a weird contract and never turned into a contributor. The worst part is, the former Clemson product showed promise as a rookie in 2014. He was out of the league 3 years later.
3: Michael Carter-Wiliams
MCW ends up making both lists for good and bad picks by Hinkie. I explained in the last post that MCW won rookie of the year so that’s something. He just never turned into a great pro after that.
2: Jahlil Okafor
This one hurts for Philly fans and myself. I was a believer in Okafor coming out of Duke just because he was such a polished low post scorer. Even as a rookie, Okafor scored 17.5 points per game. The problem was he was and is a terrible defender and has been lost in the modern NBA. Hinkie’s biggest mistake was going all in on too many centers when the league was going in the opposite direction.
1: Nerlens Noel
No draft pick hurts the 76ers more than the Nerlens Noel pick. No, it’s not because Noel never turned into a great pro. What makes matters worse is Philadelphia gave up Jrue Holiday in the trade to acquire Noel. That could be the greatest what if going right now for Philly. What if Jrue Holiday was still on this team? He’s perfect for them too.
