Philadelphia 76ers: Sam Hinkie Is On Twitter
Former Philadelphia 76ers GM Sam Hinkie is now on Twitter, and has open DMs.
The Philadelphia 76ers have been somewhat of a media circus the past three years. Sam Hinkie came in and shocked the league with a full out rebuild plan to take a team that was in the 7th or 8th seed purgatory and break them down until they can find a star. The plan was either loved or hated. It started a cult-like following for both pro and anti-Hinkites.
In fact, Sam Hinkie’s work is still being talked about today. Immediately after his surprising resignation, the Philadelphia 76ers finally ended up with the top pick in the draft and took supposed star Ben Simmons. Dario Saric was officially welcomed to the Philadelphia 76ers after a two-year stall in Turkey. Joel Embiid was finally declared healthy for the upcoming season.
All of Hinkie’s plan came together, except he wasn’t there. The absence of Sam Hinkie took a toll on the portion of Philadelphia 76ers fans that have dedicated themselves to this rebuild, with his released resignation letter being the final words spoken to the people. In that resignation letter, however, Hinkie did say he was going to finally join Twitter.
Over 4 months later, it finally happened (so we think). @samhinkie has tweeted.
1 | Writing this from a Starbucks in Palo Alto, CA. It’s 5 blocks from our house. My wife and I brought our boys here for this next chapter.
— Sam Hinkie (@samhinkie) September 14, 2016
2 | The more I thought about it, the more obvious it became that a sort of gap year here was right. If we were younger, maybe we’d have…
— Sam Hinkie (@samhinkie) September 14, 2016
3 | …backpacked around the world—I surely would have snowboarded more.
— Sam Hinkie (@samhinkie) September 14, 2016
4 | But we’re parents, so we’re here planting seeds for tomorrow. Especially their tomorrow.
— Sam Hinkie (@samhinkie) September 14, 2016
8 | While I wait to see what’s next for us, I’ll teach a little (at Stanford), keep talking to the long list of people I can learn from,…
— Sam Hinkie (@samhinkie) September 14, 2016
Hinkie’s tweets totaled at around 10. The most interesting one being he’ll be teaching at Stanford. There are many that are thinking, “why is this news? He’s not a part of the Philadelphia 76ers anymore.” This is true, but without Hinkie’s plan, it’s hard to think the team would have the current talent of Embiid, Saric, Simmons, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor.
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Hinkie has made some mistakes in personnel movement, but his overall idea of rebuilding a team was infamously glorious. I had the chance of meeting Sam Hinkie two times.
The first time I met him I was as anti-Hinkie as it gets. I was walking around the Wells Fargo Center and my little brother recognized him. I had just started writing for The Sixer Sense, and my opinion on Hinkie was not favorable. I shook his hand and he shook my brother’s and my father’s as well. He thanked us for coming out to the game and that was that.
By the time I met with him the second time, I was one of his biggest admirers. I was court-side for warmups watching Joel Embiid warm-up before the Sacramento Kings game. Sam Hinkie was chatting with reporter Derek Bodner about random basketball chatter, but mostly Joel Embiid.
He then walked over to where I was sitting, talked basketball with those around me. For a guy who steered away from the media, he was very personable. He spoke with such authenticity to anyone he spoke to. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between him speaking with a respected reporter, a fan, a basketball player, or an aspiring journalist.
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Sam Hinkie’s impact on the Philadelphia 76ers will be felt both on and off the court for a very long time. His presence on social media (if it is truly him) will now open new flows of communication for those who appreciate basketball minds.