Forbes Article Criticizes Sam Hinkie, Sixers for Having Conversations at Deadline

Sam Hinkie and the Sixers’ trade deadline bombshell is still rippling through the media and its unholy impact on the sports world has scribes from all walks of the industry throwing their hat in the ring to get their jabs in. The latest to take his proverbial swing at Hinkie was Forbes.com sports business writer Mark Heisler. Heisler writes about all sports for the website but, judging from his archive and Twitter timeline, he tends to focus more on basketball. Tuesday evening, an article by Heisler titled ‘Permanently Rebuilding: 76ers Just Offered Anyone on their Team for More No. 1 Picks’  started making the rounds.

The ‘hottest’ take in Heisler’s article centered around a supposed willingness of the organization to push 2014 3rd overall pick Joel Embiid’s name into trade discussions for more ammunition for the 2015 draft. Heisler could be very sneakily taking advantage of a technicality with his title, considering Embiid could be considered not officially on the team. That being said, for his ‘bombshell’ scoop to fail to meet the absoluteness of his title is somewhat of an eye-roller. You be the judge.

"In an unnoticed development at last week’s trade deadline, the 76ers were still trying to trade up for a top pick in this draft, indicating a willingness to talk about Joel Embiid or any player on their team, an NBA source told Forbes.com."

Now, I’ve often thought of myself as somewhat of a wordsmith and am not stranger to finding ways around telling the whole truth by simply not lying. Heisler’s title teased a ‘whole truth’. What he delivered was much more of ‘not lying’. Essentially his point of criticism in the body of the article is that Sam Hinkie and the Sixers front office was willing to have conversations at the trade deadline. Last time I checked, isn’t that the job of a good general manager?

Professional sports and the storylines that make them so intriguing are often forged by the blockbuster transactions or acquisitions that rattle the foundation of each respective league. The Cowboys of the 1990s would have never become the dynasty they were had they not convinced the Minnesota Vikings to trade their eight draft picks and five players for the services of Herschel Walker. Wayne Gretzky was traded in his prime for two players, three first round picks, and $15 million. Mike Ditka’s legacy as a coach and football mind was affected by his decision to trade his entire 2000 draft to select Ricky Williams, only to step aside as Saints coach the following offseason. Any and all of the aforementioned transactions, as outrageous as they may have seemed upon first mention with the parties involved, happened because both sides were willing to be receptive to one another and actually listen.

Which brings us back to Heisler’s article. Joel Embiid is without question the most valuable asset under the Sixers control. I have little doubt, having no sources within the organization mind you, that he is the integral piece to the franchise’s overhaul and his success will most likely correlate with the perceived success of Sam Hinkie. That being said, if the New Orleans Pelicans came calling offering Anthony Davis for Joel Embiid straight up, I would pull the trigger in a heart beat. I’m not saying that’s something that happened, but to call an unproven commodity ‘untouchable’ hamstrings an aggressive front office man like Hinkie.

Given the uncertainty of the lottery and the fact that teams are not locked in to their current standings for another couple of months, I find it hard to believe the Sixers were trying to move Embiid for a top pick. This is not so much a matter of opinion as it is logistics. There’s no way of telling which teams have ‘top picks’ if the draft order is not set. Trading Michael Carter-Williams for a pick that almost certainly will be high and could be somewhere between 6-10 this year is a risk-reward scenario that the organization felt was too good to pass up. It feels foolish to type this, but there are too many smart people working for this team to deal in such uncertainty with their most prized asset.

Maybe all of us in support of the Sixers rebuild plan ARE blindly riding a freight train into the abyss and the organization will pull the rug out from under us at some point. Should that be the case, I will be the first to gobble up a large plate of crow and renounce my fandom on the spot. Until that happens, however, those who cover the NBA and sports in general have to realize there’s more than one way to skin a cat. It’s acceptable, even encouraged to be critical of Sam Hinkie’s plan. It is not without its faults, some I’ve even scratched my head about at times. What is a problem is trying to cash in on the ‘anti-Sixers’  momentum and failing to deliver what’s promised in a headline. I’ve never stepped foot inside an NBA front office, but I’m pretty certain there’s a discernable gap between a player being ‘offered’ and an organization showing a ‘willingness to talk’ about said player. Something tells me Joel Embiid won’t be going anywhere unless the organization knows something that none of the rest of us do.