Why did we make the Vuc trade?

[Roy H.]

Just looking at his career numbers, I had zero recollection of him being a Sixer.  Part of the 4 way deal with Iguodala to Denver and Bynum to Sixers.

The guy has had a very solid career.

Same.  When I first had that, I immediately went to basketball reference to see if that was actually correct.  Zero recollection.

I legit just double checked your check because I was like he never played for Philly....egg on my face!

I haven't checked, but I followed Philly pretty closely back then.  He played one year in Philly, then they traded him and got Bynum, right?

I loved a lot of those 76ers.  Piggy, Jrue, Brand...

[Donoghus]

Just looking at his career numbers, I had zero recollection of him being a Sixer.  Part of the 4 way deal with Iguodala to Denver and Bynum to Sixers.

The guy has had a very solid career.

Same.  When I first had that, I immediately went to basketball reference to see if that was actually correct.  Zero recollection.

I legit just double checked your check because I was like he never played for Philly....egg on my face!

I haven't checked, but I followed Philly pretty closely back then.  He played one year in Philly, then they traded him and got Bynum, right?

I loved a lot of those 76ers.  Piggy, Jrue, Brand...

Just looked & Vuc played a whopping 2:51 of garbage minutes (Game 3) in that entire 7 game ECSF series against the Celtics.

That whole series was some of the ugliest basketball I've ever seen.

[Moranis]

That trade was amazing for just how bad it was for every franchise involved.  Denver made out the best and it was a mediocre return.  It legit set the Sixers back for years (Bynum never played for them) and directly led to the process since it destroyed all their assets.  The Lakers ended up in their 6 season non-playoff run mostly as a result of how bad Dwight was in LA.  The Magic still haven't recovered from losing Dwight

Trade Recap (what each team got)

Sixers - Bynum, Richardson
Lakers - Dwight, Earl Clark, Chris Duhon
Nuggets - Iggy
Magic - Vucevic, Harkless, Afflalo, Harrington, Eyenga, McRoberts, 2013 2nd Den (#51 Romero Osby), 2014 1st Den (#12 Dario Saric), 2015 2nd LA (not exercised),  2017 1st PHI (#5 De'Aaron Fox), 2017 2nd LA (#33 Wesley Iwundu), 2018 2nd LA (#40 Rodions Kurucs)

So the Magic got a bunch of picks, though ended not drafting either Fox or Saric the two best picks they ended up with because they traded them both on draft night (with a high 2nd) to the Sixers to move up 2 spots to draft Elfrid Payton at 10, the Sixers took Saric at 12, Hernangomez at 35, and ended up swapping the Fox pick with the Kings in a Kings salary dump (which is how the Sixers ended up with the 3rd pick i.e. Tatum which they obviously traded with Boston to get Fultz at 1). 

Denver did the best, but only had Iguodala for 1 year, a 1st round playoff loss to the Warriors and in the process gave up Afflalo, the Romero Osby 2nd round pick, and the future 1st that was Dario Saric.

So all in all the team that did the best got a 1 year rental for a 1st round playoff loss and gave up a lottery pick and useful player in the process. 

A 4-team trade where not only did no one win, they all lost.  A truly unique trade for just how bad it was for everyone involved.

[Celtics2021]

Just looking at his career numbers, I had zero recollection of him being a Sixer.  Part of the 4 way deal with Iguodala to Denver and Bynum to Sixers.

The guy has had a very solid career.

Same.  When I first had that, I immediately went to basketball reference to see if that was actually correct.  Zero recollection.

I legit just double checked your check because I was like he never played for Philly....egg on my face!

I haven't checked, but I followed Philly pretty closely back then.  He played one year in Philly, then they traded him and got Bynum, right?

I loved a lot of those 76ers.  Piggy, Jrue, Brand...

Just looked & Vuc played a whopping 2:51 of garbage minutes (Game 3) in that entire 7 game ECSF series against the Celtics.

That whole series was some of the ugliest basketball I've ever seen.

My favorite part about that series is that Philly got to 7 games in the Eastern Semis, started their tear down because Hinkie convinced ownership that they needed to tank in order to eventually compete for championships, and 14 seasons later they have never done better than get to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semis.

[Moranis]

Just looking at his career numbers, I had zero recollection of him being a Sixer.  Part of the 4 way deal with Iguodala to Denver and Bynum to Sixers.

The guy has had a very solid career.

Same.  When I first had that, I immediately went to basketball reference to see if that was actually correct.  Zero recollection.

I legit just double checked your check because I was like he never played for Philly....egg on my face!

I haven't checked, but I followed Philly pretty closely back then.  He played one year in Philly, then they traded him and got Bynum, right?

I loved a lot of those 76ers.  Piggy, Jrue, Brand...

Just looked & Vuc played a whopping 2:51 of garbage minutes (Game 3) in that entire 7 game ECSF series against the Celtics.

That whole series was some of the ugliest basketball I've ever seen.

My favorite part about that series is that Philly got to 7 games in the Eastern Semis, started their tear down because Hinkie convinced ownership that they needed to tank in order to eventually compete for championships, and 14 seasons later they have never done better than get to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semis.

All true, but Hinkie also wasn't wrong.  That Bynum trade destroyed any shot the Sixers had.  I mean Vucevic and Harkless were their prior 2 1st round picks, Iggy was their 2nd best player, and they traded a future 1st that would end up at 5 in 2017. All for a guy that didn't play a single second for them. They had also made some other dumb trades like trading a protected 1st and a 2nd to move up for Arnold Moultrie.  Because of the protections it actually became 2 2nd rounders, but that is also why that pick in the Bynum trade was so far in the future as they had to wait for the protections to end.  Thus, they essentially could not trade 1st round picks until the day of the draft for several years because of the protections on those picks.  They had no flexibility to do anything and no real talent other than Jrue Holiday, Thad Young, and whatever you'd make of Even Turner (in other words no franchise players and only 1 guy that would be any sort of contributor on a winning team).  They were going the wrong direction winning just 34 games after the Bynum trade (that landed them with the 11th pick which was MCW), which led to them clearing house and bringing in Hinkie.  Their only shot was tanking and hoping to hit in the draft as they had no assets other than Holiday (who they traded for the 6th pick taking Noel and a future 1st - the Elfrid Payton pick they flipped on draft day for Saric, Hernangomez, and Fox - full circle).  Hinkie's only real blunder (aside from being so open about tanking) was taking Okafor when they already had Noel and Embiid.  Porzingis refused to provide information and go there, so I'm really not sure what else the Sixers could have done, but drafting centers in 3 consecutive drafts was just a disaster waiting to happen, which did play out that way.  If the reports about Ainge wanting Okafor were true, the Sixers should have made that trade.  Might have had a different history had that worked out better for them.

[Kernewek]

The poll needs an 'equal' option, to be honest.

If he was the best player available that satisfied the tax-saving criteria, it's a mistake to presume that it was significantly one or the other.

If the deal was made to get the best player available to get us below the tax, I would say that deal was primarily dependent upon saving money.  It's that condition that drives the trade.

Whereas if they were trying to improve the team and Vuc's contract was also a factor, the primary goal was adding to the team.

Fair enough - then I would say that the trade was primarily to get us under the tax, but clearly not the exclusive goal.

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Sam Hinkie is a great example of how not to be a general manager, but there's no way to know if he was right regarding the ceiling for the Sixers team he dismantled.