Sam Hinkie Innovated More Than Player Selection

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Feb 20, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Fans with a sign showing support for the Philadelphia 76ers during a game against the Indiana Pacers at Wells Fargo Center. The Pacers defeated the 76ers 106-95. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

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Despite the basketball minds that found fault with the appearance of a lack of competitiveness of the Philadlephia 76ers, there was a large part of the fanbase that become part of the “Trust The Process”. The geeks of the basketball fan base found perfect logic in this strategy. Much like the game of chess, to win the game you must often willingly sacrifice key pieces to set up the opponent to checkmate. The goal of the game of chess is NOT to capture pieces, but to capture crowns – on the head of the opponents king.

Sam Hinkie simply delivered that new understanding to the game of basketball to replace the existing rules. The ultimate goal of basketball is to be crowned as the NBA championship team. Interim wins or losses are temporary measures of how well the team performs at that moment in time. When you are a very bad team with no players in development, no salary dollars to spend in free agency, and no draft picks to use in rebuilding the team, you are stuck.

The rules of chess changed all that. Those who read, who program, who play video games, who enjoy super hero movies, or even who have an incredible knack for any math or science disciplines get that. And as a result, we gravitated to the Sam Hinkie 76ers.

For as much of the fan base that doesn’t understand, enjoy, or appreciate the methods of Sam Hinkie, there are just as many who don’t understand why every NBA team is not employing a similar strategy. As the Avengers became popular on the movie screen, Sam Hinkie gained a following in the Philadelphia 76ers fan base. This is a new market, an untapped source of revenue for the NBA. Programmers, medical sciences, statisticians, and even financiers – any profession which relies heavily on math or technology. For the first time in NBA history, the logic of delay gratification – of using a chess-like mentality – became the focus of an NBA team.

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