A timeline on Hinkie's "process" and where it stands as of now.
The mad scientist behind the whole "process", Sam Hinkie, may be gone, but his vision is still living among fans, players and executives of the 76ers organization.
It all started draft night 2013, where the 76ers, a solid and respectable playoff team, had a late lottery pick. Like most teams in that situation, they were predicted to choose the best player available to help take them to the next level for future seasons to come. Instead, Hinkie took the team down six levels, looking to capitalize in the long-term.
He traded his 24-year-old starting point guard, Jrue Holiday, for the 6th pick in the draft and used that pick to select Nerlens Noel, who missed the entire season with a torn ACL.
The first year under Hinkie was a miserable one production-wise, with the team stinking so bad they received the 3rd overall pick and 10th overall pick in the 2014 draft. The promise that elastic point guard Michael Carter-Williams had shown, was a small condolence for the pitiful record.
Going into his 2nd draft, Hinkie had two promising players, Carter-Williams and Noel. The rest of the roster was the physical representation of a graveyard. Dead, no talent, nothing.
There was a clear top three at the time: explosive wing Andrew Wiggins, smooth scorer Jabari Parker and mystery big man Joel Embiid. It was universally agreed that Embiid had the most upside, the best chance at becoming a full-fledged superstar if things fell the right way. However, he was also the riskiest, seeing as his foot and back had major structural issues that scared teams away. His unfortunate injury timing led him to slip to the 3rd pick.
With Wiggins and Parker gobbled up, Hinkie faced a dilemma: reach for a player who played a position of more need, or double down on the center position, securing the most talent if not the most balanced roster.
Hinkie's mantra was always to pick talent over need and fit, so he ended up drafting Embiid. With the 10th pick, Hinkie had inside knowledge that the Orlando Magic, picking 12th, had a hard-on for point guard Elfrid Payton, who possessed Rondo-like defensive skills (back when Rondo actually tried on defense), as well as Rondo-like shooting skills (at least Rondo was consistently terrible at shooting).
The Magic gave into Hinkie, trading the 12th pick and a future 1st for the right to draft Payton. Now armed with a future 1st round pick (Hinkie would marry one if he could) and the 12th pick, he selected little-known forward out of Croatia, Dario Saric. Saric's selling points are his excellent, smooth passing skills as well as big time rebounding ability. He could theoretically play next to Embiid or Noel. However, he would not play for the 76ers until two years after he was drafted.
So trudging into his 2nd season as general manager, Hinkie still had a terrible team which would surely net another high pick in a loaded draft. A few days before the season, it was depressingly announced that Embiid would miss the campaign with a fractured foot. So that meant neither of Hinkie's two top 12 picks would even see the court at all in their first year.
On the bright side, Nerlens Noel would make his debut. A long, blocking and ally oop machine, Noel would hopefully make fans forget about their missing players.
So the 2014 season starts and the 76ers were...fun. They were not a disgrace! Playing a super fast paced game and chucking tons of threes, Brett Brown's squad was looking like they had a foundation building for something greater down the line. Wasn't that what Hinkie wanted to achieve his first couple seasons?
Well, apparently the base was not strong enough. At the trade deadline, Hinkie pulled an earth-shattering trade, sending Carter-Williams to the Bucks in a three-teamer that netted him the Lakers' prized 1st round pick, top-3 protected.
Well, after another miserable season, the 76ers found themselves with the 3rd pick and same dilemma AGAIN. The best big man, Karl Towns, was gone. The best point guard, a position the 76ers still need today, was snatched up by Los Angeles. So what did Hinkie do you ask? He selected a 3rd big man, post-master and defensive disaster Jahlil Okafor out of Duke.
Welp. In a league that is constantly downsizing, spending three lottery picks in a row on big fellas is borderline insane. But Hinkie felt each player was the best available at the time, and that is the epitome of the Process. Well, going into the 2015-2016 year, talent was still scarce. Embiid was out again with another foot surgery, Saric was still balling in Europe and coach Brett Brown was somehow still not in a mental hospital after years of losing.
Throughout the season, the 76ers experimented playing their two healthy big men together, and it was a mess. Both Okafor and Noel could not shoot to save their lives, leaving the paint as crammed as a concert mosh pit. On defense, teams were playing small, forcing one of Noel or Okafor to step out of their comfort zone and defend along the three-point arc. Problem was, Okafor was too slow to defend all the way out, so the 76ers were forced to play Noel out in the deep end. Yet that had its own set of consequences: Okafor having to protect the rim, which ended in many easy layups for opponents.
Another terrible season, another year of Brett Brown's hair graying another 25% and another 30 players churning through the 76ers' mostly hopeless roster. However, near the end of that season, Hinkie shockingly resigned. Brian Colangelo would step in as general manager, and the Process would now take a huge hit.
The 76ers finally lucked out and got the 1st pick in the 2016 draft, selecting smooth-passing Aussie Ben Simmons out of LSU, finally not another lumbering big. With the season set to begin, Saric had joined the team, Embiid was ready to make his debut and real, tangible hope in the form of real, tangible players was emerging.
Then, some good and some bad happened. Simmons broke his foot, leaving him out for a huge chunk of the season. On the other hand, Embiid started his career off by putting up 40 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks per 36 minutes a game. If he can stay healthy, he is definitely the real deal; a true franchise star.
We are in the present now, and I can stop writing in the past-tense, which was a killer in the editing process. The 76ers are currently 0-7, a record not so unfamiliar. But now, a blueprint for the future is set. It involves Embiid, Simmons, Saric and one of Noel or Okafor. The 76ers will probably flip one of those for an asset. They also still have the Lakers pick, which should finally convey after two years. They also own their own pick, which is sure to be excellent since the team will still stink this year.
Root for the team and its fans. Root for Embiid. Root for Brown. Root for the Process.
Amen.
It all started draft night 2013, where the 76ers, a solid and respectable playoff team, had a late lottery pick. Like most teams in that situation, they were predicted to choose the best player available to help take them to the next level for future seasons to come. Instead, Hinkie took the team down six levels, looking to capitalize in the long-term.
He traded his 24-year-old starting point guard, Jrue Holiday, for the 6th pick in the draft and used that pick to select Nerlens Noel, who missed the entire season with a torn ACL.
The first year under Hinkie was a miserable one production-wise, with the team stinking so bad they received the 3rd overall pick and 10th overall pick in the 2014 draft. The promise that elastic point guard Michael Carter-Williams had shown, was a small condolence for the pitiful record.
Going into his 2nd draft, Hinkie had two promising players, Carter-Williams and Noel. The rest of the roster was the physical representation of a graveyard. Dead, no talent, nothing.
There was a clear top three at the time: explosive wing Andrew Wiggins, smooth scorer Jabari Parker and mystery big man Joel Embiid. It was universally agreed that Embiid had the most upside, the best chance at becoming a full-fledged superstar if things fell the right way. However, he was also the riskiest, seeing as his foot and back had major structural issues that scared teams away. His unfortunate injury timing led him to slip to the 3rd pick.
With Wiggins and Parker gobbled up, Hinkie faced a dilemma: reach for a player who played a position of more need, or double down on the center position, securing the most talent if not the most balanced roster.
Hinkie's mantra was always to pick talent over need and fit, so he ended up drafting Embiid. With the 10th pick, Hinkie had inside knowledge that the Orlando Magic, picking 12th, had a hard-on for point guard Elfrid Payton, who possessed Rondo-like defensive skills (back when Rondo actually tried on defense), as well as Rondo-like shooting skills (at least Rondo was consistently terrible at shooting).
The Magic gave into Hinkie, trading the 12th pick and a future 1st for the right to draft Payton. Now armed with a future 1st round pick (Hinkie would marry one if he could) and the 12th pick, he selected little-known forward out of Croatia, Dario Saric. Saric's selling points are his excellent, smooth passing skills as well as big time rebounding ability. He could theoretically play next to Embiid or Noel. However, he would not play for the 76ers until two years after he was drafted.
So trudging into his 2nd season as general manager, Hinkie still had a terrible team which would surely net another high pick in a loaded draft. A few days before the season, it was depressingly announced that Embiid would miss the campaign with a fractured foot. So that meant neither of Hinkie's two top 12 picks would even see the court at all in their first year.
On the bright side, Nerlens Noel would make his debut. A long, blocking and ally oop machine, Noel would hopefully make fans forget about their missing players.
So the 2014 season starts and the 76ers were...fun. They were not a disgrace! Playing a super fast paced game and chucking tons of threes, Brett Brown's squad was looking like they had a foundation building for something greater down the line. Wasn't that what Hinkie wanted to achieve his first couple seasons?
Well, apparently the base was not strong enough. At the trade deadline, Hinkie pulled an earth-shattering trade, sending Carter-Williams to the Bucks in a three-teamer that netted him the Lakers' prized 1st round pick, top-3 protected.
Well, after another miserable season, the 76ers found themselves with the 3rd pick and same dilemma AGAIN. The best big man, Karl Towns, was gone. The best point guard, a position the 76ers still need today, was snatched up by Los Angeles. So what did Hinkie do you ask? He selected a 3rd big man, post-master and defensive disaster Jahlil Okafor out of Duke.
Welp. In a league that is constantly downsizing, spending three lottery picks in a row on big fellas is borderline insane. But Hinkie felt each player was the best available at the time, and that is the epitome of the Process. Well, going into the 2015-2016 year, talent was still scarce. Embiid was out again with another foot surgery, Saric was still balling in Europe and coach Brett Brown was somehow still not in a mental hospital after years of losing.
Throughout the season, the 76ers experimented playing their two healthy big men together, and it was a mess. Both Okafor and Noel could not shoot to save their lives, leaving the paint as crammed as a concert mosh pit. On defense, teams were playing small, forcing one of Noel or Okafor to step out of their comfort zone and defend along the three-point arc. Problem was, Okafor was too slow to defend all the way out, so the 76ers were forced to play Noel out in the deep end. Yet that had its own set of consequences: Okafor having to protect the rim, which ended in many easy layups for opponents.
Another terrible season, another year of Brett Brown's hair graying another 25% and another 30 players churning through the 76ers' mostly hopeless roster. However, near the end of that season, Hinkie shockingly resigned. Brian Colangelo would step in as general manager, and the Process would now take a huge hit.
The 76ers finally lucked out and got the 1st pick in the 2016 draft, selecting smooth-passing Aussie Ben Simmons out of LSU, finally not another lumbering big. With the season set to begin, Saric had joined the team, Embiid was ready to make his debut and real, tangible hope in the form of real, tangible players was emerging.
Then, some good and some bad happened. Simmons broke his foot, leaving him out for a huge chunk of the season. On the other hand, Embiid started his career off by putting up 40 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks per 36 minutes a game. If he can stay healthy, he is definitely the real deal; a true franchise star.
We are in the present now, and I can stop writing in the past-tense, which was a killer in the editing process. The 76ers are currently 0-7, a record not so unfamiliar. But now, a blueprint for the future is set. It involves Embiid, Simmons, Saric and one of Noel or Okafor. The 76ers will probably flip one of those for an asset. They also still have the Lakers pick, which should finally convey after two years. They also own their own pick, which is sure to be excellent since the team will still stink this year.
Root for the team and its fans. Root for Embiid. Root for Brown. Root for the Process.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment