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Ford: Where the Sixers stand after 3 years of 'madness'

A total of 53 players took the court for the 76ers the last three seasons, and the temptation was simply to begin by listing them all, from Darius Johnson-Odom to Alexey Shved, from Sonny Weems to Jarvis Varnado, from Furkan Aldemir to Casper Ware.

A total of 53 players took the court for the 76ers the last three seasons, and the temptation was simply to begin by listing them all, from Darius Johnson-Odom to Alexey Shved, from Sonny Weems to Jarvis Varnado, from Furkan Aldemir to Casper Ware.

It's quite a list, breathtaking in its own way, and illustrative of the roster madness that overtook the organization while Sam Hinkie played the ultimate long game, endlessly pushing pawns across the board with no real hope any would reach the far side.

One player, swingman Hollis Thompson, endured the entire three-year ride. He played in 225 of the 246 games, made some three-point shots, guarded enthusiastically if not well, and his reward for wearing the badge of 47 wins and 199 losses was to be left out of the general manager's farewell letter to owners.

Hinkie, while also listing upcoming draft picks and salary-cap flexibility among the assets he leaves behind, said the roster he bequeaths has seven players with legitimate NBA futures: Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, Jerami Grant, Richaun Holmes, T.J. McConnell, and Robert Covington.

We can debate how many of those actually have a future in the NBA, but even if Hinkie is accurate, the seven don't tell the story of the last three years as well as the names of the other 46 guys.

"I'm amazed that we actually got through it," coach Brett Brown said.

From the briefest of participants - Malcolm Lee, who played two minutes on Dec. 10, 2014 - to the heavy soldiery of Thompson, who has spent more than 94 hours of his life on the court for Brown, the gypsies came and went with head-spinning frequency. Some were flotsam who washed up from deals designed for something else. Some were nothing more than walking contracts that Hinkie took on to gain draft picks. Some were just guys passing through, bodies to fill up the team bus.

It was madness, but now it is over. Maybe it would have ended at this point, anyway, but ownership wasn't taking any chances. Hinkie would be made to share with - and probably relinquish decision-making power to - a new basketball boss, with the understanding that all this sailing around had left the owners scurvied and sun-blind. It was time to return to shore. There was no guarantee Hinkie, left solely to his own advice, would agree.

"I told Sam, 'You need to listen to ownership.' This means they're a little tired of the wait or the pain or whatever," said Jerry Colangelo, the grown-up brought into the room in December, who has now been supplanted by his son, Bryan Colangelo, the new president of basketball operations. "The first step was when they brought me in, that was an indicator. And then the second step was they wanted to add someone to the front office, and they tried to retain Sam . . . [he] made his own decision, and I respect that."

Hinkie quit and delivered his now-famous 13-page book report on "How I Spent The Last Three Years And $135 Million Of Your Money." Even by NBA standards, $3 million per win is a lot, but this was never about winning, at least not during Hinkie's term. The tag-team Colangelo boys promise that will change quickly.

"I really want to make sure that everyone understands this is a transition from this measured rebuilding process to sustainable winning," Bryan Colangelo said.

Where Hinkie measured progress with coffee spoons, Colangelo wants to use an earth mover. He spoke of spending cap space to attract free agents and of adding veterans for stability, and of shipping away some of Hinkie's magnificent seven sooner than later if they don't make sense to keep together. (Hey, Jah. What's happening, Nerlens?)

For Josh Harris and his partners, the risk of losing Hinkie was outweighed by the possible continuation of the embarrassment. His unwillingness to conform to the new order was collateral damage they accepted.

It will be interesting to see whether Hinkie gets another chance somewhere else. He could easily find work as someone's director of decimal points, but getting another general manager's job with full control of the basketball side might never happen. It would be tough for any owner to sell that path to a fan base right now.

How it comes out with the Sixers could change things, though. From that standpoint, Hinkie almost can't lose - another indication he's pretty smart. If the plan falls apart here, then it's because the Colangelos screwed it up. If the plan succeeds, it's because Hinkie assembled the complicated toy, even if he wasn't allowed to play with it. Win, win.

But, as mentioned before, no one has won much of anything yet. Not Harris or Hinkie, not Brown or either Colangelo. Not Hollis Thompson or Adonis Thomas. Not Phil Pressey or James Nunnally. Not Drew Gordon or Darius Morris. Not Daniel Orton or Christian Wood.

It was a lot of players and a long time to have to watch them. Here's hoping it ends up meaning something to someone. Otherwise, we all lost.

bford@phillynews.com

@bobfordsports