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Process Completed: Daryl Morey Wants Sam Hinkie To Ring The Bell Before A 76ers Playoff Game

While there obviously are different opinions when it comes to tanking, one has to admit that it works sometimes. The Philadelphia would not have All-Stars Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid on the roster if it wasn’t for ‘The Process’, and its orchestrator Sam Hinkie.

With the Sixers pushing to make a deep playoff run this season, current president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, now suggested that the former GM should come back and ring the bell for the 76ers during the playoffs. Ringing the bell is a good luck charm for the 76ers – something they’ve been doing since 2013.

Let’s try to get @samhinkie for the bell ringing

— Daryl MorΞy (@dmorey) May 11, 2021

But what exactly did Sam Hinkie do during his time in Philadelphia?

Well, 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.

As you all know, this plan eventually ended up working – Joel Embiid became a multiple-time All-Star and MVP candidate, just like his teammate Ben Simmons, who has become one of the best defenders and playmakers in the NBA.

Sam Hinkie’s plan worked out! The Philadelphia 76ers are considered to be one of the top teams now, and for years to come. 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.