Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie has come under fire of late, which comes part and parcel with watching over a 1-22 team - even if the failure was by design.
Since Hinkie was hired in 2013, the Sixers have amassed a record of 38-149 while shattering records for futility at every turn. They've eschewed competitiveness in the hopes of maximizing their lottery odds - trust the process, as it were - but they've yet to reap any tangible reward for their years of suffering.
The controversial executive defended his infamous process to ESPN's Zach Lowe in one of Hinkie's ultra-rare media appearances this season.
"We predicted it wrong," Hinkie said of how this season has unfolded. "That's my fault. I've made plenty of mistakes, and I'm sure I'll make more."
Hinkie's dominion over the perpetually rebuilding Sixers took a major hit this week with the team's decision to hire Jerry Colangelo as chairman of basketball operations. While Hinkie still remains the general manager, and will still have final say over decisions, the team (and possibly the NBA's) decision to hire Colangelo hints at the beginnings of a possible course correction.
And although the Sixers have amassed an impressive bounty of draft picks and blue chippers for their troubles, not everything has gone according to plan.
To start, Hinkie picked three centers in three consecutive drafts, but that hasn't yet translated to wins. The offense bottoms out with Nerlens Noel next to Jahlil Okafor in the frontcourt. While Noel is improving, Okafor has gotten into a handful of embarrassing brushes with the law, and 2014 third overall pick Joel Embiid still has yet to play a single game on account of his perpetually broken foot.
"We talk about that a lot. We've planted a lot of seeds. It's fair to say the harvest hasn't come in," Hinkie said.
In the case of Embiid specifically, Hinkie characterized the decision to draft the oft-injured center as one that took "tremendous courage."
Hinkie's also come under fire for his hard-line refusal to sign veteran players. The oldest player on this year's roster is Carl Landry, acquired in a salary dump trade, but he's yet to play this year. The oldest player on the roster who's actually logged minutes this season is Robert Covington - a 25-year-old with 91 games to his name.
Instead of veterans, Hinkie's mostly opted to fill his roster with a rotation of debris, shuffling through low-risk flyers hoping to strike it rich on an overlooked talent.
Granted, that strategy appears to have worked in the case of Covington, who's turned out to be a decent two-way player with 3-and-D potential. But not having anyone in the locker room to show the ropes to the young players has left head coach Brett Brown to do most of the mentoring, and that's taken its toll.
"Is there a better balance we could strike with our roster? There may very well be," Hinkie admitted.
Of course, Hinkie is far from the first general manager to embark upon a rebuild. But it's the aggressive nature of his strategy - trading away the Rookie of the Year, drafting players with significant injury histories, stashing players overseas, tanking for three straight seasons, totally neglecting free agency - that's tested the patience of both the fan base, and the league.
That's why the team likely hired Colangelo: To help Hinkie with his rebuild. Because although the results have been unspeakably bad so far, it seems ownership still appreciates the job Hinkie's done.
"Our owners made it very clear they want me leading us long-term," Hinkie said.
