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If Sam Hinkie Trotted Out this OKC Lineup During the Process, He Would’ve Been Thrown in Jail

Kyle Pagan

By Kyle Pagan

Published:

via @jphanned on twitter

Those aren’t real NBA players. Jaylen Hoard sounds like a custom MyPlayer. I ordered Kalaitzakis this weekend at a nice Greek restaurant in Center City. It was delicious. At this point is there a difference between what Sam Presti is doing and what Sam Hinkie did? Sam Hinkie would look at this lineup and think, “Ok. That’s egregious.” Quite the double standard the NBA is letting happen when you roll with a starting lineup that has played a combined 75 games:

We’re three years from the Russell Westbrook trade. Two years since they traded Chris Paul. They shut down a healthy Al Horford with 28 games to go in the season last year. And they have 36 future draft picks taking them to 2028. Sam Hinkie died for Sam Presti. Tune in tonight when Presti trots out this guy at the 3:

Let’s be honest, though. The only reason Sam Presti isn’t ridiculed like Hinkie is because he’s been to the mountaintop. He built teams through the draft that achieved success, so the NBA’s hands are tied. Not saying it’s right, because it is 100% hypocritical when the main reason for getting Hinkie out of here was that he was costing owners money. Presti is the longest-tenured GM in the league and he hasn’t won more than 70 games in the last two years combined. The Thunder are 28th in attendance. You can’t tell me Mark Cuban loves getting the same cut of the pie Clay Bennett and Tilman Fertitta are getting when they can’t even fill courtside. But that’s the NBA. Do as I say, not as I do.

The craziest thing about all this is the Thunder went on a 26-2 run to win against the Blazers and put themselves 4.5 games out of the worst NBA record. There’s only room for one tanking legend named Sam in the record books:

Kyle Pagan
Kyle Pagan

Kyle writes blog posts and does Man on the Street-style videos all around Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University (a basketball school) in 2015. contact: k.pagan@sportradar.com

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