Sam Hinkie's Plan for Philadelphia 76ers Might Not Be What We Think It Is
Since he became the Philadelphia 76ers' general manager in 2013, Sam Hinkie has led his team into uncharted waters full of intentional losing and draft-pick hoarding.
You probably either hate or love what Philly has been doing. Hinkie is either a genius or an idiot in the eyes of most NBA fans—few around the sport are impartial on the subject.
Philadelphia’s lose-a lot-now-to-win-way-later strategy is an extremely risky one.
What if all those draft picks—and there sure are a ton of them—never amount to anything? How can the 76ers build a real team if they trade all their good players? At what point will they make the turnaround from full-on tanker to championship contender?
Well, wait just a second. Before we dive in too deep, let's ask a question that no one seems to be considering: What if Hinkie isn’t doing what the world thinks he is?
The Hink-man's History
Philadelphia wasn’t Hinkie’s first front office stop. He joined the Houston Rockets right after he graduated from Stanford and held a plethora of important titles with the team.
At 29 years old, he became the NBA’s youngest vice president in 2007, and then got bumped up to executive VP in 2010 while serving as GM Daryl Morey’s right-hand man.
Hinkie played an enormous role in landing James Harden with the Rockets, and that’s what eventually got him the GM job with the Sixers.
Here’s ESPN The Magazine’s Pablo S. Torre:
"Hinkie…walked into dinner carrying a laptop, complete with a massively detailed PowerPoint presentation that Sixers executives now recall as an "investment thesis." Its centerpiece was a diagram that illustrated, arrow by arrow, transaction by transaction, how Houston had amassed the assets -- two first-rounders and a second-rounder, along with guards Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb -- to acquire superstar guard James Harden from the Thunder in October ... a month after the Sixers had hired [then- general manager Tony DiLeo, who Hinkie eventually replaced]. Hinkie's abstract vision for artfully delayed NBA production suddenly felt concrete.
"
OK, so let’s do a quick recap.
Hinkie, though he wasn’t entirely calling the shots, helped amass the picks and assets necessary to land a now-megastar in Harden.
Could he be positioning himself for a similar move with Philly? Between 2015 and 2020, the 76ers will have eight first-round picks and 12 second-rounders, per RealGM. Surely, he can’t be counting on those 20 potential draftees as the future of his franchise.
History repeats itself, folks.
This season, there have been some bumps along Tank Road. The New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves are trying to out-lose the Sixers, and Hinkie will have none of it.
Young guns like Robert Covington, Tony Wroten, K.J. McDaniels and Michael Carter-Williams have actually become pretty good. But the worse Philly’s players are, the stronger their future assets become—that explains the madness behind dealing McDaniels and MCW at the deadline.
With Carter-Williams gone, who is the future in Philly? Joel Embiid, one of the franchise’s most prized possessions, is still dealing with a foot injury and has yet to play an NBA minute. Nerlens Noel is a respectable defensive player, but he’s no superstar.
That leads us back to the question of when Philly will actually try to contend. Developing young talent takes time, which is something Hinkie doesn't seem to allow for.
Grantland’s Andrew Sharp tackles one of the biggest flaws in this perceived plan:
"The Sixers’ plan is stupid because it assumes that there’s a smart way to land a championship nucleus. There really isn’t. Cleveland fell ass-backward into LeBron this summer. Seattle landed Durant because Portland’s doctors guessed wrong on Greg Oden. The Wolves landed Wiggins because Kevin Love wanted out of town. The Pelicans bottomed out and landed Davis only because David Stern vetoed a Chris Paul trade that would’ve made them more competitive. The NBA is anarchy. Hinkie should know this from experience.
"
Assuming that Philadelphia is relying on the draft to land a star, Sharp’s take is spot-on.
But is the lottery really the only avenue to acquire a franchise cornerstone? Of course not.
Cashing In...Again
(First off, let’s get things straight. What you’re about to read is a speculative, 110 percent hypothetical idea. Don't run and tell your friends this is a legitimate rumor.)
On Feb. 20, when asked at what point wins will matter, Hinkie had an interesting response, per Matt Lombardo of NJ.com:
"We're focused on ... How do you put the building blocks in place that give you a chance to compete in May. Those teams win in the high 50s. they don't win in the teens. They don't add two or three wins a year. They don't add a win a month for a little while to try to get to where they're going. They get all the way to the 50s.
They get there usually on the backs of great players. As much as I talk about goals, how we make our decisions and our player development, this is a [player] driven league. Still. When we have a set of players that can carry us deep. That's the only way to get to where we're going.
"
On the backs of great players, huh?
Russell Westbrook, who has commandeered the basketball universe in recent weeks, is signed through 2016-17. Kevin Durant’s deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, however, will expire after next season.
What does this have to do with Hinkie and the 76ers? Everything.
On Colin Cowherd’s ESPN Radio show, former NBA exec Tom Penn made it known that he believes OKC could very easily deal the reigning MVP (h/t LakersNation.com):
"I think this burst from Westbrook makes it much more likely that Durant ultimately gets traded next year. … [Thunder GM] Sam Presti has proven that he does not ever want to lose anybody for nothing. So he traded James Harden a year early to avoid a potential luxury tax problem a year later.
The Kevin Durant drumbeat next year is going to be so loud because he will not commit early to Oklahoma City contractually because the rules are against that. He can’t get the same contract if he signs early as if he just goes to free agency and resigns.
So if Sam Presti doesn’t get that commitment, he’ll look to to trade Kevin Durant. And looking at the performance of Westbrook and the team around Westbrook will make it easier for him to do that potentially.
"
Look at the chart below. Who says no?
| Three first-round picks | Kevin Durant |
| Six second-round picks | |
| Nerlens Noel |
The Sixers will get that franchise player that they so desperately need, and the Thunder will get a treasure chest of picks in return. OKC keeps its superstar in Westbrook but also gets the ability to build around him for years to come.
Philadelphia’s tanking, on the other hand, will be vindicated. Hinkie will have duped the whole world into thinking that his focus was on drafting a star, when in reality it was trading for one.
Just like it was in Houston.
With Durant onboard long term, the Sixers would also have Embiid, Dario Saric, who is coming over from the Euroleague in a year or two (and was anonymously voted as the best international player by NBA general managers), Covington, some young guys currently on the team (Wroten, Isaiah Canaan, Jerami Grant) and other future draftees.
Plus, perhaps most importantly, ring-chasing free agents. Philly would have the cap room to accommodate another star, too.
Maybe the Sixers won't swing a deal for Durant. Maybe it will be for another superstar. Maybe it will be for a couple of them.
They're not likely to just keep on stockpiling picks and trading blossoming youngsters for all of eternity, because that would be a dumb plan, a complete waste of talent and a failure on the part of the front office for letting Hinkie go through with it.
"Sam is a straight down the fairway guy ..." Morey told The News Journal (h/t Jason Wolf of USA Today). "He won't stop until he builds a dynasty up there in Philly. He's going to build Lego brick by Lego brick, and there's no chance he won't succeed."
Don’t be surprised if, out of the clear blue, the 76ers cash in their draft stock and launch themselves into contention on the back of a great player—a gargantuan Lego brick, if you will.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
