Philadelphia 76ers: State Of The Process and Hinkie Podcast
On the same day, the Philadelphia 76ers won their 10th game and general manager Sam Hinkie hopped on a podcast with Zach Lowe.
Rejoice. The Philadelphia 76ers have given fans a sliver of excitement. Tuesday morning, ESPN contributor Zach Lowe dropped the newest edition of his podcast call “The Lowe Post”. The surprise in this podcast was that his guest was the secretive Philadelphia 76ers GM Sam Hinkie.
Lowe Post podcast: Sixers GM Sam Hinkie on the struggle of rebuilding, his draft record, his place in the org, more: https://t.co/qNipfm3Y9c
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) April 5, 2016
Hinkie has been distant from the media, and at times has been criticized for it. Hinkie was nowhere to be found shortly after Joel Embiid‘s reported setback, Jahlil Okafor‘s off-court issues, and during a stretch of losing that almost made the history books to start the season.
It seems like Sam Hinkie is going to start building more of a relationship with the media, and starting with Zach Lowe, who has been kind towards the process, was important. Lowe’s reach across NBA fans and reporters is massive, and Hinkie speaking about the process publicly was a huge deal.
There were some great moments in the talk, both Philadelphia 76ers related and not. At one point, it became comical as well. Zach Lowe asked Hinkie “Where is Andrew Bynum now?” and Hinkie replied with “I have no idea”.
The most unexpected comment came right in the beginning of the podcast when Hinkie proclaimed that Jerry Colangelo encouraged him to be more open to the media. There were no questions of power struggle between Hinkie and Colangelo. Lowe also gave Hinkie the opportunity to talk about the process and although he dodged the main points, we did get some peek of what some of the processes are.
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When asked about the draft process, Hinkie did admit that he would do some things differently but did not go into detail. He did say that the Philadelphia 76ers front office does like to redraft past drafts and grade their performance, not only by their own pick, but by the accuracy of their big board.
Sam Hinkie also mentioned Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has been progressing, but probably still won’t be playing in Sumer League. Hinkie also acknowledged the Embiid workout videos that excite fans and compared it to when the “back up QB for Alabama throws a touchdown pass in Spring Bowl and everyone goes crazy”. Hinkie may be sending a warning signal to overexcited fans, or he could be realistically understanding that Embiid won’t be at 100% right when he returns.
Zach Lowe also talked to him about Rockets history, and the state of the team right now. “I’ve lost 20 lbs.” said Hinkie, claiming the cause of the weight loss was the team’s historically bad season. The team was 9-68 and had a chance of tying their own franchise/NBA record for worst regular season record. That changed Tuesday night, when the Philadelphia 76ers took on the injury-spelled New Orleans Pelicans.
The team was led on offense by forward Carl Landry who scored 22 points and grabbed a season-high 9 rebounds. Guards TJ McConnell and Ish Smith also provided the team with assists and efficient ball movement. The Philadelphia 76ers were able to overcome a hot start from Luke Babbitt and eventually secure a 107-93 victory, saving them from the worst record ever.
Player of the Game: Carl Landry – 22 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 90% field goal percentage.
Hot Shooter: Hollis Thompson – 3/4 on 3-pointers.
Hearing Sam Hinkie’s voice and speak out publicly was enjoyable. The Philadelphia 76ers winning their 10th was the cherry on top. It’ll be interesting to see whether Hinkie will continue to expose himself to the media and whether these Philadelphia 76ers can gain some momentum in their last 4 games.