Nick Piccone
The Sixers are winless, and they were the butt of a pretty funny segment on The Tonight Show last night, but they have a chance to win their first game tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers, a team with two wins and maybe in the midst of their worst season ever, built a dynasty with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in the 2000s, and they didn’t have to tank to do it. And that’s why many people, including Angelo Cataldi and Howard Eskin, don’t trust Sam Hinkie or the process that he’s in the middle of in trying to rebuild the Sixers to become a perennial playoff contender.
It’s one thing in today’s NBA to be a playoff team, and it’s another to be an actual contender. Since 2001, the Sixers have not been a contender despite being a playoff team, so it’s no surprise that most fans wanted something new for the future of the team rather than being a mediocre seven or eight seed in the Eastern Conference that literally never gets better. People can sell the whole anything can happen in the playoffs bullshit, but the NBA is the one league that pretty much is anything can happen proof.
So, with the Sixers being in the midst of perhaps their worst of the last three, which is really depressing, many are coming out with their displeasure with Hinkie and the process. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who might be a reason why seven million subscribers decided that network wasn’t worth it, is one of them. Smith hopped on the WIP Morning Show today with Angelo Cataldi and berated the fans for, you know, sticking with the process.
Audio of the interview below, courtesy of 94WIP.
Transcription below.
He [Sam Hinkie] has been an atrocity. This organization is an atrocity. They’re an embarrassment as far as I’m concerned. What they have done to the city of Philadelphia is pretty damn unforgiveable. I’m thinking that you have to move in a completely different direction.
I’ve gotta be honest with you – I’m sort of disappointed in the city of Philadelphia because I expected them to stand up in an uproar and be more demanding that some level of respectability, you know, comes to this arena as it pertains to basketball in this town.
This is an atrocity. I mean, it’s almost unforgiveable what they’ve done, and Sam Hinkie being general manager has no business being in that position. They’ve got to move in a different direction and get somebody here who can recruit. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time. One season, for only that one season, it’s fine.
How the hell does the city of Philadelphia sit back and watch as this team has thrown three different seasons? It’s disgraceful.
…
I’m trying to figure out how in the hell the city of Philadelphia has tolerated this. I still live in the area. I didn’t sell my house. This is my second home. I love this city. And I can’t believe what I’m seeing from the Philadelphia 76ers.
There you have it. If you still have a house here, you should be pissed off at the Sixers.
I’m not so sure Sixers fans standing in an uproar would have done much difference in Hinkie’s plan. I don’t think he even knows sports fans exist, honestly. And there’s really no chance the fans would be able to change Hinkie’s mindset of acquiring assets to make a future Sixers dynasty. At least, that’s where we think his end game is.
Of course, any general manager’s plan takes time. But, being in the third year of tanking is really weighing on a lot of the fans, so Smith is kind of kicking us while we’re down. Like he always does. Go away.