Ainge receives praise from Hinkie

[greece66]

From Hinkie's resignation letter:

Many of us remember exactly where we were when tragedy strikes and we think of what could have been. For me—and this is sad for my own mental well being—that list includes the January day in 2014 when Miami traded Joel Anthony and two second round picks to our formidable competitors the Celtics. I can still picture the child’s play table I paced around at Lankenau Medical Center on my cell phone while negotiating with Miami’s front office. This was in between feedings for our newborn twins, when my wife and I were still sleeping in the hospital. Danny Ainge finalized that deal (and several other better ones) and received one first-place vote for Executive of the Year that season: mine.

Not sure why Hinkie thinks the Joel Anthony trade was that important. He only played 21 games for the C's (7.1 mpg) and was traded for Will Bynum (whom we waived) to the Pistons.

Maybe Hinkie felt that Boston's quick rebuild served as a counterexample to 'the process' and contributed to his demise. In any case, he thinks highly of Ainge, as shown in another part of his letter:

Ask who wants to trade for an in-his-prime Kevin Garnett and 30 hands will go up. Ask who planned for it three or four years in advance and Danny Ainge is nearly alone. Same for Daryl Morey in Houston trading for James Harden. San Antonio’s Peter Holt said after signing LaMarcus Aldridge this summer, “R.C. [Buford] came to us with this plan three years ago, four years ago—seriously. And we’ve worked at it ever since.”

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

[footey]

I'm in the minority school of larry bird, when I say that history will treat Hinkie very well. I think he had a very rationale game plan. If Embiid gets healthy, the Sixers will soon take off and be competitive. 

[MBunge]

The difference between Ainge and Hinkie or Buford and Hinkie is that those guys had plans that were always going to work, just maybe not work well enough to win a title.  Ainge was accumulating assets he was always going to cash in for a star player.  Buford was creating cap space while still keeping the Spurs a title contender and he was always going to get someone to sign there.  Maybe Ainge doesn't get Ray and KG and maybe Buford doesn't get Aldridge, but they would still have had an option B, C and D to fall back on.

And they wouldn't have turned their franchises into steaming piles of garbage to do so.

Hinkie, on the other hand, had a plan that consisted of two parts.

1.  Suck.
2.  Get lucky.

And he had no fallback position when #2 didn't work.

Mike

[bdm860]

From Hinkie's resignation letter:
Not sure why Hinkie thinks the Joel Anthony trade was that important. He only played 21 games for the C's (7.1 mpg) and was traded for Will Bynum (whom we waived) to the Pistons.

Maybe Hinkie felt that Boston's quick rebuild served as a counterexample to 'the process' and contributed to his demise. In any case, he thinks highly of Ainge, as shown in another part of his letter:

I think it's because Ainge got a conditional 1st and a 2nd for taking on Joel Anthony and giving up 2 players who wouldn't even be in the league next year.  Getting draft picks was Hinke's game.  He wanted those picks.

I'm in the minority school of larry bird, when I say that history will treat Hinkie very well. I think he had a very rationale game plan. If Embiid gets healthy, the Sixers will soon take off and be competitive.

I actually think history won't treat Hinke well at all.  If Colangelo turns it around due to the assets Hinke collected, Colangelo is getting all the credit.  If Colangelo doesn't turn it around, it's because he inherited such a bad team from Hinke.  Either way Hinke loses.

Not saying Hinke won't deserve the credit if his collection of assets ends up paying out, it's just that he's not going to get any of it, except in obscure internet forums like these while Colangelo gets the Sports Illustrated articles and the NBA on ABC Half Time Show featurette about how he was able to transform the Sixers by instilling a winning culture.

[Evantime34]

From Hinkie's resignation letter:

Many of us remember exactly where we were when tragedy strikes and we think of what could have been. For me—and this is sad for my own mental well being—that list includes the January day in 2014 when Miami traded Joel Anthony and two second round picks to our formidable competitors the Celtics. I can still picture the child’s play table I paced around at Lankenau Medical Center on my cell phone while negotiating with Miami’s front office. This was in between feedings for our newborn twins, when my wife and I were still sleeping in the hospital. Danny Ainge finalized that deal (and several other better ones) and received one first-place vote for Executive of the Year that season: mine.

Not sure why Hinkie thinks the Joel Anthony trade was that important. He only played 21 games for the C's (7.1 mpg) and was traded for Will Bynum (whom we waived) to the Pistons.

Maybe Hinkie felt that Boston's quick rebuild served as a counterexample to 'the process' and contributed to his demise. In any case, he thinks highly of Ainge, as shown in another part of his letter:

Ask who wants to trade for an in-his-prime Kevin Garnett and 30 hands will go up. Ask who planned for it three or four years in advance and Danny Ainge is nearly alone. Same for Daryl Morey in Houston trading for James Harden. San Antonio’s Peter Holt said after signing LaMarcus Aldridge this summer, “R.C. [Buford] came to us with this plan three years ago, four years ago—seriously. And we’ve worked at it ever since.”

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

Maybe Hinkie is as big a fan of Jordan Mickey as the people on this board are. The thought that we got Mickey for Joel Anthony is pretty amazing.

[gift]

Well, Hinkie is looking for a job. Probably a good idea to be free with those compliments around the league.

[BornReady]

was the 2 picks the 76ers 2nd rounders?

I guess he's saying that ainge did a better job than himself in rebuilding
As not only did we collect assets for our players
But we also had a quicker turnaround to playoffs than the 76ers plus we our built around a team of young talented players
Plus our lottery pick didn't become a franchise talent yet we are still competitive

I'm not so sure when this whole Hinkie plan started
Maybe 2010-2011
They've been trying to gain as many assets as they could get to draft talent
But forgot about developing their players to form a team
He expected that with as many picks he'd land on enough talent to win

I feel sorry for the players there and whoever got drafted there
Esp the young players like Okafor, embiid and Noel and Richardson who stayed a couple of years despite probably wanting to play and could contribute to a contender
All the young guys know is losing
They are the complete opposite of what ainge built

[PhoSita]

The difference between Ainge and Hinkie or Buford and Hinkie is that those guys had plans that were always going to work, just maybe not work well enough to win a title.  Ainge was accumulating assets he was always going to cash in for a star player.  Buford was creating cap space while still keeping the Spurs a title contender and he was always going to get someone to sign there.  Maybe Ainge doesn't get Ray and KG and maybe Buford doesn't get Aldridge, but they would still have had an option B, C and D to fall back on.

And they wouldn't have turned their franchises into steaming piles of garbage to do so.

Hinkie, on the other hand, had a plan that consisted of two parts.

1.  Suck.
2.  Get lucky.

And he had no fallback position when #2 didn't work.

Mike

This is a wild oversimplification, but it's illustrative of why casual fans love to hate on Hinkie.

[moiso]

From Hinkie's resignation letter:
Not sure why Hinkie thinks the Joel Anthony trade was that important. He only played 21 games for the C's (7.1 mpg) and was traded for Will Bynum (whom we waived) to the Pistons.

Maybe Hinkie felt that Boston's quick rebuild served as a counterexample to 'the process' and contributed to his demise. In any case, he thinks highly of Ainge, as shown in another part of his letter:

I think it's because Ainge got a conditional 1st and a 2nd for taking on Joel Anthony and giving up 2 players who wouldn't even be in the league next year.  Getting draft picks was Hinke's game.  He wanted those picks.

I'm in the minority school of larry bird, when I say that history will treat Hinkie very well. I think he had a very rationale game plan. If Embiid gets healthy, the Sixers will soon take off and be competitive.

I actually think history won't treat Hinke well at all.  If Colangelo turns it around due to the assets Hinke collected, Colangelo is getting all the credit.  If Colangelo doesn't turn it around, it's because he inherited such a bad team from Hinke.  Either way Hinke loses.

Not saying Hinke won't deserve the credit if his collection of assets ends up paying out, it's just that he's not going to get any of it, except in obscure internet forums like these while Colangelo gets the Sports Illustrated articles and the NBA on ABC Half Time Show featurette about how he was able to transform the Sixers by instilling a winning culture.

I don't see it this way.  I think Hinkie will still get the credit.  He's the one who suffered for 3 years and felt all of the pressure from the media and NBA.  Colangelo would have to be pretty inept to not improve at least moderately if that is his goal.

[wdleehi]

The biggest different is the Ainge has the right type of "patience"


Hinkie has "patience" for the team to get good, but not so much with holding onto players until he can get the best deal.   



Ainge has "patience" in waiting to make moves for when the value is there.  He doesn't seem to have "patience" in just waiting to getting better. 




Ainge has a plan that allows the Celtics to compete now and improve drastically in the future.



Hinkie only had a plan for the far future.

[MBunge]

The difference between Ainge and Hinkie or Buford and Hinkie is that those guys had plans that were always going to work, just maybe not work well enough to win a title.  Ainge was accumulating assets he was always going to cash in for a star player.  Buford was creating cap space while still keeping the Spurs a title contender and he was always going to get someone to sign there.  Maybe Ainge doesn't get Ray and KG and maybe Buford doesn't get Aldridge, but they would still have had an option B, C and D to fall back on.

And they wouldn't have turned their franchises into steaming piles of garbage to do so.

Hinkie, on the other hand, had a plan that consisted of two parts.

1.  Suck.
2.  Get lucky.

And he had no fallback position when #2 didn't work.

Mike

This is a wild oversimplification, but it's illustrative of why casual fans love to hate on Hinkie.

And that response is illustrative of why people who aren't nearly as smart as they think they are have been Hinkie's biggest fans.

What did Hinkie do in his three years other than make moves to make the team worse in the short term in exchange for future draft picks?  After three years, the only other legitimate NBA player on the Sixers roster besides Noel and Okafor is Covington and he's probably the 9th or 10th guy in a good team's rotation.  And don't say cap space because almost every team in the league is going to have cap space.

Mike

[Quetzalcoatl]

Hinkie is too famous now to not get credit, Colangelo could do an amazing job developing these guys and everyone will still think Hinkie

[LarBrd33]

Hinkie is too famous now to not get credit, Colangelo could do an amazing job developing these guys and everyone will still think Hinkie

i think it depends.  There's unlimited options with those assets. Maybe colangelo trades a bunch of them for jimmy butler and Kevin love, the team takes off, and they credit him as a mastermind.

I'm not sure hinkie was the right guy for the next step. Maybe he was, but he has no track record of building a winning team.  He did a admirable job collecting assets, but the organization itself deserves "credit" for supporting a shameless tank job.  The level they allowed it was unprescedented. 

They are in great position heading forward and depending on how bold their moves are, the new GM will inevitably get credit.   Casual fans will praise the trades and forget how all those valuable assets appeared out of thin air.

[guava_wrench]

From Hinkie's resignation letter:
Not sure why Hinkie thinks the Joel Anthony trade was that important. He only played 21 games for the C's (7.1 mpg) and was traded for Will Bynum (whom we waived) to the Pistons.

Maybe Hinkie felt that Boston's quick rebuild served as a counterexample to 'the process' and contributed to his demise. In any case, he thinks highly of Ainge, as shown in another part of his letter:

I think it's because Ainge got a conditional 1st and a 2nd for taking on Joel Anthony and giving up 2 players who wouldn't even be in the league next year.  Getting draft picks was Hinke's game.  He wanted those picks.

I'm in the minority school of larry bird, when I say that history will treat Hinkie very well. I think he had a very rationale game plan. If Embiid gets healthy, the Sixers will soon take off and be competitive.

I actually think history won't treat Hinke well at all.  If Colangelo turns it around due to the assets Hinke collected, Colangelo is getting all the credit.  If Colangelo doesn't turn it around, it's because he inherited such a bad team from Hinke.  Either way Hinke loses.

Not saying Hinke won't deserve the credit if his collection of assets ends up paying out, it's just that he's not going to get any of it, except in obscure internet forums like these while Colangelo gets the Sports Illustrated articles and the NBA on ABC Half Time Show featurette about how he was able to transform the Sixers by instilling a winning culture.

I don't see it this way.  I think Hinkie will still get the credit.  He's the one who suffered for 3 years and felt all of the pressure from the media and NBA.  Colangelo would have to be pretty inept to not improve at least moderately if that is his goal.

People will always remember the guys that didn't seem to be developing on the Hinkie sixers. Thought his plan was good, but the team was too bad for too long. It is embarrassing and demoralizing for the young guys when they know their management doesn't want to win. It is demoralizing for them when the teams seems to purposefully make the team bad, leaving them with the message that they themselves are bad enough to make the roster.

When your coach yells at you about effort when you know his bosses aren't interested in wins, how can you not become cynical and apathetic? It is draining to put in the effort when you know the higher ups are not.

[Moranis]

The difference between Ainge and Hinkie or Buford and Hinkie is that those guys had plans that were always going to work, just maybe not work well enough to win a title.  Ainge was accumulating assets he was always going to cash in for a star player.  Buford was creating cap space while still keeping the Spurs a title contender and he was always going to get someone to sign there.  Maybe Ainge doesn't get Ray and KG and maybe Buford doesn't get Aldridge, but they would still have had an option B, C and D to fall back on.

And they wouldn't have turned their franchises into steaming piles of garbage to do so.

Hinkie, on the other hand, had a plan that consisted of two parts.

1.  Suck.
2.  Get lucky.

And he had no fallback position when #2 didn't work.

Mike

Of course he did, they just aren't at the point in the process yet.