The Sixer Sense
Fansided

NBA remains ripe for Sam Hinkie return

By Bret Stuter

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 17: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and J. Cole attend the 2018 JBL Three-Point Contest at Staples Center on February 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 17: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and J. Cole attend the 2018 JBL Three-Point Contest at Staples Center on February 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
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BROOKLYN, NY – FEBRUARY 6: Jahlil Okafor
BROOKLYN, NY – FEBRUARY 6: Jahlil Okafor /

Tsk Tsk NBA, the more you tighten your grip…

Analysts who want to discredit the efforts of Sam Hinkie are far too predictable. In their perspective, citing the “missed” draft picks of players like Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, and even Michael Carter Williams. Those missed picks, they argue, is proof positive that The Process only dooms a team to failure, to an unending cycle of choosing drafted players who fail to develop. And those same players sink the team to the top of the next draft.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Still, the casual observer draws those conclusion on the 30 second narrative and understanding of that process. Drafting players, in that environment, is a known risk. And as soon as the team has an offer on the table more valuable than their own projections, trades happen. So how did the team fail with Okafor?

JC veto power vetoed too quickly

Simply put, introducing Jerry Colangelo, and his executive veto power, snafu’d the trade deadline exchange Hinkie had negotiated to then trading partner Boston Celtics. From that point forward, the snap exchange of players for immediate value slowed to a crawl. The Process didn’t fail. The team simply no longer trusted it.

And while some atttribute the arrival of Bryan Colangelo to the turnaround, that’s simplistic too. Colangelo arrived after the team had waited the two years to heal Joel Embiid and to sign Dario Saric. While Ben Simmons is also an incredible talent, the team was no longer in neutral. That first pick of the 2016 NBA Draft was simply the odds played by Sam Hinkie all those years finally coming in on the team’s favor.  That same fortune which allowed the 76ers to swap picks with the Sacramento Kings, and then trade up for the first pick of the 2017 NBA Draft as well. Strategy, not tanking, made it all possible.