Sam Hinkie (GM Candidates Thread)i

[dangermouse]

This thread got me unduly excited

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If we ever get to the point of hiring a new gm. I'd prefer a young up and coming gm with a fresh set of eyes like Chauncy Billups and not a retread.

I want someone that has had some experience in the front office of well-managed team though. Not a guy just because he happens to be smart and a former player.

Being a former player is no qualification at all. Being smart is certainly necessary, but it doesn't suffice.

Chauncey Billups is aggressively interested in being in a FO &, eventually, running a team. I'd love to have him in the organization. "Up & coming," "fresh set of eyes," those are good qualities. But not running the team. He, or anybody, would need a little seasoning for that.

It's interesting, btw, to observe Elton Brand in his new role as the Sixers' GM. He's 3 years younger than Billups! The recent flap with Fultz seems to have caught him (and, in fairness, Brett Brown too) by surprise.

On the other hand, of course, Brand's 7'6" wingspan enables him to do things that aren't possible for Chauncey.

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Pretty sure Hinkie is persona non grata and won't be an NBA GM ever again because he admitted he was tanking instead of lying about it

Just intuition on your part? Or...?

I hope it's not true.

[gtn130]

Pretty sure Hinkie is persona non grata and won't be an NBA GM ever again because he admitted he was tanking instead of lying about it

Just intuition on your part? Or...?

I hope it's not true.

There Will Never Be Another Process, or a GM Job for Sam Hinkie

An equally vocal contingent among owners, however, began making their feelings known to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver that the Sixers' blatant tanking was hurting their collective take at the turnstiles. The 76ers went from 18th in the league in overall average attendance in 2012-13 to 29th in 2013-14, 30th in 2014-15 and 28th in 2015-16.

"They didn't have to be that bad," one owner said. "It was just over the top. It was a disservice to their players. They weren't given a chance to be any good. Their owners said to me, 'We didn't have to be that bad.'"

The NBA apparently told the 76ers to tone down their unbridled effort to lose.

"The league office told them multiple times, 'It's too much,'" a second Western Conference GM said. "Sam didn't come up with anything original. People have been [tanking] for years. They just didn't go to the extremes Sam did. The league doesn't care if you win 22 games; they just don't want you winning 15. It's optics. He rubbed everybody's nose in it to the point the league had to do something."

While Sixers principal owner Josh Harris signed off on Hinkie's grand experiment at first, league sources say he bowed to the pressure from the NBA office and hired former Phoenix Suns owner and GM Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations in December 2015. Hinkie resigned four months later, submitting a 13-page letter of resignation to the team's 12 equity partners. It quoted investor Warren Buffet and physicist Max Planck and referenced both a 10,000 Year Clock and a 400-pound New Zealand flightless bird known as a moa.

Pretty clear to me that the NBA forced Hinkie out because of the brazen tanking. And looking at how things have unfolded since then - he should be a top GM candidate but he's never even mentioned. He's been blackballed.

[I_Like_Dirt]

Pretty clear to me that the NBA forced Hinkie out because of the brazen tanking. And looking at how things have unfolded since then - he should be a top GM candidate but he's never even mentioned. He's been blackballed.

I mean, for now, sure, but that was the owners complaining that they felt their revenue sharing takes were being impacted by Hinkie, not the tanking specifically. Basically, no matter how bad the Sixers are, they will always be a donor in the current revenue sharing scheme given their market size. The catch is that if they make less money, they give other teams less money in revenue sharing.

The result was that other teams - small market teams in particular - felt they were getting less money in revenue sharing than they would have if the Sixers were at least a little better. The Sixers were actually in the black every year Hinkie ran the team because he cut costs, too. There are way more small market teams that large market teams in the NBA, though, and the large market teams don't really care so much if the league is going to mess with the Sixers, so the result was predictable. It wasn't even about how bad the Sixers were, either, just the publicity of the obvious tank job. The Lakers were basically as bad, too, as they desperately tanked to keep their pick but managed to build hype by signing a collection of misfits that would make Ernie Grunfeld proud. The Sixers obvious tank job hurt their bottom line even if it didn't eliminate it entirely and it then directly impacted the revenue sharing for other teams more obviously.

The hilarious part is that a lot of those small market teams would love to tank and often argue it's the only way they can compete against large market teams but get upset when it hits them in the pocketbook because other teams are doing it. With the smoother lottery odds, I suspect smaller market teams are going to be doing their damnedest to avoid tanking at this point. It's the owners with deeper pockets and larger markets that will consider tanking. Heck, it was sort of that way before already as a disproportionate amount of tank jobs were done by large market teams, though they weren't always successful at them.

As for Hinkie, the feeling is strong about him now but it will fade. I don't know if he will even want an NBA GM job in the future or not, but teams are still going to him for advice even if they aren't hiring him as their GM. After a while, someone will hire him again if he still wants in. The smoother lottery odds will have people forgetting and maybe even push Hinkie himself to avoid scorched earth tanking. Give it a few years and, if he's still seen as being on the cutting edge of value in the league, someone will hire him.

[payitforward]

Pretty sure Hinkie is persona non grata and won't be an NBA GM ever again because he admitted he was tanking instead of lying about it

Just intuition on your part? Or...?

I hope it's not true.

There Will Never Be Another Process, or a GM Job for Sam Hinkie

An equally vocal contingent among owners, however, began making their feelings known to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver that the Sixers' blatant tanking was hurting their collective take at the turnstiles. The 76ers went from 18th in the league in overall average attendance in 2012-13 to 29th in 2013-14, 30th in 2014-15 and 28th in 2015-16.

"They didn't have to be that bad," one owner said. "It was just over the top. It was a disservice to their players. They weren't given a chance to be any good. Their owners said to me, 'We didn't have to be that bad.'"

The NBA apparently told the 76ers to tone down their unbridled effort to lose.

"The league office told them multiple times, 'It's too much,'" a second Western Conference GM said. "Sam didn't come up with anything original. People have been [tanking] for years. They just didn't go to the extremes Sam did. The league doesn't care if you win 22 games; they just don't want you winning 15. It's optics. He rubbed everybody's nose in it to the point the league had to do something."

While Sixers principal owner Josh Harris signed off on Hinkie's grand experiment at first, league sources say he bowed to the pressure from the NBA office and hired former Phoenix Suns owner and GM Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations in December 2015. Hinkie resigned four months later, submitting a 13-page letter of resignation to the team's 12 equity partners. It quoted investor Warren Buffet and physicist Max Planck and referenced both a 10,000 Year Clock and a 400-pound New Zealand flightless bird known as a moa.

Pretty clear to me that the NBA forced Hinkie out because of the brazen tanking. And looking at how things have unfolded since then - he should be a top GM candidate but he's never even mentioned. He's been blackballed.

You seem to be quite correct. But, it's just a matter of one owner having the cojones to pay the blackball no mind & hire the guy.

Note that 6 months before bringing on that paragon of NBA mediocrity, Jerry Colangelo -- who immediately hired his son, Brian (both of whom now being fired!) -- the jackass owner Josh Harris forced Hinkie to draft Jahlil Okafor, a guy Hinkie did not want.

& then the genius Colangelos traded the #3 pick in 2017 (Jayson Tatum) along with Sacramento's unprotected 2019 pick to move up to #1 in that draft so that they could nab Markelle Fultz.

You can accuse Hinkie of tanking for a few years, but if he'd had his way the Sixers would be dominating the EC. They might have won the East last year, for that matter! They'd be a strong contender for the title this year. One of the very top teams in the league.

I don't call what Hinkie did "tanking" -- I call it intelligent.

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...As for Hinkie, ...teams are still going to him for advice even if they aren't hiring him as their GM....

No problem -- lets hire someone else as GM; make his job description read "to coordinate and act on advice from Sam Hinkie."

Everybody ok w/ that?

[barelyawake]

“The Washington Wizards have confirmed that Becky will be their new head coach and GM. Becky has said she will help instill the Spurs’ defensive system and ball movement in our team, as well as attract other Spurs’ players to help the bench and coach. As a point guard, she believes she particularly understands John Wall. A team spokesperson has said the team feels like suddenly there is a reason to give a damn again. “It’s nice to be thought of as a good guy helping to break the glass ceiling,” said one starting shooting guard. Who knew this season would become so historic or important?”