What Would Wiley Sam Hinkie Do?
By Bret Stuter
Never Paint Yourself Into A Corner
Sam Hinkie played things close to the vest. It was not so much shyness, nor insecurity. He was simply aware that other teams might have more timely opportunity to exploit his plans. Hinkie was far less trusting.
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But that allowed his deceptiveness to sneak into virtually every transaction. He would select a player in the draft, only to flip that player to a team coveting those skills, and walk away with his original target plus more draft picks.
From day one, Bryan Colangelo discussed the team strategy of hinging upon the NBA Draft. By the time the lottery balls fell, virtually every NBA team knew the shopping list of the Philadelphia 76ers. Colangelo made a media circuit, revealing the strategy of the team – and emphasizing the strong need to deal an NBA center.
Fans who had come to “Trust The Process” saw the flaw. NBA teams knew the Philadelphia 76ers were motivated to deal a center, so teams slipped in very lowball bids to see if they could pry out a rare bargain from the team.
But with the message about “gotta free ourselves from the logjam” already made public, Colangelo had publicly painted himself into a corner. Hinkie would never let that happen.