Colangelo hints at shrinking role for Hinkie

[colincb]

So basically it was Hinkie's plan all along to tank, accumulate assets, get fired, and let someone else reap the benefits?

Some think it's a smoke screen and Hinkie's pulling the strings. I think it's more likely that Hinkie's been given a window seat to save face for the owner who will pay him to go away somewhere down the line when things have quieted down. Colangelo is the ultimate NBA insider and I'm sure he's heard an earful about Hinkie from the small world that comprises the NBA.

[wayupnorth]

TL;Dr:   Colangelo wants the team to be good in 3 years.  He expects them to be better than they were when he took over.  In other words, "duh... That's been the plan all along". 

The rest is just a lot of the typical nonsense.   Colangelo has already come out and admitted its in the team's best interest to tank this year, he's already admitted that hinkie did a phenomenal job collecting assets, he's already admitted that the team is in good position heading forward and that he's a fan of embiid. 

A good gm can have this team winning in 3 years... Which is the entire point in hiring colangelo.  They have tons of assets.  It's in their best interest to pretend like there has been a significant culture shift as they head into free agency, but this has always been the intended course.  Anyone who expected the team to keep tanking for the next few years doesn't get it.

And this is why people take your posts as jokes.

wow.

[tazzmaniac]

I think it is a fair point that just about anyone on this board could have done what Hinkie did. It wasn't recreating the game. He basically tried to be as bad as possible for as many years as he could to increase the chances of landing a superstar. All that being said, hitting on those draft picks becomes that much more important. It really look like he may missed out on the one superstar that was available at the slot of his draft in Taking okafor. He also did a gamble on Embiid's health and that has not worked out either. Hasn't done anything that crazy though, and hasn't done anything that great.

I don't know about that. They've been incredibly opportunistic in using their cap space to gain assets. The Lakers pick and the Sacramento deal in the summer spring to mind.

I think if Embiid had recovered from his injury then this year would've been the first year angling toward the playoffs. Next year they will move up the league. Colangelo will definitely help them in that process but he hasn't changed the direction of the team.

If anything it must be annoying for Hinkie that he's had to do the "dirty work" and not be given the reigns to pull them out of it, showing the NBA that his strategy was indeed sound. If they succeed now people will say it was in spite of Hinkie. If the next time they get to the playoffs it is with a core that was built using the assets HE acquired, then he deserves some of the credit

Well whether the Lakers pick conveys this year pretty much determines if it is a good or bad trade. At the absolute worst, MCW is a very strong defensive guard that would be in a rotation on a really good team. At times, he looks like he could be a starting caliber point guard. It is starting to look like his shot won't improve so getting rid of him was a good idea. However, if the Lakers pick doesn't come through this year, it seems hard to believe that it will be much better than 10th-12th next year after another year of development from Randle, Russel and Clarkson, hiring an actual competent coach and losing the net negative of Kobe taking tons of shots. There is also a change it drops down further if they can sign any halfway decent free agents (I do think at least some players will want to play there with Kobe gone).

So MCW coming off ROY for a pick that is 4th or 5th that you wait a year for, outstanding trade.
If it ends up being MCW for a mid first pick in the draft that you wait 2.5 years to get, I think they could have gotten better for him than that at the time.

Regarding the Sacramento trade I never quite got why Barnwell  (at Grantland) was so excited about it at the time. I am not sure Stauskas finishes his rookie contract he seems like a net negative asset at this time that could get cut. He has been that bad. For all the train wreck that has been Sacramento's season, they are going to have less than a 1% chance of swapping picks with Philly this season (and possible it is zero if they rise above some of the garbage in the race for 8th). It is cool they have those extra ping pong balls, but nothing I would say is absolutely brilliant.

Last offseason, you claimed that the Lakers would just miss the playoffs this season and therefore Philly would be a loser because they'd only end up with the 12th-14th pick in this upcoming draft.  Now you're regurgitating that same claim for next season.  Unless the Lakers have a good free agency, there's a good chance they'll be a bottom 5 team again next season.  Also next year's draft is projected to be much better than this year's draft so it may benefit the Sixers if the pick doesn't convey until next year even if it ends up in the 6th-10th range.   
http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=79603.msg1921933#msg1921933

Regarding the Sacramento trade, you failed to mention that the pick swaps are for both this year's draft and next year's draft.  You also didn't mention the best asset the Sixers got in the trade.  They got a Kings 1st (2018 top 10 protected, 2019 unprotected).  That's a very good asset to have from a very dysfunctional team and organization.  Also Stauskas has been playing better the last month so I wouldn't write him off yet.  I doubt if he'll end up a starter but he could be a good shooter off the bench.   

[LarBrd33]

TL;Dr:   Colangelo wants the team to be good in 3 years.  He expects them to be better than they were when he took over.  In other words, "duh... That's been the plan all along". 

The rest is just a lot of the typical nonsense.   Colangelo has already come out and admitted its in the team's best interest to tank this year, he's already admitted that hinkie did a phenomenal job collecting assets, he's already admitted that the team is in good position heading forward and that he's a fan of embiid. 

A good gm can have this team winning in 3 years... Which is the entire point in hiring colangelo.  They have tons of assets.  It's in their best interest to pretend like there has been a significant culture shift as they head into free agency, but this has always been the intended course.  Anyone who expected the team to keep tanking for the next few years doesn't get it.

And this is why people take your posts as jokes.

wow.

Which part is funny?  I'm right.

[MBunge]

The Process^TM is dead. Long live the Process^TM

This literally IS The Process^TM ... tank for a few years, collect boatloads of assets, try their darndest to land a superstar through the draft, and then try to put together a competitive team. 

They are in phenomenal position right now.  It's no guarantee they make the right moves from here, but so far The Process^TM has set them up wonderfully.

If you're three years into a rebuild and the whole future of your franchise is still hinging on the draft lottery, that is almost the definition of "non-phenomenal."

Mike

Mike still don't get it, eh?  That team is stacked with assets.   It'll be an interesting Summer.   If they are a playoff team within the next 2 years, are you going to credit Colangelo?  Lol

And this is the sort of comment that puts all your claims of being a Celtics fan in a dubious light.  You have consistently and aggressively crapped over every single player on Boston's roster and belittled and denigrated every other asset accumulated by Ainge.  Then you get positively moist over what Hinkie has put together.

And what has he put together?

1.  A team that might win fewer games over the last three seasons than Boston might win this season.

2.  A player so bad offensively he makes Kendrick Perkins look like Partick Ewing.

3.  A player who might be the single worst defensive player in the league.  He makes David Lee look like Ben Wallace.

4.  A player who might never play in an NBA game.

5.  A player who, if he ever comes to America, could be a bust.

6.  A draft pick from the Lakers that is top 3 protected.

7.  Lots of cap space in an era when virtually every team, all much better than Philly, also has lots of cap space.

8.  Not one other player, after several years of tanking, capable of being a starter on even a mediocre team.

9.  The absolute need to trade at least one and most likely two of his "assets" because they can't play together, severely weakening his ability to get fair value.

10.  Perhaps the worst reputation any franchise has ever had in NBA history.

And since you were proven 100% wrong in the Embiid situation, what has changed since then to make anyone think you can tell the difference between a competent GM and a hole in the ground?

Mike

[Denis998]

most physically dominant rookie since Shaq?

here is a image of upcoming rookie Bender.

here we see the look on Hinkies face

when embiid is healthy

when he has to figure out how to play all three bigs in the same game

Danny Ainge in the background

[celticsclay]

I think it is a fair point that just about anyone on this board could have done what Hinkie did. It wasn't recreating the game. He basically tried to be as bad as possible for as many years as he could to increase the chances of landing a superstar. All that being said, hitting on those draft picks becomes that much more important. It really look like he may missed out on the one superstar that was available at the slot of his draft in Taking okafor. He also did a gamble on Embiid's health and that has not worked out either. Hasn't done anything that crazy though, and hasn't done anything that great.

I don't know about that. They've been incredibly opportunistic in using their cap space to gain assets. The Lakers pick and the Sacramento deal in the summer spring to mind.

I think if Embiid had recovered from his injury then this year would've been the first year angling toward the playoffs. Next year they will move up the league. Colangelo will definitely help them in that process but he hasn't changed the direction of the team.

If anything it must be annoying for Hinkie that he's had to do the "dirty work" and not be given the reigns to pull them out of it, showing the NBA that his strategy was indeed sound. If they succeed now people will say it was in spite of Hinkie. If the next time they get to the playoffs it is with a core that was built using the assets HE acquired, then he deserves some of the credit

Well whether the Lakers pick conveys this year pretty much determines if it is a good or bad trade. At the absolute worst, MCW is a very strong defensive guard that would be in a rotation on a really good team. At times, he looks like he could be a starting caliber point guard. It is starting to look like his shot won't improve so getting rid of him was a good idea. However, if the Lakers pick doesn't come through this year, it seems hard to believe that it will be much better than 10th-12th next year after another year of development from Randle, Russel and Clarkson, hiring an actual competent coach and losing the net negative of Kobe taking tons of shots. There is also a change it drops down further if they can sign any halfway decent free agents (I do think at least some players will want to play there with Kobe gone).

So MCW coming off ROY for a pick that is 4th or 5th that you wait a year for, outstanding trade.
If it ends up being MCW for a mid first pick in the draft that you wait 2.5 years to get, I think they could have gotten better for him than that at the time.

Regarding the Sacramento trade I never quite got why Barnwell  (at Grantland) was so excited about it at the time. I am not sure Stauskas finishes his rookie contract he seems like a net negative asset at this time that could get cut. He has been that bad. For all the train wreck that has been Sacramento's season, they are going to have less than a 1% chance of swapping picks with Philly this season (and possible it is zero if they rise above some of the garbage in the race for 8th). It is cool they have those extra ping pong balls, but nothing I would say is absolutely brilliant.

Last offseason, you claimed that the Lakers would just miss the playoffs this season and therefore Philly would be a loser because they'd only end up with the 12th-14th pick in this upcoming draft.  Now you're regurgitating that same claim for next season.  Unless the Lakers have a good free agency, there's a good chance they'll be a bottom 5 team again next season.  Also next year's draft is projected to be much better than this year's draft so it may benefit the Sixers if the pick doesn't convey until next year even if it ends up in the 6th-10th range.   
http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=79603.msg1921933#msg1921933

Regarding the Sacramento trade, you failed to mention that the pick swaps are for both this year's draft and next year's draft.  You also didn't mention the best asset the Sixers got in the trade.  They got a Kings 1st (2018 top 10 protected, 2019 unprotected).  That's a very good asset to have from a very dysfunctional team and organization.  Also Stauskas has been playing better the last month so I wouldn't write him off yet.  I doubt if he'll end up a starter but he could be a good shooter off the bench.   

Little creepy to go back in threads from 7 months ago looking for specific projections from posters not even related to the Celtics. Waaaay too much time on your hands? I will be the firs to admit i definitely thought that the Lakers would be better this year than they have. The Kobe farewell tour and him somehow staying healthy for the first time in 4 years, coupled with Scott going full tank, less than anticipated contributions from Hibbert and Bass (and Nick Young falling off a cliff from average to unplayable) has made the Lakers waaaay less than competitive than I thought they would be. Now, as a Philly fan, don't you think this offseason there is an even better chance of them making a leap this with Kobe officially gone and his 25 million dollar cap number (plus ball hoggery)?

I don't think i am saying anything conroversial to say the Lakers are tanking this year. Even with this years collection of talent they could easily have 8 or so more wins if they were trying like hell to win. You add that to development from their young guys and a top 3 pick and saying they would finish 10th seems fairly conservative no? How is any of this worth arguing over? It seems pretty obvious if the lakers pick doesn't convey this year it was a gamble that didn't work out for the 76ers. Do you feel like it it wouldn't be?

I'll grant you the 2018 protected sacramento is a solid asset (again had forgotten it, but not obsessed with the 76ers here), but nothing amazing. It is similar to the pick we are owed from Memphis. Hard to get excited cause it is far in the future. It was a solid trade, but not something to gleefully laugh about into the night. I guess it is cool if Stauskas turns out to be a bench player.

[ssspence]

TL;Dr:   Colangelo wants the team to be good in 3 years.  He expects them to be better than they were when he took over.  In other words, "duh... That's been the plan all along". 

The rest is just a lot of the typical nonsense.   Colangelo has already come out and admitted its in the team's best interest to tank this year, he's already admitted that hinkie did a phenomenal job collecting assets, he's already admitted that the team is in good position heading forward and that he's a fan of embiid. 

A good gm can have this team winning in 3 years... Which is the entire point in hiring colangelo.  They have tons of assets.  It's in their best interest to pretend like there has been a significant culture shift as they head into free agency, but this has always been the intended course.  Anyone who expected the team to keep tanking for the next few years doesn't get it.

And this is why people take your posts as jokes.

wow.

Considering he's right, how should we take yours? Or maybe you care to make some kind of actual argument?

[celticsclay]

TL;Dr:   Colangelo wants the team to be good in 3 years.  He expects them to be better than they were when he took over.  In other words, "duh... That's been the plan all along". 

The rest is just a lot of the typical nonsense.   Colangelo has already come out and admitted its in the team's best interest to tank this year, he's already admitted that hinkie did a phenomenal job collecting assets, he's already admitted that the team is in good position heading forward and that he's a fan of embiid. 

A good gm can have this team winning in 3 years... Which is the entire point in hiring colangelo.  They have tons of assets.  It's in their best interest to pretend like there has been a significant culture shift as they head into free agency, but this has always been the intended course.  Anyone who expected the team to keep tanking for the next few years doesn't get it.

And this is why people take your posts as jokes.

wow.

Considering he's right, how should we take yours? Or maybe you care to make some kind of actual argument?

I think everyone has gotten so passionate about the 76ers on this blog it has gotten straight confusing. Things could definitely work out well for them but it is really difficult to project cause their best players all play the best position, have not yet set foot on the court (embiid and saric), or are difficult to project because they are protected picks for other teams.


Meanwhile we almost never talk about the Twolves who have a franchise level center in Towns active and healthy (who btw would have completely changed the 76ers fortunres), at worst a gifted scorer and decent defensive player in wiggins (and potentially a future all-star), a really exciting 2 guard in Lavine and a really solid power forward/center that nobody really talks about in Dieng (to say nothing of their upcoming top 6 pick and whatever happens with Rubio who is at least an average NBA starter)

[tazzmaniac]

I think it is a fair point that just about anyone on this board could have done what Hinkie did. It wasn't recreating the game. He basically tried to be as bad as possible for as many years as he could to increase the chances of landing a superstar. All that being said, hitting on those draft picks becomes that much more important. It really look like he may missed out on the one superstar that was available at the slot of his draft in Taking okafor. He also did a gamble on Embiid's health and that has not worked out either. Hasn't done anything that crazy though, and hasn't done anything that great.

I don't know about that. They've been incredibly opportunistic in using their cap space to gain assets. The Lakers pick and the Sacramento deal in the summer spring to mind.

I think if Embiid had recovered from his injury then this year would've been the first year angling toward the playoffs. Next year they will move up the league. Colangelo will definitely help them in that process but he hasn't changed the direction of the team.

If anything it must be annoying for Hinkie that he's had to do the "dirty work" and not be given the reigns to pull them out of it, showing the NBA that his strategy was indeed sound. If they succeed now people will say it was in spite of Hinkie. If the next time they get to the playoffs it is with a core that was built using the assets HE acquired, then he deserves some of the credit

Well whether the Lakers pick conveys this year pretty much determines if it is a good or bad trade. At the absolute worst, MCW is a very strong defensive guard that would be in a rotation on a really good team. At times, he looks like he could be a starting caliber point guard. It is starting to look like his shot won't improve so getting rid of him was a good idea. However, if the Lakers pick doesn't come through this year, it seems hard to believe that it will be much better than 10th-12th next year after another year of development from Randle, Russel and Clarkson, hiring an actual competent coach and losing the net negative of Kobe taking tons of shots. There is also a change it drops down further if they can sign any halfway decent free agents (I do think at least some players will want to play there with Kobe gone).

So MCW coming off ROY for a pick that is 4th or 5th that you wait a year for, outstanding trade.
If it ends up being MCW for a mid first pick in the draft that you wait 2.5 years to get, I think they could have gotten better for him than that at the time.

Regarding the Sacramento trade I never quite got why Barnwell  (at Grantland) was so excited about it at the time. I am not sure Stauskas finishes his rookie contract he seems like a net negative asset at this time that could get cut. He has been that bad. For all the train wreck that has been Sacramento's season, they are going to have less than a 1% chance of swapping picks with Philly this season (and possible it is zero if they rise above some of the garbage in the race for 8th). It is cool they have those extra ping pong balls, but nothing I would say is absolutely brilliant.

Last offseason, you claimed that the Lakers would just miss the playoffs this season and therefore Philly would be a loser because they'd only end up with the 12th-14th pick in this upcoming draft.  Now you're regurgitating that same claim for next season.  Unless the Lakers have a good free agency, there's a good chance they'll be a bottom 5 team again next season.  Also next year's draft is projected to be much better than this year's draft so it may benefit the Sixers if the pick doesn't convey until next year even if it ends up in the 6th-10th range.   
http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=79603.msg1921933#msg1921933

Regarding the Sacramento trade, you failed to mention that the pick swaps are for both this year's draft and next year's draft.  You also didn't mention the best asset the Sixers got in the trade.  They got a Kings 1st (2018 top 10 protected, 2019 unprotected).  That's a very good asset to have from a very dysfunctional team and organization.  Also Stauskas has been playing better the last month so I wouldn't write him off yet.  I doubt if he'll end up a starter but he could be a good shooter off the bench.   

Little creepy to go back in threads from 7 months ago looking for specific projections from posters not even related to the Celtics. Waaaay too much time on your hands? I will be the firs to admit i definitely thought that the Lakers would be better this year than they have. The Kobe farewell tour and him somehow staying healthy for the first time in 4 years, coupled with Scott going full tank, less than anticipated contributions from Hibbert and Bass (and Nick Young falling off a cliff from average to unplayable) has made the Lakers waaaay less than competitive than I thought they would be. Now, as a Philly fan, don't you think this offseason there is an even better chance of them making a leap this with Kobe officially gone and his 25 million dollar cap number (plus ball hoggery)?

I don't think i am saying anything conroversial to say the Lakers are tanking this year. Even with this years collection of talent they could easily have 8 or so more wins if they were trying like hell to win. You add that to development from their young guys and a top 3 pick and saying they would finish 10th seems fairly conservative no? How is any of this worth arguing over? It seems pretty obvious if the lakers pick doesn't convey this year it was a gamble that didn't work out for the 76ers. Do you feel like it it wouldn't be?

I'll grant you the 2018 protected sacramento is a solid asset (again had forgotten it, but not obsessed with the 76ers here), but nothing amazing. It is similar to the pick we are owed from Memphis. Hard to get excited cause it is far in the future. It was a solid trade, but not something to gleefully laugh about into the night. I guess it is cool if Stauskas turns out to be a bench player.

I thought I remembered you making the projection but I wanted to make sure I wasn't confusing you with one of the other prolific anti-Sixers posters.  The forum has a search feature so it just took a couple minutes to find your previous post.  I think you've called me a Sixers fan before and I've had to correct you.  I'm an Embiid fan so that's predominantly why I'm keeping up with the Sixers plus I find the Hinkie strategy interesting. 

The Lakers do have a chance to make improvements this offseason but they haven't been able to do much the past few off seasons.  They didn't come close to getting Melo or Aldridge.  I think they need to fix their front office before that changes much.  The top free agents this year seem like they'll stay with their current team or would prefer somewhere else besides the Lakers.  I thought they might get DeRozen but he seems happy in Toronto.  I don't see Durant going to the Lakers.  What impactful free agents do you think the Lakers are going to get?  Not sure why you think 10th is a conservative projection.  The TWolves have a much better roster and they're the 5th worst team this season. 

I've never thought much of MCW.  Before the Sixers traded him, many of the posters on this blog correctly said he was an overrated ROY because it was a weak draft.  Hinkie did good getting the Lakers 1st for him.  I can't see the Bucks getting nearly that much for him if they tried to trade him now.  Other than Simmons and Ingram, I don't particularly like any other top 10 possibilities more than the late lottery possibilities.  The Sixers have the Heat pick (top 10 protected) which has a good chance being late lottery with the Bosh injury.  If we had the Laker's pick, I'd probably want it to roll over to next year's draft which is projected to be much better top 10.  So no I don't think the Sixers necessarily lose out if the Lakers pick rolls over to next draft.   

[tazzmaniac]

TL;Dr:   Colangelo wants the team to be good in 3 years.  He expects them to be better than they were when he took over.  In other words, "duh... That's been the plan all along". 

The rest is just a lot of the typical nonsense.   Colangelo has already come out and admitted its in the team's best interest to tank this year, he's already admitted that hinkie did a phenomenal job collecting assets, he's already admitted that the team is in good position heading forward and that he's a fan of embiid. 

A good gm can have this team winning in 3 years... Which is the entire point in hiring colangelo.  They have tons of assets.  It's in their best interest to pretend like there has been a significant culture shift as they head into free agency, but this has always been the intended course.  Anyone who expected the team to keep tanking for the next few years doesn't get it.

And this is why people take your posts as jokes.

wow.

Considering he's right, how should we take yours? Or maybe you care to make some kind of actual argument?

I think everyone has gotten so passionate about the 76ers on this blog it has gotten straight confusing. Things could definitely work out well for them but it is really difficult to project cause their best players all play the best position, have not yet set foot on the court (embiid and saric), or are difficult to project because they are protected picks for other teams.


Meanwhile we almost never talk about the Twolves who have a franchise level center in Towns active and healthy (who btw would have completely changed the 76ers fortunres), at worst a gifted scorer and decent defensive player in wiggins (and potentially a future all-star), a really exciting 2 guard in Lavine and a really solid power forward/center that nobody really talks about in Dieng (to say nothing of their upcoming top 6 pick and whatever happens with Rubio who is at least an average NBA starter)

The Sixers posts are pretty much all started by anti-Sixers/anti-Hinkie posters.  I agree the TWolves have some good young players but they are still the 5th worst team.  There have been a few posts on how well Towns has been doing but what else is there to talk about them.  It is interesting that they're on track to have a nearly 20% chance at a top 2 pick.  Adding Simmons or Ingram would almost make you want to become a TWolves fan.  If they get the #1 pick, they'd have the last three #1 picks on their roster.  I'm assuming that's never happened before. 

[wiley]

I find it fascinating that a few people are fascinated by Hinkie's "strategy".
Agree with those who counter that it is a completely obvious
approach to attempt to collect future stars.  The only difference was Hinkie's commitment to
how long to be bad and the degree of badness (being so bad that a top 3 pick is a certainty).  So, perhaps what people are fascinated by is that Hinkie was willing to be completely hated/villified by various parties.  Is that the fascinating part??  Or that he would do the fantasy GM thing in a real league?

A.  The degree of Sixer badness
B.  The length of time being horrible
C.  The damage to the franchise via A and B, plus alienated fans, agents, other teams, the league office, etc..

A plus B plus C added together is the reason Hinkie won't get to play with his accumulated assets, and if i were him I'd be majorly depressed about it, but he made his own bed with his excess (the other part I guess some are fascinated by).

What Hinkie-obsessed Celtic bloggers haven't answered in this or other threads is:  What is his definition of a successful plan if one considers the level and quantity of suffering (which Boston fans would NOT have gone through...sorry but Hinkie would have lasted 8 months or so in Boston) endured?

Don't the Sixers have to win multiple titles starting a few years from now in order to be able to look back and say: wow it actually worked (the plan working is still not the same as saying it was worth it...that debates will also continue)

Colangelo has an easy job, which is to make the Sixers competitive again.  Is that success?  To be competitive again?  I don't think so.  That was not the point of such a massive tank.  The point was stars and titles.  And from that perspective the whole thing was an epic fail.  You can only pay so many stars at once and keep so many self-groomed players. 

Welcome back to competitive bball next year or the year after Sixers and Sixer fans.  If you're really lucky you'll end up somewhere a bit better than the Magic, Nuggets, Wolves and Celtics 2 or 3 or 4 years from now.  You may even be the Thunder of a few years back.

[colincb]

"Sam let me fix your mess for you, and I'll hand the reins back to you when I'm done."

Fat chance.

Hinkiephiles are now talking about winning in the sixth season after the Sixers netted the first lottery pick of the Hinkie era while BOS is winning 2 years after netting its first lottery pick of the post-Big 3 era. Who has done the better job acquiring assets and talent, hiring a top notch coach, and developing talent? Hinkie or Ainge?

Ask that question around the league and you'll get an overwhelming response.

[Casperian]

Yeah guise, that has always been Hinkie's masterplan. Nobody else could've sucked that hard for this long, only to have three flawed center prospects to show for it. That was the plan all along. And of course the sixers hire a guy who knows what he's doing now, that was the plan all along. And Hinkie's not being demoted, he's just pulling the strings from behind the curtain now, that was the plan all along. And when he gets fired in a year, that was the plan all along, too. Hinkie knows exactly what he's doing. I mean Duh.

That team could be competitive in three years, just like the Celtics did it in three years. How anyone could doubt Hinkie's masterplan is beyond me. You peasants just don't get it. Once the sixers trade their assets for real NBA players, they might even make the playoffs again. Totally worth it.

Or that he would do the fantasy GM thing in a real league?

Yeah, I think that's it. He's doing what they do in NBA2k, and they just love to see their "super smart tactic" played out in real life. I mean, I do the same thing in that game, so I get the appeal, but they don't seem to understand that the NBA isn't a freaking video game.

[TheSundanceKid]

I think it is a fair point that just about anyone on this board could have done what Hinkie did. It wasn't recreating the game. He basically tried to be as bad as possible for as many years as he could to increase the chances of landing a superstar. All that being said, hitting on those draft picks becomes that much more important. It really look like he may missed out on the one superstar that was available at the slot of his draft in Taking okafor. He also did a gamble on Embiid's health and that has not worked out either. Hasn't done anything that crazy though, and hasn't done anything that great.

I don't know about that. They've been incredibly opportunistic in using their cap space to gain assets. The Lakers pick and the Sacramento deal in the summer spring to mind.

I think if Embiid had recovered from his injury then this year would've been the first year angling toward the playoffs. Next year they will move up the league. Colangelo will definitely help them in that process but he hasn't changed the direction of the team.

If anything it must be annoying for Hinkie that he's had to do the "dirty work" and not be given the reigns to pull them out of it, showing the NBA that his strategy was indeed sound. If they succeed now people will say it was in spite of Hinkie. If the next time they get to the playoffs it is with a core that was built using the assets HE acquired, then he deserves some of the credit

Well whether the Lakers pick conveys this year pretty much determines if it is a good or bad trade. At the absolute worst, MCW is a very strong defensive guard that would be in a rotation on a really good team. At times, he looks like he could be a starting caliber point guard. It is starting to look like his shot won't improve so getting rid of him was a good idea. However, if the Lakers pick doesn't come through this year, it seems hard to believe that it will be much better than 10th-12th next year after another year of development from Randle, Russel and Clarkson, hiring an actual competent coach and losing the net negative of Kobe taking tons of shots. There is also a change it drops down further if they can sign any halfway decent free agents (I do think at least some players will want to play there with Kobe gone).

So MCW coming off ROY for a pick that is 4th or 5th that you wait a year for, outstanding trade.
If it ends up being MCW for a mid first pick in the draft that you wait 2.5 years to get, I think they could have gotten better for him than that at the time.

Regarding the Sacramento trade I never quite got why Barnwell  (at Grantland) was so excited about it at the time. I am not sure Stauskas finishes his rookie contract he seems like a net negative asset at this time that could get cut. He has been that bad. For all the train wreck that has been Sacramento's season, they are going to have less than a 1% chance of swapping picks with Philly this season (and possible it is zero if they rise above some of the garbage in the race for 8th). It is cool they have those extra ping pong balls, but nothing I would say is absolutely brilliant.

Last offseason, you claimed that the Lakers would just miss the playoffs this season and therefore Philly would be a loser because they'd only end up with the 12th-14th pick in this upcoming draft.  Now you're regurgitating that same claim for next season.  Unless the Lakers have a good free agency, there's a good chance they'll be a bottom 5 team again next season.  Also next year's draft is projected to be much better than this year's draft so it may benefit the Sixers if the pick doesn't convey until next year even if it ends up in the 6th-10th range.   
http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=79603.msg1921933#msg1921933

Regarding the Sacramento trade, you failed to mention that the pick swaps are for both this year's draft and next year's draft.  You also didn't mention the best asset the Sixers got in the trade.  They got a Kings 1st (2018 top 10 protected, 2019 unprotected).  That's a very good asset to have from a very dysfunctional team and organization.  Also Stauskas has been playing better the last month so I wouldn't write him off yet.  I doubt if he'll end up a starter but he could be a good shooter off the bench.   

TP, that's what I was thinking. Lakers next year won't improve that much and even if they do it's an unprotected pick so with lottery luck it can be even better. The Sacramento deal is getting assets out of nothing so even if there is small value in those picks it illustrated my point.