Seth Vigdor
Since getting hired by the Sixers in 2013, Sam Hinkie has pretty much had full control of the team. He’s essentially had free rein to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. That control all ended when Ownership stepped in (albeit with an assist from Adam Silver and the NBA) and brought in Jerry Colangelo as “Special Advisor.”
Sam Hinkie was basically fired at that point and you knew it, I knew it, hell, we all knew it, except apparently Hinkie himself. Colangelo and the Sixers recently brought in Mike D’Antoni as Assistant Head Coach. D’Antoni as previously documented has ties with Colangelo from back in their Phoenix Suns days. Some were probably thinking that D’Antoni was brought in to basically prep him for his next coaching gig elsewhere. I myself do not believe that.
I believe that D’Antoni is being groomed as the next head coach of the Sixers. I view current coach Brett Brown and Sam Hinkie as placeholders until Colangelo is ready to have the Sixers legitimately compete in a year or two. The recent addition of point guard Ish Smith confirms my thinking for me, as it was D’Antoni who lobbied to bring Smith back in the fold.
Sam Hinkie has nearly been impossible for the media to get a hold of since joining the organization. He was nowhere to be found when the Jahlil Okafor mess was going down, other than being photographed at the Sixers game when the team won their first game of the season against the Lakers.
Perhaps now Hinkie sees the writing on the wall. He’s finally opening up about the last few months and some of the mistakes that he’s made. One of his biggest mistakes he admits was in fact not coming out publicly during the Okafor Scandal as he would tell Sixers reporter Keith Pompey.
I think it’s fair during a time when there’s a question about someone that is as important to us as Jahlil, maybe people want to hear from another voice [besides Brett]. Brett and I have been communicating there and I often let him speak on behalf of the team, and he’s often happy to, he doesn’t mind it and I don’t mind it. Sometimes a different voice helps.”
Hinkie also spoke about the impact that Colangelo has had so far.
“Yeah, he’s helped there, too. I think he’s had lot of good advice and I had lots of questions there about ways in which we could do things better. And he’s helped on that front already.”
One of the more interesting notes that Pompey would mention is something that most casual fans already knew and that was that college players, including Jahlil Okafor, didn’t want to get drafted to Philadelphia with Hinkie here. A source would tell Pompey that “Okafor’s camp wasn’t in favor of him playing for the Sixers during the draft process. And there’s conflicting stories about D’Angelo Russell.” According to multiple sources, Hinkie wasn’t permitted to interview Kristaps Porzingis during his pre-draft workout in Las Vegas in June. This news really shouldn’t come a s a surprise to anyone, considering that no one other than Hinkie knows when the hell he’s going to be ready to let this team compete.
Even agents for current NBA players don’t want their guys playing for the Sixers. According to one agent, “he doesn’t want his max-level players in Philadelphia. He is open to his mid-level players signing with the Sixers only if they overpay.”
Well, now that there is a new sheriff in town with Colangelo and his deputy sheriff D’Antoni, things are about to change and I truly believe that Hinkie finally sees what we all see. The writing is on the wall for him.