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Do the Sixers Reach the Thunder’s Level if the NBA Never Meddles with The Process?
By Kyle Pagan
Published:
The Thunder are knocking on the door of the NBA Finals after going up 3-1 on the Minnesota Timberwolves. As a Sixers fan, you’ve gotta be sick to see a team that spent a handful of years tanking reap the fruits of their labor. You probably wish Adam Silver was the one in that New York crypto bro’s apartment instead of some Italian tourist. I’m convinced that if the NBA never put their greedy little hands on the The Process we would’ve experienced the level of success that the Thunder are currently having:
Everything Sam Presti and the Thunder were allowed to do just goes to show you that if you’re not in a top-5 market, you can tank for as long as you want. You are allowed to make bad draft picks and signings just as long as you are the GM of a team in the middle of nowhere that doesn’t affect the NBA’s bottom line. Presti was allowed to rebuild and stack 19 first rounders after he let Kevin Durant walk for nothing, traded James Harden over a $4.5 million contract difference the year after they went to the NBA Finals, and traded Chris Paul after he made an All-NBA team. If Hinkie did this, Adam Silver would’ve given him the death penalty. Not to mention the absolute luck he walked into when he traded Paul George to the Clippers for five first round picks AND now MVP SGA. He then went 86-150 the next three seasons while acquiring Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace, and Josh Giddey (who in the offseason was traded for Alex Caruso). All guys that have made significant impacts in the playoffs.
The thing that blows my mind is how much revisionist history Sixers fans have when it comes to Hinkie and his draft picks. I think people forget he resigned before the Ben Simmons draft:
His best one is obviously Joel Embiid, but he drafted Michael Carter-Williams, who won Rookie of the Year, and then traded him at his peak for assets. Dario Saric was included in the Jimmy Butler trade. Jerami Grant went on to be one of the best role players in the league and won a Gold Medal with Team USA in Tokyo. He wasn’t even allowed to try and get something for Jahlil Okafor. He also pulled off one the greatest heists in NBA history when he traded a couple second rounders for Nik Stauskas, Carl Landry, a first rounder AND a first round pick swap. This ended up getting the Sixers the #3 overall pick, which was combined with assets acquired by Hinkie to move up to #1 and select Markelle Fultz. That imploded almost immediately, but Hinkie had nothing to do with the pick! It baffles me people can hate on Sam Hinkie when he started with Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner while Presti had All-NBA players like Durant and Russell Westbrook to rebuild with, which he didn’t even 100% utilize. Hinkie got three seasons before the NBA said sayonara. Presti is on year 18 using the same playbook. Take on bad contracts from teams for first rounders, build through the draft while tanking, and then give yourself enough bullets so that if one move doesn’t work out you have options. It’s crazy to think we wouldn’t have experienced the same results the Thunder are having right now if the NBA stayed out of the way.
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