Unnamed 76er: Sam Hinkie wasn't trying to win
Not everyone on the Philadelphia 76ers trusted the process of deposed general manager Sam Hinkie.
On the heels of a third consecutive season in the league's basement (largely by design), Hinkie chose to quit in April once the Sixers made moves to pivot away from his perpetual-tanking strategy.
Hinkie was succeeded by Bryan Colangleo, and at least one player on the team is happy with the shuffling of the ranks.
"The organization is trying to win now," an anonymous Sixer told Jeff Goodman of ESPN on Tuesday. "That wasn’t the case with the last guy."
Hinkie's controversial process was executed in the interests of winning in the long run, but necessitated lots of losing in short run. Although team management originally bought into that strategy, winning 47 games over three seasons simply became untenable.
In lieu of victories, Hinkie has rehabbing Philadelphia's stock of assets to show for his years of losing. Colangelo has a surplus of picks and prospects that could potentially be flipped or developed as part of a winning program in the future.
That was the process all along, and although Hinkie's gone, his work lives on.