Photo Credit: AP Photos

Sixers Made Fan Take Off Sam Hinkie Shirt Before Half-Court Shot Challenge

The draft was thought and created to be a system that would transmit the league some evenness amidst teams. As the game became more analytical itself with journalists and coaches analyzing every single detail, every touch, every rotation, percentages and efficiencies, the General Managers and Owners started being more pragmatic and started to pursue championships with their minds instead of their instincts or feelings.

No one ever thought… ok, maybe someone did think about it… but no one ever really thought that a franchise would have the courage, and permission by the owners, to implode a team and keep imploding it for 3 straight years, so they would be able to be Top 3 draft pickers constantly. The fans wouldn’t allow it, right? The TV deals wouldn’t allow it, right? The players are too competitive and their careers are too short for them to waste few years in a assumed losing team like that, right? Well, I know, logic has no logic in this case.

The Philadelphia 76ers, house of Doctor J, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, Darryl Dawkins indeed became a team mastering themselves in losing. Can you imagine one of those four names being a top pick landing in Philadelphia and having to buy into the tanking thing? Heads would roll, that’s my guess. But that’s the part of the process, they say.

Let’s recapitulate. 2013 draft, Sam Hinkie’s plan starts and so he trades Jrue Holiday on draft night for the Pelicans’ top 5 protected 2014 pick and Nerlens Noel (who was injured). On the 11th position the Sixers selected future rookie of the year, Michael Carter Williams. Later that year, at trade deadline, the Sixers traded Evan Turner, Lavoy Allen and Spencer Hawes for five second round picks (!!!) and Henry Sims (who?). At the end of the season they traded Thaddeus Young for Miami’s top 10 (2015) protected pick. Looks like Saturday morning and the house is all fresh and clean in Philadelphia.

2013-2014, after a non-disappointing 19-63 season the Sixers had the 3rd pick on the draft and they selected Joel Embiid. All good, but the injury. That’s fine… Don’t panic. They had the 10th position as well and they selected Elfrid Payton. Looks good now. This kid does a bit of everything, jump shot looks a bit broken, but hey, you can work on it. Oh wait, the Sixers just traded for Dario Saric and it looks like he’s going to stay over Europe, so equals zero on short term. Same draft, second round at the 32nd, the Sixers pick KJ McDaniels. One thing is certain: this kid is athletic. Ok, could be a good one….but he got traded mid-season to the Rockets in exchange of Isiah Canaan. That’s a confusing draft.

2014-2015 season: 18-64 and they’re going to the draft again with the 3rd pick once again and they went for Jahlil Okafor. Alright, good one. And they kept him. And he’s not injured. And he stayed in the US. And Noel, he’s finally back. Embiid and Saric not so much but that’s fine.

Then, in the 2015-16 season, the Sixers finished the season with a horrible 10-72 record. They even broke the record for the longest losing streak in American professional sports history with 27 straight losses. All part of the plan. Joel Embiid still hasn’t played a game, but it would be the season where Sam Hinkie’s goal of “The Process” came into full fruition. The Sixers ‘earned’ the #1 selection in the 2016 NBA draft, the draft that would feature phenom Ben Simmons. But unfortunately, the mastermind behind all that, general manager Sam Hinkie wasn’t there to witness the near completion of his process, as he was replaced by Bryan Colangelo before the end of the season.

Then the 2016-17 season. Philadelphia ended up drafting Ben Simmons (obviously), who suffered a broken foot, that would keep him sidelined for the whole season, shortly before the start of the season. It was the team’s fourth straight season where a top prospect of theirs would be sidelined for an entire season due to an injury. On a positive note, their 2014 draft pick Joel Embiid, played his first 31 games, before suffering yet another season-ending injury. But, the 31 games he played were more than promising and while he was playing, the fans, for the first time since the beginning of the process movement, were hopeful for Hinkie’s plan to end up being successful. They ended the season with  28-54 record and were awarded with the number one draft pick again.

This takes us to the current season, the season Sam Hinkie’s plan turned out to be a success. In true Sixers fashion, their lottery pick, this time Markelle Fultz, isn’t really playing in his rookie season. Fultz played through a shoulder injury that apparently caused him to forget how to shoot. He is still out indefinitely, but not because of the soreness and scapular muscle imbalance in his right shoulder, but because he can’t shoot?! Well, to be honest, noone knows what is really going on and we haven’t gotten a full explanation of what the issue really is. All we know is that Fultz did not shoot weirdly in college, but does now. While he is currently working on his shot, it still is broken. But, Joel Embiid is playing, and boy is he playing. He became an All-Star and shouldn’t have been the team’s only one. 2016’s number one draft pick, Ben Simmons, is also playing, just like Embiid, on an All-Star level. The team currently sits in a playoff spot with a 32-26 record. The first positive record in years.

Sam Hinkie’s plan worked out! The Philadelphia 76ers are considered to be one of the top teams in the coming years. All it took was 100% Patience + 100 % losing games on purpose + 100% being laughing stock of league for three-plus seasons + 100% stockpiling draft pick for it to equal the process. Boom. Math.

Unfortunately, unlike the fans, the Franchise won’t honor the mastermind behind all that. Hinkie is in NBA limbo and the Sixers are even denying him credit for the team’s current success. More so, they do not want his name to be present.

I found the following story on reddit, and it was somewhat shocking. Reddit user iFeelLikeJoJoBruh wrote:

A fan of the Rights To Ricky Sanchez podcast (A Sixers focused podcast) tweeted to the show’s hosts that he was chosen to shoot a halfcourt shot for a chance to win free season tickets for next year by the team.

He goes on to explain that he was wearing a Sam Hinkie shirt under his vest, and that they made him go under the bleachers to take his shirt off and put on a new one “by order of Sixers president and chief marketing officer”.

Link to the pod, story happens at 1:19:00 mark

What’s interesting is owner Josh Harris has been on record (as recently as last week) saying “Trust the Process” yet when it comes to Hinkie the organization refuses to acknowledge his involvement with growing this team

I’m all for praising the man. His plan was straight up genius. I think it’s time for a ‘Free Hinkie’ movement.