(Associated Press)

NEW YORK – Ask Josh Harris where he thought the 76ers would be slotted in the NBA's draft, and he would've told you 11th. Doesn't mean he held out a sliver of hope they might've been picked higher, though.

“Expected value,” said Harris, the Sixers' owner. “I figured when I came here, we had a small probability of being super happy and a small probability of being sad, and I had neither. We were right where I expected to be.”

The odds were long that the Sixers would move into the top three selections of the NBA draft. And that's exactly how the draft lottery at ABC Disney Studios played out, with the Sixers – the league's 11th-worst team – getting slotted the No. 11 choice for the June 27 draft.

The Sixers had only a 2.9-percent chance to slide into one of the first three choices, and a  90.7-percent chance they would remain at No. 11. Of course, it remained possible they also could fall into picks Nos. 12 through 14, so all things considered … not bad.

“This is pure luck,” Harris said of the lottery.

Washington didn't win the lottery, so to speak, but the Wizards were the night's big winner. The league's eighth-worst team climbed to No. 3, while Orlando – which finished with the worst record in the NBA – was leapfrogged by Cleveland for the top pick. The Magic ended up with No. 2.

For more on the Sixers and the NBA draft lottery, including the team's impending free agency decision on Andrew Bynum, pick up Wednesday's Delco Times.

NEW YORK -- A few notes from the Millennium Broadway Hotel on Times Square, the site of the 2013 NBA draft lottery:

PING-PONG BALLS. The Sixers have eight ping-pong balls out of 1,000, which means the 11th-worst team in the NBA this season has a slim chance of moving up. Here are the odds:

• 0.80% chance for No. 1
• 0.95% chance for No. 2
• 1.15% chance for No. 3
• 90.74% chance for No. 11
• 6.28% chance for No. 12
• 0.08% chance for No. 13
• 0.0001% chance for No. 14

RECENT HISTORY. The Sixers have participated in 13 of the league's NBA draft lotteries, which is in its 29th year. In the previous 12, they've stayed at their projected pick five times, moved up six times and dropped only once. Their last go-around here, they went from No. 6 to No. 2 in 2011, when they took Evan Turner.

FACES IN THE CROWD. NBA commissioner David Stern will speak to reporters at around 6:45 p.m. Sixers owner Josh Harris will represent the team when the draft lottery commences, at around 8:30 p.m. It'll be televised live on ESPN.

BYNUM UPDATE.  Harris said the Sixers plan on keeping Andrew Bynum, a free agent this summer, in their offseason plans ... but admits he has not spoken to Bynum or his agent, David Lee. “Our basketball people are in touch with (Bynum) all the time,” Harris said.

COACH SEARCH UPDATE. Yes, Harris would like a coach in place as soon as possible, but he said the Sixers are proceeding cautiously in an attempt to find "the right coach." Added Harris: “It's an important decision,” he said. “If you get the right coach really fast, that's better. But at the end of the day, you want the right coach. We're not putting a time deadline on it. Doesn't work to your advantage because the reality is we have a lot of talented coaches on the staff right now. Some of them have been head coaches, so we're trying to get the right coach, not to get a coach quickly.”

(Getty Images)

With a quizzical look on his face, Josh Harris tried to understand the question being lobbed his way. And find a way to answer it. The query was about Andrew Bynum, so Harris had to approach this one delicately.

Harris was being asked whether there was anything the Sixers could reclaim from the Bynum situation, the one in which they spent $16.5 million for zero minutes played from the big man.

“Sunk cost,” Harris said. “That’s all sunk cost.”

In business-speak, that’s money a business will never get back. Harris and new general manager Sam Hinkie spoke at length about Bynum, their unrestricted free agent center, at Hinkie’s introductory press conference Tuesday at PCOM. And whether they can hope to get anything from him next season.

Mainly, the conversation hovered around the Sixers’ involvement with Bynum this offseason.

Hinkie, an analytics guy, is all about the process by which decisions are made as opposed to the outcome of those decisions. Calculated risks sometimes backfire. But if the process is employed, taking into account traditional basketball know-how plus beyond-the-box-score logic and other related metrics, they’re almost viewed as acceptable losses, Hinkie said.

That’s why Hinkie lauded Harris for his approach to the Bynum trade, and his willingness to say he'd make the trade again if given the chance. Hinkie didn’t rule out ending the Sixers’ relationship with Bynum.

Bynum, 25, missed the entire season with bilateral bone bruises in both knees and underwent season-ending surgery in March. The Sixers own Bynum’s Bird rights, which means they can sign him for more years and more money than any other team in the league. That, Hinkie said, makes Bynum appealing.

“I don’t think there’s anything else to be said about the trade,” Hinkie said. “I suspect this makes me boring, but I think of Andrew like the thousands of other young men walking around the world that are unrestricted free agents that have the potential to play NBA basketball, and he is one of those. I am duty-bound to consider and look at them.

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The 76ers have agreed to terms with Sam Hinkie, who will become their general manager and president of basketball operations, and the team could make his hire official as early as next week, according to a league source.

To make room for Hinkie, and expedite their search for a new head coach, the Sixers have cut ties with general manager Tony DiLeo. According to a league source, DiLeo – who had been with the organization for 23 seasons – will not remain with the Sixers in any capacity.

Hinkie comes to the Sixers on a multi-year contract believed to be at least three years, a league source said. Hinkie had worked with the Houston Rockets for the last four seasons as their vice president of basketball operations while serving as an advocate for analytics within the organization.

The Sixers are believed to have sought Hinkie last offseason before promoting DiLeo. They had to wait until Houston had been eliminated from the playoffs before initiating discussions with him, but negotiations proceeded quickly. Hinkie, according to a league source, was the Sixers' “only target” for the general manager position.

The Sixers have been without a head coach since Doug Collins resigned April 18, the day after the team's regular-season finale. It's believed they have narrowed down a list of candidates to fill the post, but it seemed peculiar that they would allow DiLeo to lead the coaching search while his contract was set to expire July 1. And Sixers owner Josh Harris didn't exactly give DiLeo a ringing endorsement during Harris' end-of-the-year press conference.

With Hinkie in place, the Sixers can move forward in their search. Harris has said he would like to have a coach in place by the June 27 NBA Draft. The reported list of favorites for the job, according to another league source, remain the same: Brian Shaw, Indiana's associate head coach; Michael Curry, the Sixers' associate head coach under Collins; Mike Malone, Golden State's top assistant; and Jeff Hornacek, an assistant with Utah.

DiLeo had been with the Sixers for the last 23 seasons, serving as interim head coach, assistant general manager and vice president of basketball operations among other jobs, before assuming the GM duties last summer.

It was believed DiLeo had spent the season being groomed by outgoing Sixers president Rod Thorn, who would be transitioning into a consultant's role with the team. Instead, DiLeo is out of a job.

(Associated Press)

For a guy without a true position, Thaddeus Young had himself a solid 2012-13 campaign.

 

He started all but six games, the ones he missed with a hamstring strain, while developing into a bona fide leader for the 76ers. He established career-highs with 34.6 minutes, 7.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.8 steals, and scored 14.8 points per game – the second-most in his career for a single-season. And the small forward/power forward/center actually turned up his play AFTER returning from the injury report.

 

One caveat, though: Young was told by the Sixers’ coaching staff during his exit interview that it would be in his best interest to work on his outside game.

 

And … there’s that.

 

Young, who will make $8.2 million next season, is a high-energy, hustle man. He plays his best on the break and, considering the Sixers had him matched with opposing teams’ top post players, he held his own under the rim. Beyond that, well, he needs some work.

 

Consider: Young shot 59.3 percent (398-for-671) from the rim to within nine feet of it. From 10 feet to just inside the 3-point arc, Young struggled. He shot 39.4 percent (110-for-279). 

 

Quick assessment: Young is a guy who will not complain … even after putting the finishing touches on a down season.

 

“I think it was still a fun season,” he said, following the Sixers’ last game of the regular season. “We tried our best to keep fighting. We're a team that never quit.”

 

And because he won’t complain, the Sixers will never hear Young say what it’d be like if he was to align himself with a legitimate post player. That’s exactly what the Sixers should do for Young. It won’t be easy, either. The free agency market will be thin, and people within the Sixers have interest but are naturally hesitant to get into the Andrew Bynum sweepstakes. But adding someone with whom Young can pair in the paint – and no, Spencer Hawes is not that someone – would only continue Young’s development into one of the best low-post tweeners in the game.

(Associated Press)

For the sixth time in six seasons, Damien Wilkins played for a different team.

 

His one-year experiment with the 76ers bore some unexpected success: The ninth-year man went from deep reserve to rotation-cracking role player to starter. Counted on for vocal leadership, he gave the Sixers so much more (with 21 starts among his 61 games played, including a .459 shooting percentage in that span – second-best on the team).

 

The downside to Wilkins? Wilkins, whose 18 minutes per game were the most he’s logged since the 2009-10 season, played far too much time. For a winning club, he’s a well-rounded reserve at the beginnings of the second and fourth quarters, and in instances of foul trouble at the small forward spot. For the Sixers, he was clearly stretched him beyond his means.

Not like that mattered to Wilkins.

 

“As a competitor, a guy who gets paid to play, I want to play,” Wilkins said. “I love the game. I work hard in the offseason to play, not to sit.”

 

Quick assessment: Wilkins made the league minimum for a guy with as much experience as he has. If the Sixers can ink him to a similar deal, have at it. If Wilkins elects to try to parlay his increased playing time into a big pay day, the Sixers will go in a different direction.

 

For a green team like the Sixers, whose leaders Jrue Holiday and Thad Young sometimes are too youthful to command the locker room, having Wilkins around wasn’t a bad thing. And Wilkins hopes teams were watching him this season.

 

“All of the NBA is watching,” he said. “The logo on the top of your jersey is the biggest logo on your uniform and every night you go out there is your interview.

 

“Whether or not I found a home here is to be determined. Once free agency starts, this league is funny, man. You go out there and play the best you can, hope for the best in the offseason and it only takes one team to like you. Hopefully it's back here, it's great. If not, hopefully it's somewhere else that's as good an opportunity.”

(AP)

Every way you slice Dorell Wright’s season, it was a downer.

 

His scoring average – down. His shooting percentage – down. His rebounds – down. 

 

With Wright, confidence bred success. So when the swingman actually knew his role, toward the end of a playoff-free campaign with the 76ers, he played better. His averages went up. A jumpshooter by trade, Wright even became proficient at driving the lane. And for a team that had the second fewest free-throw attempts in the NBA, that wasn’t such a bad thing.

 

Wright was a $4 million hit to the salary cap, but a worthwhile one. He played defense, something his counterpart Nick Young did not. He stayed healthy, unlike his other wing-mate Jason Richardson. And believe it or not, his 3-point shooting percentage (37.4) was above his career average.

 

Quick assessment: All of that manifests in this fashion: It would be in the Sixers’ best interests to re-sign Wright, a free agent.

 

Wright, when asked toward the end of the season whether he’d be back in Philly, said, “I'm the type of dude who thought I'd be in Miami my whole career, so it's always good to be somewhere you're comfortable with and familiar with and happy with. I've had a good year here. I definitely wouldn't mind. I wouldn't mind hanging with new guys, a new staff, a great group of guys and in an organization that cares and with passionate fans.”

 

Wright has said it took a while to feel comfortable, but when he did, he thrived. The Sixers, assuming they free up some cap space via trade or are willing to sign Wright at or near his salary from this past season, will undoubtedly offer Wright. And that’s not necessarily such a bad thing.

(AP)

Before the season, Arnett Moultrie said he had a goal in mind: Play 10 to 15 minutes per game, every game, in his first NBA season. It sounded attainable to him – if only he had known how much that pre-draft ankle injury would set him back

Moultrie, a rookie, made only 15 appearances in the 76ers' first 46 games. It took some time for the 6-10 forward to shake off the ill effects of his lingering ankle sprain and get himself in game shape to play in 33 of the team's final 36 games, posting a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds in the Sixers' season finale.

“The playing time was the only thing,” Moultrie said. “The game at this level is a business. It's all about playing time and to continue getting playing time. I'm satisfied with my playing time (at the end of the season). I'll be even more satisfied if we go to the playoffs (next season).”

Moultrie demonstrated good hands and stout play at or above the rim, something the Sixers so desperately needed without Andrew Bynum in the picture. He averaged 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 58.2 percent.

Quick assessment: Moultrie will be a starter before his sophomore season is up. His rise through the Sixers' rotation could be attributed largely to a lack of bodies his size, but he played increasingly well as the season progressed. Moultrie said he and outgoing Sixers president Rod Thorn agree that Moultrie's focus this offseason should be strength and conditioning. Should Moultrie build up his stamina, he should be able to not only meet but also exceed his expectation for playing time.

“Me and Rod – Rod Thorn, the president – both say I've got to work on my strength,” Moultrie said. “That's conditioning. This summer, I'll be able to spend a lot of time in the weight room. Last summer I was getting ready for predraft (camp). This summer, that's first thing I'm going to do.”