Tom Bogert, CBS Local Sports

PHILADELPHIA (CBS)-- When the Philadelphia 76ers hired Sam Hinkie as their general manager, it was on the platform of shameless tanking in hopes of winning the lottery and acquiring a fortune changing superstar. Fans' greatest hopes were tied to ping pong balls and young adults just one year removed from high school.

Oddly enough, Hinkie interviewed for the gig the offseason prior to receiving the job in 2013. The team went in a different direction, and that different direction mortgaged their assets for Andrew Bynum who had more bowling injuries than games played for Philadelphia.

They cut their losses, put an end to the other direction, and Hinkie it was in 2013. His campaign was one of hope, one of 'trust me through the losing, I got this.'

Hope is always exciting. Ownership as well as the fans embraced the plan, until it grew stale a few years later amid no franchise altering players and pushback from the media and the league, resulting in his resignation towards the end of the 2015/16 season.

Related: Joel Embiid Pays Homage To Sam Hinkie On Instagram

But under the Hinkie dictatorship, nearly every single draft pick was a shot for the fence. It remains to be seen how many home runs he'll have hit.

Except for when Hinkie didn't swing for the fences, inquisitively, on his first draft choice. He went against what he'd do for the majority of the reminder of his tenure when the first draft choice he was in charge of was Michael Carter-Williams.

The former Syracuse man was widely known to have sincere, likely terminal issues with his shot, but would be a decent pro nonetheless. If he fixed his shot he could elevate his potential some, but that seemed as likely as one of his bricks from 25 feet were to catching the bottom of the net.

Carter-Williams was the 11th overall pick of that 2013 draft. Four picks later, the Milwaukee Bucks selected Giannis Antetokounmpo, out of some high school-looking gymnasium in Greece. Now, he's grown to be part of the next wave of superstars.

Related: Watch: Joel Embiid Introduced As 'The Process'

In subsequent years, Hinkie would use his top draft choices on players with question marks, like Antetokounmpo. He had a liking for boom-or-bust players like Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel, an unknown Euro, like Dario Saric, as well as a value pick, like getting Jahlil Okafor at #3 when just months prior he seemed the consensus #1 overall pick. In the periphery, he hoarded second round picks with greater belligerence than anyone else in the league, hoping he'd find his Draymond Green or Chandler Parsons.

So why didn't he pick a boom-or-bust unknown Euro like Antetokounmpo rather than Carter-Williams on his first shot? It doesn't jive with all of his other moves. Carter-Williams had a rookie season of the looter-in-a-riot variety, as somebody had to score points for a hopeless, designed to lose first inauguration of the Philadelphia #TrustTheProcess.

(During the 2014-15 season, Hinkie flipped Carter-Williams for a first round pick that they haven't been able to use yet, it's the Los Angeles Lakers selection that had top 3 protections the past few seasons, this year they'll get it but with the form the Lakers are in, it won't be near the top 3.)

Imagine if this current Philadelphia roster had Antetokounmpo rather than Carter-Williams? Hindsight is always 20/20, of course, but what fun would it be to not ponder how an alternate universe might be? Lately, it's all 76ers fans have really had.

Antetokounmpo could have easily been Yi Jianlian or Darko Millic or Hasheem Thabeet or Anthony Bennett. In a vacuum, it's more than understandable why GMs weren't queuing for the right to take him. He was unknown, raw. He essentially had a pterodactyl's wingspan, but there's been a host of players who looked the part that never made it. And investing a top 15 draft pick on that? Could be sketchy.

But Hinkie isn't the regular GM. He's, erm, unique, to say the least. If ever there was anyone willing to wager on that potential, in betting a number on the roulette wheel rather than a color, it'd have been him. Especially with the team's designed ominous short term future.

Since Carter-Williams and Antetokounmpo were drafted, their careers have been inverse to each other. The former won the aforementioned Rookie of the Year trophy, while the later averaged just 7 points a game. To be fair, Antetokounmpo was 19 and hadn't been around the American basketball scene, unlike Carter-Williams who was 22 and came through the typical AAU then NCAA pipeline.

After that year, Antetokoumpo has been an ascendent and improved statistically every season while Carter-Williams' stats have declined each year thereafter. Since his rookie season, injuries haven't allowed Carter-Williams to play more than 65 games in a year. Antetokoumpo hasn't played less than 75 in any season for his career, a mark Carter-Williams hasn't touched yet, and won't touch again this season as he's only played in three contests to date.

Antetokounmpo has been pushed to point guard, something that'd be conceivable with this current Philly roster that's been devoid of anything resembling a functioning, professional NBA point guard since trading Carter-Williams.

The core going forward would be Antetokounmpo, Simmons, Embiid, Saric and whichever one of Okafor and Noel wouldn't be traded, plus whoever they'd get in return for one of their big men. That young core would rival what's cooking in Minnesota with Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn.

It's also worth pointing out that there's no certainty that the Sixers would've gotten the same draft picks, specifically the Simmons crown prize of their multiyear Tankapalooza, but it's not as if Antetokounmpo would've drastically altered their fortunes. The supporting cast is simply that dreadful.

Also, there's no certainty that Antetokoumpo would be what he is today if incubated in Philly rather than Milwaukee. With the Bucks, he's under the tutelage of Jason Kidd as well as having a roster that's built to compete. How would he do in Philly's environment that seems to be plaguing Okafor?

This whole endeavor is specious, anyway, but, imagine what could have been in Philadelphia in like three years?

Oh no, now I'm sounding like Hinkie himself, peddling hope.