Mike Gansey should consider drafting Zuby Ejiofor at No. 23, or trading up for Morez Johnson, or...

The tale of the tape is no tale at all for Mike Gansey and Bob Myers. The last month-and-a-half has yielded about 60 minutes of on-the-record comments from the Sixers’ new personnel regime and about zero seconds of actual insight into their immediate plans for the roster.

Perhaps there is some gamesmanship involved. In a world where information is currency, the first goal is to keep your competition in the red. More likely, the Sixers realize that they need to be in read-and-react mode.

“These answers are not simple,” Myers said last month after the Sixers announced the hiring of Gansey as their new president of basketball operations. “You wake up in the middle of the night thinking about these things. And when you get fortunate enough to win, it’s all that work and toil that make it worth it.

“But there’s nothing more challenging than winning. You can’t buy championships. You have to go through it together. Each decision you make, each transaction you make, is hopefully moving in that direction. But that’s why you do it. That’s what makes it fun.”

The Sixers’ lack of clarity about their short-term direction has added a layer of intrigue to Tuesday night’s draft. Most years, the No. 22 pick wouldn’t be a major plot point in the trajectory of a roster. The last three players drafted at No. 22 overall have combined to play 116 games in their six NBA seasons. This is not the range where a team expects to draft a future playoff rotation player, let alone a star.

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This year’s draft is better than most. Maybe not to the extent the experts once projected, especially given the lack of a clear No. 1 between BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, and Duke’s Carlos Boozer. But the draft is clearly deep, with Michigan’s Morez Johnson Jr. projected to go toward the back end of the Top 15, and for Houston’s Chris Cenac Jr. and Washington’s Hannes Steinbeck to go even later than that.

Johnson is exactly what the Sixers need at the wing right now, so much so that they would have to think long and hard if presented with an opportunity to move aggressively up the draft board.

Cenac and Steinbach both have the potential to become such a player, though both could be gone by the time the Sixers pick at No. 22. More likely to be there is St. John’s wrecking ball Zuby Ejiofor, who would be perfect for the team the Sixers hope to become, at the expense of some ceiling.

The big question is the one that Gansey and Myers have both avoided thus far.

What is the timeline?

What is the three-year plan?

“I don’t look at it as a timeline,” Gansey said. “I just look at it like we have those four, and we [have] got to maximize those four. Obviously, VJ and Tyrese are younger, but Paul and Joel can still play at a high level ... Like, we gotta rely on those four, and obviously keep on the floor, and then just build around them.”

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Your interpretation of that comment hinges on your interpretation of one word.

Build.

When Daryl Morey acquired a first-round pick from the Thunder as part of a package for second-year guard Jared McCain, he acknowledged that he did not make the trade with the thought that the Sixers would hold onto the pick long enough to use it. Even Morey, who once upon a time drafted Tyrese Maxey at No. 21, understood that the No. 22 overall pick is typically more valuable as a trade chip than as a building block.

In 2022, the former Sixers president traded the No. 23 pick to the Grizzlies (in the form of David Roddy) for fifth-year guard De’Anthony Melton. Three years later, Melton signed as a free agent with Golden State, and Roddy ended up playing a few games with the Sixers on a 10-day contract after having been traded by the Grizzlies and later waived by the Hawks.

Is there a world where the Sixers “build” for next year rather than taking their chances at No. 22?

A lot could depend on what unfolds across the NBA over the next few weeks. We could be on the verge of an arms race that can create plenty of interesting opportunities for wise teams searching for value.

One superstar — the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo — is almost certain to be traded. A second — the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown — has generated enough smoke to conclude that a deal is possible. The Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard and the Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving are potentially in play. So are younger building blocks like the Pelicans Trey Murphy III. After a relatively tepid couple of offseasons, the circus is rolling back into town.

All of this would be true even without the competitive pressures that should exacerbate and expedite this summer’s decision-making. As it happens, those pressures are at an all-time boil. The Knicks just rattled off one of the great postseason runs in NBA history. The Spurs and the Thunder are both well-positioned to consolidate their talent and make a major move.

Each is aware that a major move by the other could reduce them to the Harden-era, second-ran Rockets. Both would be wise to get ahead of the curve, like the Knicks did with O.G. Anunoby, and then Mikal Bridges, and then Karl-Anthony Towns. Both will be drafting ahead of the Sixers, the Thunder twice (at No. 12 and No. 17).

There’s a sense that the Sixers will likely need to play it straight and to make the best of what is there at No. 22. In which case, we should consider some of the keywords that Gansey and Myers both used when describing their vision, as abstract as it was.

Character. Work ethic. Competitiveness. Accountability. Teamwork. Identity. Culture. Rebounding.

“I want fountains, not drains,” Gansey said.

Ejiofor checks off a lot of those boxes. He navigates the court like a linebacker in pass coverage. He rebounds and relocates and screens and drops like a man who just wants to win. He has the makings of a jumpshot, the footwork of a seasoned pro, and the quick-twitch bounce of a guy who is more wing than big.

If he is there at No. 22, Gansey shouldn’t hesitate, whatever the mock drafts say.

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