‘The Process’ has come to a shuddering halt. Brave, deluded, innovative, inspired, or down-right crazy. Call Sam Hinkie’s controversial, joyless vision for the Philadelphia 76ers whatever you’d like.
It was certainly doomed the moment no-nonsense Jerry Colangelo was brought in four months ago in a desperate bid to shake up the front office. The potential arrival of son Bryan, a two-time NBA Executive of the Year, in an exalted role was the final hammer-blow. Though, when the resignation arrived this week, it was spectacularly bizarre.
Certainly, after reading a leaked 7,000-word letter to the franchise’s board explaining his attempts to rule the NBA, there’s more leaning to madness than brilliance.
In amongst some salient points about bucking trends and daring to be different came some high grade mumbo-jumbo which would have left owner Josh Harris and friends shaking their head in disbelief. Abraham Lincoln gets a mention. As does the moa – that extinct flightless bird no one ever talks about. “Check out the 10,000 year clock,” he wrote.
“It is no mere thought experiment, but an actual clock being designed to be placed inside a mountain in West Texas, wound, and left to tick and chime for 10,000years. Why? Because to design something that lasts that long makes us all consider what the world will look like between now and then.”
Ten thousand years? The way Philadelphia basketball fans feel at the moment, that might be too early for them to start dreaming of reaching the giddy heights of the playoffs. The three-year plan of the bright analytics whiz to destroy an already desperate roster, and trading any decent talent for the potential of top draft picks in the build-up to the following season, ultimately didn’t work.
Hinkie quit this week with the Sixers having won a pathetic 47 games in three seasons. His outlandish plans ended with a team becoming comfortably the worst in the league and one of the most wretched.
The Warriors have 72 wins this season. The 76ers have 72 wins since November 30, 2012.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 11, 2016
Sources maintain Hinkie wasn’t viewed as a mad professor carelessly taking down a storied franchise with him. His ideas revolving around draft picks were, in principle, sound. Reality, however , bites hard.
All hope surrounding Joel Embiid, who was drafted third overall two years ago melted with injuries and problems off-court. He has yet to step foot onto the court as an NBA player. Nerlens Noel has been disappointing. Jahlil Okafor spends more time getting into nightclub scrapes than performing where it really counts.
Stripping down the roster, keeping costs low, and aiming to build with bright young things is admirable, yet in the voraciously competitive world of professional basketball, it’s simply not enough.
Every team is striving for glory with increased vigour. Getting caught in the slipstream of mediocrity is difficult to escape.
That’s not to say Hinkie’s tanking reign was a total disaster. He leaves the Sixers with a squad which, if the stars align, can compete once the requisite experience is gained. A few decent trades could enhance hopes. Maybe a free-agent signing – someone in the shape of a James Harden or Kevin Durant – could work wonders.
Why players of that caliber would think twice about moving to Philly is another huge problem for owner Harris. Unfortunately for Hinkie, modern-day sport has little patience for perennial losers.
Ask the browbeaten Philadelphia sports fans if they mind waiting seven years for a decent crack at avoiding the race for the wooden spoon once again. The responses would be of the unrepeatable variety.
“The N.B.A. can be a league of desperation, those that are in it and those that can avoid it,” Hinkie waffled on. “So many find themselves caught in the zugzwang, the point in the game where all possible moves make you worse off. Your positioning is now the opposite of that.”
That much may be true. In a few years, the blood, sweat, and tears shed by Hinkie could result in something resembling a competitive basketball team.
Yet, the three wretched seasons of utter hopelessness will never be forgotten. And, they cannot be repeated.
