"Sam Hinkie Speaks" [ESPN Article]

[phiphan]

Nice article about Our Savior. Title is misleading however -- no new Gospel. The interviews for the article were done prior to Hinkie's resignation.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16597961/sam-hinkie-just-win-tale-process-ultimate-fall

[sixers23]

Great piece

[phiphan]

Some excerpts:

Adam Silver admitted to reaching out to Jerry Colangelo on behalf of the Sixers' owners in December. But interviews with more than a dozen league sources -- including GMs, other executives and agents -- suggest that the commissioner's involvement in that regime change may have been greater than he has let on.

By stepping in and facilitating the Jerry Colangelo move in Philadelphia, then, Silver sent a message: Gross incompetence is acceptable; strategic gaming of a flawed system is not.

[Hinkie] talked culture and psychology -- two qualities, conventional wisdom held, that he ignored in favor of metrics. He noted that the Sixers were so heavily invested in player development that they taught players how to communicate with referees (among the lessons: Don't call them "ref"; address them by name), going so far as to fasten posters displaying every official's name and photo on the doors of the bathroom stalls at their practice facility. "What else are you doing in there?" Hinkie laughed.

Over coffee in Fishtown, Hinkie clicked on a slide that he has often referenced as a way to explain his thinking. He used it in a meeting with Sixers owners when interviewing for the GM job.

It shows a series of concentric circles, each representing a move that eventually helped the Rockets acquire James Harden in 2012, back when Hinkie was Houston's executive VP of basketball operations. "I learned that Yao Ming broke his navicular bone like five days before the 2009 draft," Hinkie said. "From that moment on, all I thought about was going from zero stars to one star. How do you do it?

"We paid a record price to Sam Presti for the 31st pick to draft Carl Landry in 2007. He's the best offensive rebounder and the best rim finisher in the league as a rookie. And then over time, he ends up in a deal for Kevin Martin. And over time, Kevin Martin ends up in a deal for James Harden. You start with a set of chips, given to you by the league. How do you make it bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, such that you can win?"

It took three years for Daryl Morey and Sam Hinkie to acquire James Harden. The Rockets guard has been in the top 10 in MVP voting in each of his first four seasons in Houston.

It took three years to land Harden in Houston, the end point in a series of deals that, at the time, had many observers scratching their heads over what, exactly, the Rockets were up to. Hinkie would resign a month before his three-year anniversary in Philly -- just prior to an offseason in which he would have held more assets and more payroll flexibility than any other team in basketball.

[USWAY]

Never Forget.

[jbent87]

Really wasn't a great article, IMO. Always great to get more undiscovered Hinkie quotes but this read to me as a guy just wanting to get that unused stuff out in the public instead of just letting it go to waste. Really no reason to hear anything from Hinkie right now that took place BEFORE he was pushed out/stepped down. Incredibly shameless clickbait title of this thing too.

[the_process]

Yep, what we learned is it doesn't matter if you tank... you just can't be blatant about it.

Kobe taking 35 shots a game at a 35% clip is fine... but not signing any FA's is not.

[the_process]

Can I hope the Sixers are actually planning to tank again but under heavy disguise? (We swear, we tried to sign Barnes and Waiters, they just got better deals elsewhere!)

[Eyeamok]

Nice article about Our Savior. Title is misleading however -- no new Gospel. The interviews for the article were done prior to Hinkie's resignation.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16597961/sam-hinkie-just-win-tale-process-ultimate-fall

Thank you for posting this I wish I could give you more than 1 And 1. Everyone that would not have found this article on their own needs to And 1 this guy. Excellent read.

A few things stick out to me.

"To wit: Hinkie pillaged Sacramento last July by taking on the contracts of Carl Landry and Jason Thompson to acquire Nik Stauskas along with a 2018 first-round pick and the right to swap
first-rounders in 2016 or 2017."

The author forgot about the unprotected 1st round pick too.

By stepping in and facilitating the
Jerry Colangelo move in Philadelphia,
then, Silver sent a message:
Gross incompetence is acceptable; strategic
gaming of a flawed system is not.

Maybe everything written is not true, but Silver stepping in has to give a person room for pause.

There was a lot of whining by other executives about Hinkie and his ways. It's as if Hinkie had manufactured some kind of unfair advantage which left other executives unable to compete fairly.

People love to hear their own name. It makes them feel good. It's a scientific fact so this part of the article rang so true.

He talked culture and psychology --
two qualities, conventional wisdom held,
that he ignored in favor of metrics.
He noted that the Sixers were so heavily
invested in player development that they
taught players how to communicate with referees
(among the lessons: Don't call them "ref"; address them by name), going so far as to fasten posters displaying every official's name and photo on the doors of the bathroom stalls at their practice facility.
"What else are you doing in there?"
Hinkie laughed.

[kriss73]

I'm more angry than ever.

[WVU]

The hero this city didn't deserve

[Sixersftw]

All the good vibes made me forget for 4 days. **** jc, adam silver, pompey and wip. Oh yeah, harris too

[PhilasFinest]

"By stepping in and facilitating the Jerry Colangelo move in Philadelphia, then, Silver sent a message: Gross incompetence is acceptable; strategic gaming of a flawed system is not."

That about sums it up lol.

[kriss73]

"By stepping in and facilitating the Jerry Colangelo move in Philadelphia, then, Silver sent a message: Gross incompetence is acceptable; strategic gaming of a flawed system is not."

That about sums it up lol.

The big mistake of Hinkie has been not hiring Divac as GM and playing the Shadow-GM role.

[Eyeamok]

"By stepping in and facilitating the Jerry Colangelo move in Philadelphia, then, Silver sent a message: Gross incompetence is acceptable; strategic gaming of a flawed system is not."

That about sums it up lol.

Yep....I'm nodding my head in agreement.

[eagereyez]

Can I hope the Sixers are actually planning to tank again but under heavy disguise? (We swear, we tried to sign Barnes and Waiters, they just got better deals elsewhere!)

That's pretty much what I'm hoping for lol. It would be easy to argue that guys like Barnes/Waiters were asking for too much money. Sign whoever's left in FA to make it look like they're competing.

[kriss73]

Can I hope the Sixers are actually planning to tank again but under heavy disguise? (We swear, we tried to sign Barnes and Waiters, they just got better deals elsewhere!)

That's pretty much what I'm hoping for lol. It would be easy to argue that guys like Barnes/Waiters were asking for too much money. Sign whoever's left in FA to make it look like they're competing.

We did the same when we tried to meet with Butler (LOL) last summer, but the League didn't bite

[steveb21]

"By stepping in and facilitating the Jerry Colangelo move in Philadelphia, then, Silver sent a message: Gross incompetence is acceptable; strategic gaming of a flawed system is not."

That about sums it up lol.

I wonder if someone can answer me this: What is the difference between blatantly tanking in order to get a high draft pick and blatantly dismantling a roster in order to sign a number of max free agents?

I'm not going to rehash the Tank. I was on board at first but soured on it after a while. I just couldn't get behind a guy who fielded the worst team possible to get a high draft pick...and apparently neither could the league.

But let's look at Pat Riley and the Heat for a moment. They gutted a roster and basically gave away anyone not named Wade. I don't remember who got dumped in the deal but I remember some decent players and high picks being shipped out. This was to create enough cap space to sign Bosh and Lebron.

The situation worked out for the Heat as they won, but what about the Magic? They tried the same thing a few years earlier trying to sign both Tim Duncan and Grant Hill. They bagged one of the two but never really amounted to anything. Yet another team tried this (was it Charlotte, or the post Jordan Bulls?) and came up empty. They sucked for years afterwards.

To me the Riley method sets bad precident as it shows no loyalty (there's a concept). You gut your roster and if you hit a home run in f/a then the results are immediate. If not, well you're tanking the following year to get a good pick. So again, how is this accepted by the league?

[Eyeamok]

"By stepping in and facilitating the Jerry Colangelo move in Philadelphia, then, Silver sent a message: Gross incompetence is acceptable; strategic gaming of a flawed system is not."

That about sums it up lol.

I'm not going to rehash the Tank. I was on board at first but soured on it after a while. I just couldn't get behind a guy who fielded the worst team possible to get a high draft pick...and apparently neither could the league.

Not to rehash the tank just a simple question. Now that we have Simmons and Embiid looks like he will be healthy. How do you now feel about the tank? Still sour on it?

[76ciology]

We need to go that extreme on tanking in 2015-2016 because it's a weak draft and a flawed system allows Lakers to tank under the radar.

[steveb21]

Not to rehash the tank just a simple question. Now that we have Simmons and Embiid looks like he will be healthy. How do you now feel about the tank? Still sour on it?

The simple answer is sour on the tank, happy with the result.