The Sixers are at a stage in their franchise-building, um, process where multiple free agents have eschewed the chance to join contenders in favor of becoming a part of this team's march toward a return to the postseason.
Marco Belinelli did it, Ersan Ilyasova is about to.
It's a sign of the times, of progress for an organization mired in mediocrity since 2012. That Philadelphia is becoming a destination for veteran contributors has Sixers coach Brett Brown ecstatic, and he should be.
Sam Hinkie famously shuffled through a host of undrafted and unwanted players on 10-day contracts in search of the next diamond-in-the-rough, sometimes really just bodies to fill out the roster enough to field full rotation of players.