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Brookover: Colangelo must finish what Hinkie started

We have finally settled upon "The Process" that everyone can trust. Regardless of which side of the fence you stood on during Sam Hinkie's ultra-polarizing tenure as the 76ers general manager, we all must agree that the man who nicknamed himself "The Process" is worth supporting and believing in.

We have finally settled upon "The Process" that everyone can trust. Regardless of which side of the fence you stood on during Sam Hinkie's ultra-polarizing tenure as the 76ers general manager, we all must agree that the man who nicknamed himself "The Process" is worth supporting and believing in.

Rookie Joel Embiid has rescued the 76ers from professional basketball purgatory.

He gets the most credit because he deserves the most credit. His coaches and his teammates will tell you that. So will Hinkie and current Sixers GM Bryan Colangelo.

In fact, after the 76ers beat the second-best team in the Eastern Conference Wednesday night, point guard T.J. McConnell stood on the court and admitted that this team would still not be very good without "The Process."

What will be fun to debate in the future as the Sixers possibly emerge as a championship contender again is which general manager deserves the most praise for the team's rise.

At the moment, the obvious answer is Hinkie because he had much more of a chance to mold the roster. According to basketballreference.com, he made 65 transactions, starting with the selection of Michael Carter-Williams with the 11th overall pick in the 2013 draft and ending with the signing of Christian Wood last season.

Most of Hinkie's moves have long been forgotten. His hope was that quantity would lead to some quality, and it has, although the cost of three dreary basketball seasons leaves his tenure open for debate.

It's still possible that the Carter-Williams selection could have an impact because the point guard's trade to Milwaukee is connected to the first-round pick the Sixers figure to get from the Los Angeles Lakers later this year. For now, however, Hinkie's first move has little to do with what is happening on the court.

His fourth transaction, however, has had a real impact. That's the one in which he traded point guards Jrue Holiday and Pierre Jackson to New Orleans for Nerlens Noel and a first-round pick in 2014 that eventually became Dario Saric, the third-biggest reason the 76ers pulled off their win over the Toronto Raptors Wednesday.

Holiday is a nice distributor, but the 76ers were never going anywhere with him as their best player. Noel and Saric, on the other hand, can be vital parts of a successful team. Neither one is a superstar, but both figure to be solid contributors and defensive stalwarts. The fact that they both are connected to the 2013 draft is worthy of a feather in Hinkie's cap because that was a draft devoid of much talent.

Hinkie, of course, had a deep affection for second-round picks, compiling them like they were pennies found in a wishing well. His only second-round pick still on the roster is Richaun Holmes. Hinkie actually did better with the signing of a couple of undrafted free agents.

You can see a future with Robert Covington and McConnell contributing valuable minutes coming off the bench because they are both strong defenders.

Hinkie had a bit of bad luck when the Sixers got stuck with the third overall pick in the 2015 draft, and he opted to take Jahlil Okafor, creating the big-man dilemma that still needs to be resolved.

That's Colangelo's job now, and it's difficult to get a read on how all those people cheering on "The Process" feel about the new general manager.

His best move so far was the trade that sent former second-round pick Jerami Grant to Oklahoma City for power forward Ersan Ilyasova. He has been the perfect fit with Embiid while also scoring well above his career average of 10.9 points per game.

If Colangelo can pull off a trade as good as that one when he attempts to resolve the overload of big men, the Sixers will truly be on their way.

Unfortunately, some of Colangelo's early work has also left us wondering if he's the right guy to finish the job that Hinkie started.

Granted, he was not dealing from strength when he attempted to put together his first free-agent class. But the trio of Sergio Rodriguez, Jerryd Bayless and Gerald Henderson has been underwhelming. Rodriguez has lost his starting job to McConnell, and Bayless was lost for the season to a wrist injury after only three games. That leaves Henderson as the biggest contributor, and he, too, has been limited by a hip injury that bothered him before he signed.

The hope, of course, is that better free agents will find Philadelphia a more attractive place with the continuing emergence of Embiid and the much anticipated on-court arrival of Ben Simmons.

A foundation is in place, and time will tell who gets credit for what grows around "The Process."

bbrookover@phillynews.com

@brookob