Ranking Every Player in the NBA - Philadelphia 76ers

A few days ago, I began the massive undertaking of ranking every player in the NBA, breaking it up by going team-by-team before compiling all 30 teams' rankings into a huge, 450-player list. To read more about my thought process going into this, or to understand the criteria of how rankings are determined, see the first rankings here.

The next team to get chopped: the Sam Hinkie Experiments!

Sam Hinkie and Brett Brown: the Dr. Frankenstein and Igor of the NBA, constructing a monster made up mostly of 2nd-round draft picks. (Brought to you by Gatorade)

The List:

1. Nerlens Noel - C 9.9ppg, 8.1rpg, 3.7"stocks"/game (steals+blocks), 15.0 PER

Nerlens is already an incredible NBA defender, even for the high standard of defensive prowess that we've come to expect from centers in the league. Hopefully his offensive game follows the Dwight Howard progression, because Noel definitely has that kind of potential.

2. Robert Covington - SF 13.5ppg, 37% 3FG, 14.7 PER

Beloved by the Philly faithful, Covington played well this entire season. Defensively, Covington has active hands (1.4spg), but most of his value comes on the offensive end of things. 37% from 3, 82% free throw percentage, and scored 13.5 a game and led the team in scoring while being 4th on the team in usage rate.

3. Joel Embiid - C No stats (Injured all season)

This ranking is basically an assumption based on Embiid's potential. Embiid is also one of the rawest prospects to have come out of the draft last season, and is years away from even being at the point of his projection that Noel is at currently. But the ceiling is high on Embiid, if he can just unlock the potential.

4. Tony Wroten - SG 16.9ppg, 5.2apg, 26% 3FG, 15.0 PER

The stats for this year are deceptive, since Wroten played less than half of the season. However, taking 2013-14 into account as well, this is the second year in a row that Wroten has shown himself to be a starter-caliber player in the NBA, even if he is pretty ball-dominant.

5. Isaiah Canaan - PG 9.2ppg, 37% 3FG, 12.8 PER

It may be the time spent watching Canaan playing for the Rockets and hoisting 3 after 3 in the layups-and-3-pointers offense, but I just love watching Canaan shoot. He's a gifted scorer with a sweet stroke, and I'm a sucker for that combination. Canaan will probably never be even an adequate defender, but that's mostly due to his size: listed at 6'0'', he looks like Isaiah Thomas out there on the court - and Thomas is listed at 5'9''.

6. Thomas Robinson - PF 5.7ppg, 5.6rpg, 15.3 PER

Robinson was drafted with really high expectations after a really good career at Kansas, but has yet to live up to that standard of excellence. His ceiling, if he can reach it, is a kind of modern Charles Barkley-type, due to his ability to shoot, rebound, dribble, pass, and do basically everything in the big frame that he's got. Notice how much this roster breakdown features the term "potential"? The Sixers really are basketball's Houston Astros. And sadly, the long, Astros-like rebuild comes with lots of losses. Whatever, more ping-pong balls in the lottery for Philly!

7. Henry Sims - C 8.0ppg, 4.9rpg, 14.5 PER

Henry Sims is your prototypical "walk and chew gum at the same time" center - he doesn't score at a great rate, and doesn't rebound that well either. He's got great percentages, but that's mostly because most of his shot attempts come right at the basket. Ho hum.

8. Hollis Thompson - SG 8.8ppg, 40% 3FG, 11.0 PER

Dude can shoot, and likes to shoot, but can he do anything else? A mainstay in the Philly lineup given this roster, I think Thompson struggles to get minutes on a playoff-caliber team.

9. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute - PF 9.9ppg, 4.9rpg, 10.6 PER

The "old guy" on this team at 28 (Richardson, 34, only played in 19 games), Mbah a Moute doesn't do anything exceptionally well. His game fashions itself as "stretch-4", but he's kind of undersized to play power forward at 6'8'' (aka the same height as Golden State PG Shaun Livingston) in the NBA nowadays.

10. Ish Smith - PG 6.1ppg, 3.3apg, 12.3 PER

The fastest player in the NBA, as per multiple sources. However, speed isn't one of those "carrying tools" like 3-point shooting and rebounding ability.

11. Jason Richardson - SG 9.1ppg, 3.5rpg, 11.7 PER

A shell of his former self, J-Rich didn't play until February this season, after not playing a single NBA game in all of 2013-14. Dude can still shoot 3's a little bit, and jacked up 5 a game this season.

12. JaKarr Sampson - SG 5.2ppg, 2.2rpg, 9.4 PER

Sampson is a 6'9'' shooting guard. That's...insane. Also, for what it's worth, he found himself in the starting lineup in almost half of his games played. JaKarr Sampson is also a sneaky-good name, in that it's really fun to say out loud. But he doesn't hold a candle compared to...

13. Furkan Aldemir - PF 2.3ppg, 4.3rpg, 12.0 PER

Coolest name on this team (which is saying something), and probably top 5 in the whole league. Furkan. Aldemir. Try it yourself, it's fun!

14. Glenn Robinson III - SG 2.1ppg, 1.1rpg, 8.5 PER

Have we already tried to give Glenn Robinson III a nickname yet? Should it be completely based upon his dad's nickname, the Big Dog? Or should he blaze his own trail and find something separate to be known by? Big questions surrounding the Little Dog/GR3. None surrounding his actual play on the court, though.

15. Jerami Grant - SF 6.3ppg, 3.0rpg, 8.7 PER

Yeesh, the bottom of this list is filled with guys who really should be in the D-League.