Sixers: No, the Bucks’ title doesn’t invalidate the Process

Another season has passed in which a team other than the Sixers won the NBA title. Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks took the 2021 Finals in six games after falling down 2-0 to the Suns. As a result, the takes are out in full force.

To quote the Rights to Ricky Sanchez Podcast, it’s “Process Relitigation” time. Since the Sixers could’ve chosen Antetokounmpo or not traded Jrue Holiday, The Process was invalid. They also could’ve not bottomed out and done it “the right way”.

Or, that’s what people say, at least.

Sixers “passing on Giannis” revisionist history

If Sam Hinkie could travel back in time and take Antetokounmpo at 11, would he have? Of course. However, the revisionist history about how teams should’ve taken the Finals MVP has to stop. It’s just fundamentally dishonest to talk about him as though he was a can’t-miss prospect.

Antetokounmpo had a smooth game at the time but was far from being a top-tier pick. The upside most analysts and coaches projected for him at the time was Nicolas Batum. There were a lot of questions about how his game would translate to the NBA from Greece and they were warranted. This wasn’t a Luka Doncic situation where the EuroLeague was just openly disrespected.

Aside from that, Michael Carter-Williams was projected to be a top 10 pick and was considered a perfect replacement for the aforementioned Jrue Holiday. Most analysts graded the pick of MCW higher than the Bucks’ 15th pick.

Again, every GM now would go back in time and draft Antetokounmpo. But relitigating the draft, which is mostly a crapshoot, just seems tiring. All 30 teams passed up on Nikola Jokic in the 2014 draft, some even twice! One can certainly make the argument that Sam Hinkie was not the best drafter with some notable misses, but he still was responsible for acquiring Joel Embiid when most of the league questioned the pick due to injuries.

The same Bucks we’re talking about took Jabari Parker over Embiid. Hinkie’s philosophy of tanking and asset accumulation was never about a mandate to hit on every pick. It was about accumulating as much capital as possible to have more swings at acquiring that star player.

The Sixers were never going to be a true contender with Jrue Holiday

The Holiday trade is that main part of Hinkie’s tenure that’s under Post-Finals scrutiny. After all, it probably makes sense to the average fan on paper that a young All-Star player should be kept.

That trade and the impending Process were results of moves the Sixers made prior to Hinkie’s arrival. With how hard the Andrew Bynum-Andre Iguodala trade blew up in Tony DiLeo’s face, the organization had to make moves.

Holiday was a budding All-Star, but let’s be honest with ourselves. He’s the tertiary Bucks’ star in the equation. It’s similar as the 2015 Warriors with Andre Iguodala. With that version of Iguodala as your third or fourth-best player, a title is in reach. With either Holiday or Iguodala as your best players, you’re an eighth seed. The Pelicans with Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins and Holiday finished as the West’s sixth seed.

Sure, Cousins got hurt that year, but they weren’t a serious contender with Houston and Golden State in that conference.

I think it’s totally fair to think about whether Nerlens Noel was the right pick at six, but the Holiday trade itself was the right move for a team that was sputtering given the moves made in 2012. One can also question whether as much tanking as the Sixers did was necessary, but keeping him would’ve likely kept the Sixers in purgatory. There’s certainly no Embiid or Ben Simmons in an alternate scenario where Holiday is kept.

Sam Hinkie never used most of the assets he accumulated for the Sixers

My biggest problem with most post-Process debates in the national media is that they completely ignore what came after Hinkie. After Hinkie resigned, the Sixers had four different GMs who controlled personnel decisions. Bryan Colangelo, Brett Brown, Elton, Brand, and now Daryl Morey account for four different visions at the top at different points.

As an example, Hinkie’s best trade was probably the Kings’ trade that landed the Sixers two first-round pick swaps and a 2019 first-round pick. Colangelo flipped that pick in the now infamous Markelle Fultz deal before the 2017 draft.

Hinkie also swung multiple deals in 2015 with Brandon Knight involved that would land the Sixers the Lakers’ 2018 first-round pick. What became of that? Oh, you know, Brett Brown traded Mikal Bridges as the acting GM of the Sixers when Colangelo was fired for several burner Twitter accounts. Completely normal stuff.

Dario Saric and Robert Covington were flipped by Colangelo for a Jimmy Butler that the organization didn’t re-sign. I could go on and on, but the point doesn’t need to be belabored.

As much as the media credits the Bucks and other teams for doing things the right way (*insert the obligatory Bucher Knicks tweet here*), tanking is not what did the Sixers in. Losing culture was not the issue.

The issue has been the organizational dysfunction at the top following Hinkie’s resignation. “The Process” ended when Hinkie was forced out and the Sixers were no longer tanking. Elton Brand signing Al Horford to a huge contract that blew up in his face was not The Process.

None of us have any idea whether Hinkie would’ve been a good competing GM had he not been forced out. I’m not claiming that he would’ve made the right moves. Perhaps he would’ve messed up even worse than the handful of Sixers GMs have since. But claiming his vision was a failure and the team should’ve done things “the right way” completely ignores every move the Sixers made with his assets.