Happy trails to Hinkie's Power.

[gift]

I'm pretty surprised by this. Wasn't he executing the plan exactly as it was laid out? Isn't the team right where it's supposed to be at this point in the "proccess"? Was he fired because everyone just thought he was ****?

If the 76ers turn into a powerhouse in 4 years with players drafted with picks he acquired, I wonder if he'll be remembered.

I think he stuck to the plan and executed it pretty well. The problem is that proposing a multiyear plan filled with pain and suffering that eventually turns out great feels a lot different when you're smack in the middle of year three of that very pain and suffering you agreed to.

[MBunge]

I'm pretty surprised by this. Wasn't he executing the plan exactly as it was laid out? Isn't the team right where it's supposed to be at this point in the "proccess"? Was he fired because everyone just thought he was ****?

If the 76ers turn into a powerhouse in 4 years with players drafted with picks he acquired, I wonder if he'll be remembered.

1.  Ownership totally bought into Hinkie's plan and should be criticized severely for bailing on him now.

2.  It was Hinkie's plan, however, and I guarantee that he did not tell ownership they would be THIS bad three years into "The Process" and still almost totally dependent on blind luck to turn things around.

3.  Four years from now will be seven freakin' years since Hinkie started the hyper-tank.  That's longer than most NBA players careers.  If you tank for three years and it takes you another four years after that to become a powerhouse, you've done a poor job.  People love to bring up OKC as a comparison.  Well, the Thunder had a three-year rebuild where they only outright tanked for one year.  After year three, however, they had Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka and Jeff Green.  After tanking as hard as they could for three years, Philly doesn't have anyone as good as Durant.  They don't have anyone as good as Westbrook.  They don't have anyone as good as Harden.  They don't have a wing player as good as Green.  They have a couple of bugs who might be better than Ibaka but who can't play together.  And then they have a bunch of question marks.

The Sixers have more hope than the Nets, but that's about all you can say for them.

Mike

[Evantime34]

Do I agree with how the Sixers tanked during Hinkie's 3 years? Absolutely not. Do I think he deserved the chance to attempt to turn those assets into a coherent team? Absolutely.

The Sixers are in a lot worse hands with the Collangelo's than Hinkie. I expect some win now moves this summer where Philly doesn't get equal value for the assets Hinkie built.

[apc]

I will not be surprised if Brent Brown will be fired by the end of the season.
At this point he is associated with losing.

[Ed Hollison]

Hinkie is the scapegoat but in reality he did a good job. Aside from the lack of veteran presence he did everything that was on the roadmap. But sometimes that's the way it goes. In a few years time if the Sixers are in the playoffs people will say it is because of the Coangelo's but it reality they will have a lot to thank Sam Hinkie for

I don't want to nitpick on this particular comment, because I fundamentally agree with it. But the issue is, What exactly are you getting in return for three years of misery?

Hinkie's (or Philly ownership's) plan resulted in the worst 3-year stretch in basketball history, made the the franchise a laughing stock, made enemies of nearly the entire league, and destroyed the spirit of their players (remember Okafor dropping his jersey in that introductory press conference)?

If you're telling me that all that pain and humiliation was the cost of a CERTAIN stretch of NBA championship contention in the coming years, then I guess I see the rationale. But it's not certain. That's the problem.

The Celtics didn't embarrass themselves. And yet they're challenging for 50 wins this year, have a ton of young talent already on the roster, 8 picks in the coming draft, and perhaps 3 straight lottery picks via Brooklyn coming up.

The Wolves didn't embarrass themselves. And they have two young studs, former #1 overall picks on their squad, in addition to a handful of other promising young players. They're loaded for the next several years.

The Bucks didn't embarrass themselves. And yet they've already got two guys on their squad -- Antetokoumpo and Parker, not to mention Monroe -- that I probably wouldn't trade for anyone on the Sixers right now. They could be frightening these next few years.

The Sixers have tons of assets. Neat. Maybe they become a 50-win team within the next 2-3 years. That'd be great. But unless you're telling me they've a lock to be a title contender, this whole thing wasn't worth it. And they're not.

[gift]

Sam Hinkie done in Philly is probably good for the Celtics though. One competitor just got a little dumber, most likely. We need more dumb teams in the league.

[Atzar]

People love to bring up OKC as a comparison.  Well, the Thunder had a three-year rebuild where they only outright tanked for one year.  After year three, however, they had Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka and Jeff Green.  After tanking as hard as they could for three years, Philly doesn't have anyone as good as Durant.  They don't have anyone as good as Westbrook.  They don't have anyone as good as Harden.  They don't have a wing player as good as Green.  They have a couple of bugs who might be better than Ibaka but who can't play together.  And then they have a bunch of question marks.

Well said.

[PhoSita]

I will not be surprised if Brent Brown will be fired by the end of the season.
At this point he is associated with losing.

I think "associated with losing" is a key phrase in all this because it seems to be what is suddenly motivating ownership. They lost their stomach for their plan.

Philly ownership is William H Macy in Fargo.

[PhoSita]

Sam Hinkie done in Philly is probably good for the Celtics though. One competitor just got a little dumber, most likely. We need more dumb teams in the league.

Especially dumb teams that are loaded with valuable prospects and draft picks.

[Emmette Bryant]

People love to bring up OKC as a comparison.  Well, the Thunder had a three-year rebuild where they only outright tanked for one year.  After year three, however, they had Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka and Jeff Green.  After tanking as hard as they could for three years, Philly doesn't have anyone as good as Durant.  They don't have anyone as good as Westbrook.  They don't have anyone as good as Harden.  They don't have a wing player as good as Green.  They have a couple of bugs who might be better than Ibaka but who can't play together.  And then they have a bunch of question marks.

Well said.

Yes that's it. The  “process” was just tanking, and he wasn’t even good at it because he sucked at the draft.

[Fafnir]

I will not be surprised if Brent Brown will be fired by the end of the season.
At this point he is associated with losing.

I think "associated with losing" is a key phrase in all this because it seems to be what is suddenly motivating ownership. They lost their stomach for their plan.

Philly ownership is William H Macy in Fargo.

That and they are losing a lot of money right now from what I understand.

Even with the cheap roster their revenues have absolutely plummeted to incredibly low levels. Now I'm sure revenue sharing makes up for that, but this is another hedge fund/venture capitalist ownership group. They look at things relative to what they could be.

[LarBrd33]

People love to bring up OKC as a comparison.  Well, the Thunder had a three-year rebuild where they only outright tanked for one year.  After year three, however, they had Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka and Jeff Green.  After tanking as hard as they could for three years, Philly doesn't have anyone as good as Durant.  They don't have anyone as good as Westbrook.  They don't have anyone as good as Harden.  They don't have a wing player as good as Green.  They have a couple of bugs who might be better than Ibaka but who can't play together.  And then they have a bunch of question marks.

Well said.

Well said, but misguided.  The jury is still out on embiid and saric.  Philly has a strong chance to end up with either Simmons or Ingram.  There's a 45% they will also have pick 4 or 5.   There's also a pretty reasonable chance they will move Okafor for an equal talent at a different position.

On a scale of 1-10, how shocked would you be if the Brooklyn pick ended up 5th and ainge traded all of our 2016 picks for Okafor ?  Knowing what he offered for Winslow and the reality that we don't actually have roster spots for all those picks would you honestly be all that surprised ?  Something like 5, 16, 26 and 31 for Okafor.  Philly replaces their undrafted d-leaguers with some tangible prospects.

And this is why I've consistently said that the team would let the tank ride until the offseason and re evaluate in the summer. Do they have a Durant and Westbrook yet?  No probably not, but they might have a full lineup of big name prospects within a few short months.  This is what the majority of this forum (and apparently some Philly fans) fail to understand. 

Mbunge made the comment that Philly signed off on hinkies plan and should be criticized for bailing on him now.  Honestly, I haven't read a word of hinkies letter.  That's how irrelevant he is to me. I genuinely have never cared about him.  This was phillys process. I'm sure any number of GMs could have done what hinkie did when given that objective.  They just used methods that Sam presti made famous (like renting out cap space for picks), but amplified their chances of bottoming out by refusing to make a good-faith effort at winning.  They also filled the roster with d league talent with hopes of finding a diamond in the rough - and when they did, they'd trade it for draft picks. And they also had no shame in taking injured players or guys stuck in Europe who would prolong their losing and help them bottom out.   On that front, they succeeded.  Noel was arguably the best pick in that class.  Embiid still has a chance to be great and may prove to be a better pick that Gordon, exum or smart.   Okafor is comically underrated for a rookie who nearly put up 20 and 10.  And once again they are on the verge of landing one or two of the 4 best prospects.   Did Philly bail on hinkie ?  I dunno... Sounds like he quit - perhaps because he himself knew what I've always questioned - he might not have been the right guy to convert all those assets into a winner.   It's going to be easy street for a GM who knows how to build a team, but is that hinkie ?   Jerry Colangelo was a solid hire.  Let's see what they do.

[wdleehi]

Sam Hinkie done in Philly is probably good for the Celtics though. One competitor just got a little dumber, most likely. We need more dumb teams in the league.

I think it could be good for Celtics because now Philly could be better then the Nets the next two years. 


3 years, no progress. 

[tankcity!]

I feel bad for 76er fans in the sense that most of them are too casual to see how good they have it.  That team can be very good very quickly if they make the right moves.  Hinkie did a fine job collecting assets, but has no track record of building a team.   Have to laugh when I see comments like "Philly botched the Okafor pick".  No they didn't.  As long as they have GM's like ainge willing to pay a hefty price for Okafor, they haven't botched anything.

I have to call you out here. They could've drafted Porzingis who is a better prospect and fits their team better. So you are just completely wrong on that end. Second, can you stop living in a pipe dream? Everyone knows okafor is on the market and they have 3 Centers. Where is the leverage? Sometimes you say that the Sixers can go either way, but in this statement you're they'll be fine. Stop playing it both ways, lol.

[tankcity!]

http://espn.go.com/pdf/2016/0406/nba_hinkie_redact.pdf

Amazing letter.

I want Ainge to hire Hinkie immediately as a future replacement, and to keep him away from all our competitors. He'd fit right in, because I bet Ainge and the rest of the Celtics front office will smile and nod vigorously throughout the whole letter as they read it, because I bet it almost totally describes their approach, too. Because it's the smartest approach, period.

LarBrd33 is right about Philly.

Yeah he took the right approach but it was idiotic to take it to the extreme levels he did. That is why people are frustrated. Is anyone complaining about the Lakers or suns this year? That's what lbrrd doesn't get.