This past week may have been the greatest in Philadelphia basketball history. First, on Monday, the Villanova Wildcats beat the North Carolina Tar Heels for the Division 1 men’s basketball title on an incredible buzzer beater. This was followed by the incredible news on Wednesday that Sam Hinkie, the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, was resigning -- effective immediately.
Hinkie announced his resignation in a 13-page letter addressed to the team owners. The letter was incredibly asinine, and the best parts can be found here. Hinkie’s resignation is the best thing to happen to the 76ers franchise since they drafted Allen Iverson all the way back in 1996. Pinkie transformed the 76ers from a mediocre team to a punchline. The team has won 47 games since Hinkie was promoted to GM. Some of Hinkie’s highlights as GM include: trading All Star Jrue Holiday for a draft pick that was used to pick the astonishingly average Nerlens Noel, drafting and then trading away Micheal Carter-Williams (who was born without the ability to shoot a jumper), trading Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young, and Spencer Hawes for a number of second round picks (which, in the NBA, are about as valuable as a seventh round pick in the NFL), and then drafting the notoriously fragile and immature Joel Embiid in 2014.
In the 2014 draft, Hinkie also drafted Dario Šaric, a young, talented, European player who then refused to come to the United States to play for a team as awful as the Sixers. Hinkie made no effort to field a competitive team and in the process completely alienated the Sixers from the rest of the league. No player wanted to be a Sixer. Playing for the Sixers guaranteed that you fail.
The current Sixers roster features the likes of Ish Smith (a journeyman Point Guard), Carl Landry (who barely even made his High School team’s roster), and 37 year-old former All Star Elton Brand. This team, incredibly, has won 10 games this season. Hinkie’s personnel moves are easy to criticize, but the really aggravating thing about Hinkie’s tenure was that he actually made people believe his “system” would work. Hinkie’s long term plan for the Sixers was to lose as many games as possible in order to receive high draft picks. On top of this, Hinkie’s plan also included the boneheaded decision to spend virtually no money in the free agent market or resign players to the team.
Again, it is actually incredible that Hinkie’s teams were able to win any games. Hinkie’s tanking system has not only resulted in a ton of losses, but it also severely hindered the development of young players. Hinkie forced young, inexperienced, players into starting roles and let them fail miserably. Players like Nerlens Noel, Nik Stauskas, Jerami Grant, and Jah Okafor are set up to fail. These players have literally no confidence as a result. They go out every night and play hard against teams that are simply far more talented. They get blown out and are told it’s part of a process. It’s unfair to the players and fans and the NBA as a whole to put these players out there with no help at all. Hinkie actually thought he was outsmarting the NBA by carrying out his “system.” In his 13-page resignation letter, Hinkie defended his system in the most idiotic way possible
“Jeff Bezos says that if Amazon has a good quarter it’s because of work they did three, four, five years ago -- not because they did a good job that quarter. Today’s league-leading Golden State Warriors acquired Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, and Klay Thompson almost four years ago. -- nearly four years ago, exactly, and almost 5 years ago. In this league, the long view picks at the lock of mediocrity.”
Hinkie actually compared the Philadelphia 76ers, a team that has won 47 games since 2013, to the world champion Golden State Warriors, a team that has 70 wins this season alone. Is he that delusional? Does he actually think any player that he acquired over the past three years will ever be as good as Draymond Green or Klay Thompson? Sam Hinkie is an incredibly smart person there’s no doubt about it. He graduated from Stanford’s School of Business and has given presentations at Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania. He’s not only smart, he’s a genius. When it comes to managing a team, however, Hinkie is an absolute moron. He has destroyed the Sixers franchise. Every Sixers fan, every NBA fan, should be absolutely elated about Hinkie’s resignation. The Sixers can finally work on getting better instead of continuing to fail. A wise man once said, “If you find yourself in a hole, the very best thing you can do is stop digging.” Sam Hinkie simply could not stop digging.
Hang in there, Sixers fans, tomorrow is another day closer to the NBA draft. Keep your fingers crossed for Ben Simmons to save this franchise.
