Sam Hinkie dropped a major bombshell on the fans at his post-draft press conference this afternoon. No, Joel Embiid's foot has not fallen off his body. Byron Mullens has declined his player option for the 2014-15 season, ending his tenure with the 76ers and taking his perpetually thin mustache to greener pastures.
#Sixers Hinkie: Jason Richardson picked up player option for 2014-15. Byrone Mullens did not and will be a free agent. #76ers
— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) June 27, 2014
The return of Jason Richardson will be met with open arms -- somebody has to be able to shoot -- and I'd imagine there aren't too many people lamenting the end of Mullens' time in Sixers uniform. Against all odds he shot 40 percent from deep in 18 appearances for Philadelphia, but that's an outlier compared to his career 32 percent figure. He's a three-point shooting big who isn't all that great at three-point shooting.
Tack on some porous defense and he doesn't exactly fit in with what the Sixers are trying to do here. It seems barren now, but in the near future there's not going to be much playing time available in the front court. Having acquired Joel Embiid and Dario Saric -- who Hinkie stated would have some positional flexibility -- with Nerlens Noel hopefully returning soon, the Sixers are slowly becoming an enormous, athletic team.
Hard to blame a guy for wanting to leave a bad basketball team on which he has no future. Let's all take a moment to reflect on the Mullens era and what it meant to us.
THIS DAY KEEPS GETTING BETTER
— Matt Carey (@RealMattCarey) June 27, 2014
Remember when Byron Mullens basically said he didn't care that much about basketball? Best Sixer ever.
— Michael Levin (@Michael_Levin) June 27, 2014
Farewell, Lord Byron. Today, it is he who walks in beauty.