Philadelphia 76ers: The Sam Hinkie Manifesto

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Fast forward three years and Golden State made the 3rd most 3s in NBA history to win the Finals
against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who made the 8th most 3s in NBA history. Coach Van Gundy’s most 3PA-happy team from Orlando proudly sits smack dab between them in 5th place all time (for now). The Warriors did this in part by playing at the fastest pace of any NBA team last season, considerably faster than Coach D’Antoni’s fastest Suns team.

Results

The dozen of you know much about our team, our players, and how we’re positioned. I won’t waste your time by going through each person in detail, as you have had many opportunities to meet our coaches and players, hear about our talented staff, and see their performance dissected and analyzed in our meetings. Instead, I will try to make the best use of your time by sharing some insight into the inner workings behind the scenes and a few details that aren’t appropriate for wider consumption.

Players

It is worth noting that over the long term, basketball teambuilding is about one primary thing—the players. Those players the team has on the roster at the time and those they hold the rights to. Plus those that are to follow. All of the operations, from management to coaches to support staff to systems only exist for one reason—the players.

We have had the good fortune of drafting relatively early, giving us access to some especially
talented players, including Jahlil Okafor (#3), Joel Embiid (#3), and Nerlens Noel (#6). Many in our office tried to set a line of when Jahlil would see his first double team in this league. Those with the under looked smart by the end of opening night, where he went for 26 points and 7 rebounds.

We also put ourselves into position to draft in the second round, where we found two 22-year-old
gems to date, including Jerami Grant (#39) and Richaun Holmes (#37). Outside of the top 60 selections delivered two more players with real NBA futures in 24-year-old T.J. McConnell and 25-year-old Robert Covington.

Robert is a mistake I rubbed my own nose in for over a year. The 2013 Draft was a flurry of activity
for us—a handful of trades and selections in both the first and second rounds. We had more action following the draft as we tried to finalize our summer league team and get the myriad trade calls set up with the NBA. I could see this coming a few days before and we informed the media that this kind of approach might lead to an unusually late start for the post-draft press conference. Several of you were still there late that night. At about 1:00 a.m. I went downstairs to address an equally exhausted media on deadline from their editors.
When I returned upstairs, the undrafted Robert Covington was gone, having agreed to play for another club’s summer league team, eventually making their regular season roster. He torched the D-League that year, haunting me all the while. When he became available 17 months later, we pounced. But I shudder, even now, at that (nearly) missed opportunity.

Even our efforts to support our players serve as a reminder of the enormity of our challenge.
Something important to us is to find ways to be supportive to our players’ larger extended families and loved ones that take this journey with them. One group, too casually referred to as “the wives club” at many NBA teams, helps support players’ families in getting acclimated to the city by handling tickets for loved ones, volunteering in community events, hosting baby showers, and the like. In 2013 my wife and I arrived at the arena one night to host a few from this group. While I was prepared to highlight for the group the team’s