Philadelphia 76ers: Sam Hinkie’s Process Was Great in Theory
By Mike Lacy
The Philadelphia 76ers must move on from Sam Hinkie’s Process, a plan that seemed more promising than it unfolded.
With the resignation of Sam Hinkie, it seems that the much discussed and debated Process is over for the Philadelphia 76ers. Watching the Sixers over the past few seasons, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Process is similar to Communism: It sounds good in theory and works well on paper, but it falls apart when you try to apply it in the real world.
In theory, fielding an awful team for a three-year stretch isn’t the worst idea, and it has succeeded to an extent. They’ve acquired some promising young players as well as a slew of draft picks, while maintaining financial flexibility. Unfortunately, Hinkie didn’t seem to realize that there’s a human side to building an NBA team, and there are many people who doubted – or outright opposed – what he was trying to do.
He likely underestimated how much other NBA teams would resent his plan. The Sixers’ tanking campaign was nearly universally panned by the rest of the league, and they nearly reformed the entire lottery process because of it.
Hinkie also turned agents and veteran players against him. They resented him filling out his roster with minimum wage players and treating players as fungible assets. Maybe it was shrewd to sign Thomas Robinson and Sonny Weems in order to reach the salary floor, but it essentially took potential money away from players on his roster. When (if?) the Philadelphia 76ers eventually want to spend money on free agents, they’ll likely have to overpay to overcome this resentment.
The Process also didn’t seem to take into account that the constant losing and lack of veteran leadership might have a harmful effect on player development. The career of Michael Carter-Williams was likely hurt by bad habits he picked up here, and it feels like some of the growing pains experienced by Jahlil Okafor could have been avoided with some veteran mentoring.
Most importantly, Hinkie didn’t seem to consider the fans. Admittedly, there is a large subset of fans who believed in the Process, and would have stood behind it no matter how long it took. They believe that a championship is all that matters, and Hinkie’s long-term plan is preferable to being stuck in fringe playoff contention forever.
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But there are many other fans – and as the losing continues, this group appears to be growing – who are tired of the losing. It felt like most fans were on board for one season of tanking; but three (and counting!) seasons of being almost historically bad? That’s a lot to ask of a fan base.
For some fans, the journey is more important than the destination. Obviously they would love for the Sixers to win a title, but they also want to see the team win every game they play. For these fans, having the general manager make the team awful on purpose is an insult.
In hindsight, it is obvious that the Process ended the day Jerry Colangelo was hired. Once that happened, Hinkie’s resignation was inevitable. I’m just curious why it happened now. Publically, owner Josh Harris has been 100% supportive of Hinkie and the Process. It seems that privately, he must have had his share of doubts too.
There are rumors that Harris has been under a considerable deal of pressure from fellow owners and the Commisioner’s office to make a change. While billionaire owners tend to do as they please, I imagine that no owner wants to be ostracized by his peers.
It’s also possible that Harris is feeling a financial effect from the losing. The Philadelphia 76ers have been near the bottom of the league in attendance, and television ratings have been abysmal as well. I can’t imagine that they’ve sold too much merchandise either, especially since Hinkie had no qualms about trading would-be building blocks. (Get your MCW jerseys here!)
Or maybe things have been worse than expected. It’s possible that when Hinkie first laid out his plan to Harris, he envisioned being further along by now. Would Harris have bought in if Hinkie told him that the Philadelphia 76ers would struggle to win double-digit games in year three?
Next: Sam Hinkie Steps Down, What It Means For Players
Of course it’s still premature to call the Process a complete failure. The Philadelphia 76ers do have those aforementioned draft picks and young players, and there’s a chance that an experienced basketball executive like Colangelo can mold them into a team that eventually wins a championship. The future could be bright…or at least it could be in theory.