NBA | Hinkie resigns as Sixers GM ... and people are fired up about it?!!

Sam Hinkie resigned as Philadelphia 76ers general manager.

This is big news?

Wow, missed the memo on that one.

OK, get the Philly region’s rush to remove itself from any discussions about college sports in general and the Villanova University men’s basketball program in particular. You know, this is a pro town after all. Pretty much everything to do with the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers and Flyers, no matter how small, trumps anything at a “lesser” level.

Just a few days ago, we were being asked to draw a line in the sand over whether the Flyers possibly making the playoffs as a bottom-rung, no-shot-to-do-anything entrant or the Wildcats playing in the NCAA championship game was a bigger deal. By those wearing a straight face, mind you.

So, of course, pro news is the preferred news. If you hope to hold onto that “true Philly sports fan” card.

But Hinkie … big news?

C’mon.

Not for nothing, but aside from the small, albeit loyal and somewhat loud, contingent of kooks who spotted a cheesy motto in his “trust the process” disclaimer and clung to it like vaped-out trendsetters thinking they had unearthed the ultimate avenue to happiness or success, the lifeblood of the Sixers’ relevancy seems to have gone from poor to nonexistent with the masses ever since Analytics Overboard arrived in town three Mays ago and started acquiring assets to be determined later like crazy.

If anything, the “biggest” news about this departure is that Hinkie was so effective in killing off just about every ounce of tangible interest for the Sixers in a city that can’t get enough of pro sports that his send-off warranted, well, zilch.
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OK, maybe a “ho-hum” or a “later,” but that’s about it.

Seriously, the passion being shown for this geeky, self-important vagabond within hours of him delivering a glorious, 13-page homage to oneself that supposedly was to serve as a “good-bye note” to the organization borders on the insane … or total BS.

Hey, he may have the longest view in the room, as his “see ya later” manifesto proclaimed, but he appeared to have blinders on when it came to living in the moment. Even Earl Weaver realized a steal here and a hit-and-run there might prove prudent instead of playing for a three-run homer all the time.

Where was all this care or concern for, well, anything with Hinkie’s Sixers the last three years? Good moves, bad moves, no moves, another botched rebranding – never heard more than a peep or two about any of ’em, regardless of whether the team inched forward to respectability or plummeted further into the abyss.

Now we’re debating whether his leaving helps or hurts the team? With legit emotion?!!

Ummm, yeah …

Thing is, even the hardcore Sons of Sam have no idea whether Hinkie’s “get dreadfully bad in order to receive the help necessary to flip the switch in becoming a champion” concept would work, or, frankly, if the franchise could ever recover from its fade to black with the general fans’ consciousness due to it.

Indeed, the latter of those two may prove to be more difficult, especially with the Sixers’ solution to their current situation looking like another shot of Colangelo.

Which likely means even more Flyers talk next winter and winters beyond.

Yo, ’Nova, got another title or two in ya?

Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com
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Not for nothing, but aside from the small, albeit loyal and somewhat loud, contingent of kooks who spotted a cheesy motto in his "trust the process" disclaimer and clung to it like vaped-out trendsetters thinking they had unearthed the ultimate avenue to happiness or success, the lifeblood of the Sixers' relevancy seems to have gone from poor to nonexistent with the masses ever since Analytics Overboard arrived in town three Mays ago and started acquiring assets to be determined later like crazy.

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