NBA | Sixers will remain in the clutches of Hinkie’s process for a while

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

The process isn’t over.

Oh, Sam Hinkie may no longer be calling the shots with how it plays out, determining what moves are made or not made for your town, your team, your 76ers. But, make no mistake about it, the process is ongoing.

Nabbing potential transcendent talent Ben Simmons with the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft last week does not put a wrap on things with a pretty little bow on top.

Sorry.

Lotta work still needs to be done … if the Sixers can ever get to it.

For them to get off the canvas. For them to start winning. For them to challenge for a playoff spot. For them to be relevant in NBA circles, period.

Respect, frankly, remains a long way off – at least when it comes to what they do on the court.

Ya gotta love the fact they parlayed three seasons of tanking into the most ballyhooed prospect to enter the league since, well, probably LeBron James back in 2003. Mission accomplished, and kudos to Hinkie for making Simmons decked out in Sixers’ red, white and blue realistically possible.

But how about we chill a bit on anointing him for pro sports executive sainthood? …

Yeah, his fingerprints are all over Simmons. They’re also all over everything else with regard to three seasons of life-sucking drek and the rest of the roster, too, and the stain from those ain’t pretty.

Not for nothing, but his “bold” vision paved the way to a team overloaded with mostly fill-out-the-squad guys – high-priced, marginal NBA-quality journeyman, if you will – who have been asked to fill in or mesh with a hodge-podge of “jury’s still out” big-name draft picks, with the highlight – or lowlight, your choice – being a glut of big men that apparently new GM Brian Colangelo is finding unbreakable.

Put it this way, if anything is obvious with the Sixers it is that they are top heavy with tall guys and in desperate need of, well, a little balance … and, thus far, they’ve been unable to do a damn thing about it.

Why? Because Hinkie misread the situation for years, getting so caught up with accumulating “assets” all the time and selecting the “best player available” that he never factored into the equation one incontrovertible truth: if Philly’s pro basketball franchise was ever going to turn the corner, at some point, in some way, the pieces were going to have to fit together.

Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams were very good athletes coming out of college whose games were – and are – almost obscenely flawed. Jahlil Okafor possesses good post moves and little else at a time when the league is moving out of the paint and focusing on the perimeter. Joel Embiid, until he steps on the floor for one second of a regular-season game, remains damaged goods.

Dario Saric? Who the heck knows …

Point is, the aforementioned constitute the basis for Hinkie’s self-aggrandizing claims of genius. Well, them, Simmons and the reacquiring of point guard Ish Smith after letting him go, not to mention a laundry list of nothing transactions that have faded into the mental abyss.

Almost makes it hard to keep a straight face whenever someone starts talking, or writing, about how the Sixers former GM had the rest of the league on its heels, afraid that he was the pioneer of a new way to success.

Puh-leeze …

Give Hinkie credit for Simmons and moving MCW, but his replacement hasn’t been hamstrung with adding to the process thus far because he’s “old school” and unable to envision the future. It’s because he has been buried under a pile of goobledygook that needs to be cleaned up, sorted out and correctly labeled before any actual work can take place.

The process continues.

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Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams were very good athletes coming out of college whose games were – and are – almost obscenely flawed. Jahlil Okafor possesses good post moves and little else at a time when the league is moving out of the paint and focusing on the perimeter. Joel Embiid, until he steps on the floor for one second of a regular-season game, remains damaged goods. Dario Saric? Who the heck knows … Point is, the aforementioned constitute the basis for Hinkie’s self-aggrandizing claims of genius. Well, them, Simmons and the reacquiring of point guard Ish Smith after letting him go, not to mention a laundry list of nothing transactions that have faded into the mental abyss. Almost makes it hard to keep a straight face whenever someone starts talking, or writing, about how the Sixers former GM had the rest of the league on its heels, afraid that he was the pioneer of a new way to success.

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SIXERS UNDER SAM HINKIE

The former GM resigned on April 6, but his impact, both pro and con, was felt throughout three seasons here and will continue to be for years to come. Here is a look back at what he brought to Philly's pro hoops franchise thus far:

195
Losses

25
Trades

6
Lottery picks​

1
Rookie of Year
​(Michael Carter-Williams)

47
Wins

19
FA signings

3
Future 1sts

1
No. 1 pick in NBA Draft
​(Ben Simmons)