Are the Sixers the next new version of the Spurs?

HAS THE AVENUE toward prominence in the NBA changed course? And if so, what does that mean regarding The Plan that 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie has set in place?

The common belief for years has been that for a team to truly contend in the league, a superstar, or two or three, must be added to the roster. Miami was the prime example when LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in South Beach and won two of the four Finals in which it appeared earlier in this decade. Now, Cleveland has followed suit with its own threesome of James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

But a funny thing has transpired over the past few years: Teams are learning to win in the league playing non-superstar basketball. It all started with San Antonio a few years ago. Yes, the Spurs' roster has been stabilized by three future Hall of Famers in Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. But, as Sixers coach Brett Brown has explained, with those three moving toward the twilight of their careers, the Spurs changed the way they played the game, relying more on ball movement and less on isolation - in other words, a team game. And now, if you look at the teams that have followed that type of play, you go directly to the two best in the league: Golden State and Atlanta.

You can argue that the Warriors do have superstars in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. But don't forget, they certainly weren't considered organization changers coming out of college. In fact, Minnesota drafted two point guards (Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn) directly ahead of Curry, who went to Golden State at No. 7 in the 2009 draft.

Atlanta had four representatives in New York for the All-Star Game this weekend. And while Al Horford was a No. 3 pick, Jeff Teague (19th), Paul Millsap (47th) and Kyle Korver (51st) certainly weren't pegged for the kind of success they are having this season.

While Hinkie has spent his first 19 months on the job stockpiling draft picks and acquiring Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric - his quest to find superstars - the focus now must turn toward how well these additions can play together and what kind of system will best fit. I believe Brett Brown is the man to carry it forward. For years and years to come.

"I believe it has, in regards to being more flexible in our minds," Brown said of how the organizational outlook has changed. "We see it in our group - we're inching along, we're heading in the right way, we're getting better.

"This keeper list, whether it's the growth of a three-point shot or just starting to understand what we're looking for, there's going to be lots of challenges coming in the summer, because we have so many draft picks available, we have so many people overseas, that it's going to be a very competitive summer.

"I'm convinced that summer is always the great separator of players - the ones that can truly invest time into getting better in the summer, because the pace of the NBA is too much. There's not really room to grow it the way we want to grow it [during the season]."

How they want to grow it is the way Golden State and Atlanta have. Brown and Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer were longtime assistants in San Antonio, where Warriors coach Steve Kerr played. The three share many of the same beliefs on how basketball should be played.

"I do think the league has changed quite a bit in the last decade," said Kerr, whose team is 42-9. "I think there's several reasons for it: the rules changes that the league implemented 12 years ago with the hand checking and allowing zones, or at least kind of pseudo zones. And then teams are playing smaller.

"Teams playing four men who can shoot and the success of teams who have done that. You go back to the [Mike] D'Antoni/[Steve] Nash Suns. Think about Miami playing small lineups with Bosh at the 'five' and winning championships. You think about the Spurs the past couple of years, changing their style and getting much more ball movement, more running.

"It's a copycat league. A lot of teams have had success playing a more open style, [with] more ball movement, and it's catching on, and I think it's great for the NBA."

It is now incumbent on Hinkie, with two possible first-round picks this June and four second-rounders, to surround Brown not only with talent, but also a group willing and able to play the game the way the Spurs, Hawks and Warriors play it. It is the new way of the NBA. The non-superstar way.

"I look at [Golden State], and, because I'm good friends with their coach, you can't help but pay attention," Brown said. "So many things, they tick boxes all over the place. I do think, when you say this is kind of the blueprint with Draymond [Green, a second-round pick] playing a stretch 'four,' that can shoot threes and those incredibly gifted guards with a defensively oriented center, we'd be surprised if things changed [away from that type of play] that much in the future."

On Twitter: @BobCooney76

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