2016 Trade Deadline Was Sam Hinkie's Sixers Death

Sam Hinkie’s final mess up with the Philadelphia 76ers to force their relationship to turmoil was the 2016 trade deadline.

The Philadelphia 76ers did not fire Sam Hinkie, he resigned. That’s what the facts are, but the reality? The reality is that he was forced out.

Reports that came out on Wednesday night said that general manager Sam Hinkie stepped down from his position with the Sixers, a move that took many by surprise. Even some who saw the move coming were very thrown off by the timing.

The reason for the resigning is that the team was looking to remap the structure of their executive team, and this remapping would have Hinkie sharing his power in the general manager position. Hinkie did not like this, and left.

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Let me be clear: The team did not plan on Hinkie ever sharing power. They knew he wouldn’t be up to that. This was all put in place to get him to quit. This move was all in the plan of the Sixers ownership.

Looking back on what happened though, we have to figure out where it all went wrong. The Sixers had subjected themselves to Hinkie’s plan of calculated losing, rosters that were built to lose with the purpose of securing a top draft pick. Using the fact that the Sixers were 47-195 under Hinkie’s reign is not a reason for why the Sixers were losing trust in him. That bad record was always a part of the plan.

So, if the losing wasn’t it, what was the reason? Some think the team finally lost it before Jerry Colangelo was hired as the Vice President of Team Operations in December. That’s not true. They said when Colangelo was hired that his hiring would not impact Hinkie’s role. That was partially true, I believe, at the time. But eventually, over time, that became untrue.

So, with the timeline laid out, and the final straw being placed after the hiring of Colangelo, what was the last straw? The last straw was a botched trade deadline this season.

The Sixers made no moves at this year’s trade deadline. They did have a plan in place where they would obtain Joel Anthony‘s contract and subsequently release it, giving them an extra draft pick in return. They had to give up JaKarr Sampson momentarily to get this done.

A bad physical cause this trade to fall through and not occur, and in the meantime, Sampson signed a contract with the Nuggets. This meant that the Sixers gave up a player at the trade deadline and got nothing in return. A botched trade deadline, for sure.

It doesn’t seem like much, but after that, and years of draft picks not resulting in very many wins or a clear progress of the process, it’s what pushed the team over the edge.

And where was Jerry Colangelo during all of this? He was attending a funeral for Monty Williams‘ wife, but Hinkie was left during this time to do all of the work. When Colangelo saw that he couldn’t get a deal done on his own without it falling through, and the ownership saw this as well, it was clearly — to them at least — time for his tenure with the Sixers to end.

Next: How Important Was 10th Win?

The Joel Anthony trade killed The Process. Now we have to see what’s next for the Sixers.

2016 Trade Deadline Was Sam Hinkie’s Sixers Death

By Josh Wilson | Apr 7, 2016

Sam Hinkie’s final mess up with the Philadelphia 76ers to force their relationship to turmoil was the 2016 trade deadline.

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