Daily News Agenda: Is this an important trade deadline for the Sixers?

When you've gone 45-172 and have just hired Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations, every draft, every expedition into free agency and every trade possibility is of utmost importance.

But that doesn't necessarily include Thursday's trade deadline.

Unless Colangelo and Sam Hinkie are able to pull off some kind of steal that lands them a player who can help in the future and not cost many of the assets Hinkie has accumulated, it is highly unlikely that any move will be of significance. Therefore, the importance factor just isn't there. Yet.

I believe from talking to Colangelo that his sights are set on this summer as the time that will be monumental in turning the program forward. With the possibility of having the top pick overall, along with three other selections in the first round, and now an executive in Colangelo who has the ears and respect of agents throughout the league, there are many factors that could favorably come into play. Add to that the possibility of Joel Embiid finally getting on the floor and Dario Saric making the trek from Turkey.

Whether Embiid can stay healthy, Saric can translate his game to the NBA, and Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor are valuable pieces is all yet to be determined. But they are all pieces Colangelo can evaluate through the course of the rest of this season and during the summer, before the June 23 draft. As quickly as he may want to move this whole breakdown forward, there really is no reason to make hasty decisions. Doing something to help this team in the short term probably isn't a plan that is on his to-do list. A major move at this trade deadline would most likely mean the movement of Noel or Okafor, and quite frankly, their careers are still too early to know what they will become. Other general managers know this, and most likely won't be willing to give up anything that would be better for the Sixers moving forward.

I don't think any importance will come out of Thursday. The biggest date to be circled for Sixers' fans is probably June 23.

No.

There are too many unanswered questions for this deadline to be considered crucial for the Sixers' rebuilding plan and its newly announced timeline.

New team chairman Jerry Colangelo this weekend announced that he expects the Sixers to be playoff contenders by the 2017-18 season, when Colangelo's contract expires, and when he will be 79. That might sound like forever, but most draft picks need at least three seasons to mature, especially one-and-done guys whose skill sets and physical development lag far behind established NBA players.

The Sixers could have as many as four first-rounders in June's draft . . . but that just means four more high-value players to develop. The team still lacks a viable point guard, because Ish Smith is a backup, at best. It has no dependable shooting guard, and no guard who can defend. Every small forward candidate has gaping holes in his game.

A trade by Thursday might temporarily fill one of these holes, maybe even two. But, predictably, most of the available players come with major caveats; expiring contracts, injury issues, character problems. A player such as Suns guard P.J. Tucker, a good defender and shooter, would help, but he's 30 and is probably more of a finishing piece. Landing Jeff Teague would be a coup, but the Hawks would ask for the moon.

Besides, there are the questions.

The first: Will Joel Embiid ever play? His foot has been repaired twice, and the Sixers might be pessimistic, but his monstrous potential keeps them eager to see what he can do.

The second: Can coach Brett Brown create synergy between Jahlil Okafor, a transcendent traditional post talent, and Nerlens Noel, a transcendent 7-foot athlete? Colangelo and his transparent consigliore, alleged assistant coach Mike D'Antoni, adore the sort of rare talent Noel has.

The third: Is three years a realistic timeline? The three most important Sixers are painfully underdeveloped. Okafor, a rookie, rebounds and defends with the exuberance of a hibernating bear. Noel has one season of experience but his offense still mainly relies on opportunism. Second-year forward Jerami Grant's athleticism is intriguing, but it's the only reason he's in the league.

Making major moves involving draft picks or the two big men would be a mistake; they still could mesh. Better, then, to ride out Hinkie's plan, as flawed as it is, than rashly trading a raft of his "assets" for short-term gains.

Now, next year's deadline? That will be monumental.

I admit that I question how Sam Hinkie has strip-mined the Sixers franchise into a historic loser.

Still, it happened, and if nothing else, Hinkie gets credit for setting the Sixers up with a ton of future draft picks. Those are movable assets. Now that front-office baby sitter Jerry Colangelo is on board, I have more confidence the Sixers have a basketball person who will know how and when to use them.

That does not have to be by the NBA trading deadline on Thursday. Trading just to make a trade at the deadline is always a bad idea. It's a really bad idea when a team is 8-45 and 19 losses behind the eighth seed for the playoffs.

Any move the Sixers make has to be designed to move the long-term plan forward.

Yes, the Sixers need more players and not more draft picks, but that type of player is one with All-Star-level potential who is young enough to be part of a building process. Because the Sixers' primary trade assets are draft picks, they aren't positioned well for that type of deal come Thursday.

Teams looking to enhance their playoff chances are generally the buyers in February. Those teams want players who can help immediately. The bazillion draft picks Hinkie has accumulated are of little use to a team seeking a deep playoff run.

Also, contenders are not looking to part with vital players who got them where they are. Deadline deals usually involve good players moving from bad situations - i.e. Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks or Brook Lopez of the Brooklyn Nets.

The Sixers have a roster full of guys in a bad situation but few can be classified as good.

Unless the return is equal value at another position, rushing to trade one of their two young big men - Jahlil Okafor or Nerlens Noel - would be counterproductive.

The type of deal the Sixers need happens more in the offseason. That's when teams that did not meet expectations think about changes in direction.

If there is a deal that makes sense, the Sixers should make it, but there is nothing important about 2 p.m. on Thursday.

Let's just start by saying I have been fooled before. But I just don't understand how Thursday's NBA trade deadline could be considered, or end up being, an important one for the Sixers.

But don't take my word for it. Read between the lines, or even along them, the words uttered two weeks ago by chairman of basketball operations Jerry Colangelo.

"Right now we're kind of content to say there are too many question marks about certain players' health and so forth that you have to be very careful,'' Colangelo said on Ground Hog Day. "You have to be very selective. Timing is everything.''

He was not talking about any player specifically, he said, just an assessment of some of the assets that might be available. Someone like Milwaukee's Jabari Parker, valued so highly before an ACL tear sidelined him for most of last season, raising question marks about his potential and his future with his play this season.

"Content" is a word you hear used a lot more by the Sixers' hierarchy than in the previous two seasons, when general manager Sam Hinkie built the current stable of draft picks by shipping out players who had at least made the Sixers worth watching on most nights. And while it's nice to see Evan Turner find his niche in Boston and Michael Carter-Williams achieving veteran status quickly in Milwaukee, it's hard to argue that the chance for the Sixers to still do something special with Hinkie's controversial approach still doesn't exist.

Especially with Colangelo around to, um, "advise'' him.

Again reading between the lines that day, Colangelo said of re-acquired point guard Ish Smith: "A month ago we really had a big need. That need is a lot less today because of what he has shown he is capable of doing.''

Smith may not prove to be a long-term answer, but he has given us a glimpse of how it might look with a few more pieces in the future. The Sixers may indeed have a future logjam of big men, especially when (or if) Joel Embiid returns to full health. But as Colangelo noted that day, it makes little sense to cash him now for a below- value exchange, especially given this summer's draft outlook.

"This draft is a draft of smalls,'' Colangelo pointed out. "It's really not a draft of bigs. That's kind of interesting. You need to weigh all of these factors.

"When do you really pull the trigger. When is the right timing?''

He seemed to be implying, if not flat-out saying, that it is not before this Thursday.

But I've been fooled before. Twice over the last two years.

So I'll be paying attention. Just in case.

Ed Barkowitz...Yes

Les Bowen...No

Bob Cooney...No

Jim DeStefano...No

Doug Darroch...No

Sam Donnellon...No

Paul Domowitch...No

Marcus Hayes...No

Adam Hermann...Yes

Rich Hofmann...No

Dick Jerardi...No

Mike Kern...No

Tom Mahon...No

Drew McQuade...Yes

David Murphy...No

John Smallwood...No

Bob Vetrone Jr...No

Deb Woodell...No

No: 15; Yes: 3