Who deserved to get fired: Sam Hinkie or Phil Jackson?
Sam Hinkie is out as the Philadelphia 76ers general manager, and no one is surprised. The Sixers are in the third straight year of not really trying to win — Philly is 10-68, after going 19-63 and 18-64 in Hinkie’s first two seasons running the 76ers — and when Jerry Colangelo was brought in as president of the organization earlier this season, it was clear Hinkie would not be long for the job.
I need to make two things clear:
1. I like Sam Hinkie a lot. I like most people from western Oklahoma. I’ve written about Hinkie; he grew up in Marlow, went to OU and then embarked on the fast track in sports franchise management.
2. I abhorred Hinkie’s plan. Tanking seasons, putting out an inferior product with the purpose of losing games and getting better draft status, is a plague upon the NBA. The draft lottery should be abolished. How the league can live with itself, rewarding teams that don’t try to succeed, is beyond me.
But with all that said, the jury remains out on Hinkie’s plan. It might still work. It might still be a bonanza for the 76ers.
Let’s compare Hinkie’s disastrous three seasons in Philadelphia with the revered Phil Jackson’s two-plus seasons running the Knickerbockers, and you tell me who deserves to get fired.
The case for Hinkie
Hinkie was hired in May 2013, with the 76ers coming off a 34-38 season. The year before, 2011-12, Philadelphia went 35-31 and won a playoff series, beating the Bulls in that series in which Derrick Rose suffered the horrific knee injury. The year before that, Philly was 41-41 and a first-round playoff loser.
So the Sixers were the very embodiment of mediocre. Not awful. Not good. Just so-so. Just good enough to contend for a playoff spot but not good enough to get anything done, without an act of God.
Under Hinkie, the Sixers have been historically bad.
But teams sell fans on two things: success and hope. Hinkie was selling fans on two things: success and hope. Hinkie was selling hope. And there was some hope left on the Sixer bone.
Hinkie’s drafts have brought to Philadelphia rookie center Jahlil Okafor, second-year shot blocker Nerlens Noel and Kansas big man Joel Embiid, who has yet to play because of foot injuries.
Plus the Sixers have seven first-round draft picks in the next three years, many of them potentially high.
One of Hinkie’s downfalls is that he kept postponing the payoff. Kept making deals that would bring assets but delay accountability.
But the next GM — Bryan Colangelo? — will reap the benefits.
The case for Jackson
Jackson was named general manager of the Knicks in March 2014, and New York finished off a 37-45 season.
The Knicks the previous three seasons were 42-40, 36-30 and 54-28. New York lost in the first round of the playoffs those first two rounds, then beat Boston in the 2013 first round before losing to the Pacers.
So the Knicks weren’t exactly mediocre. They were whatever is one step above mediocre.
Under Jackson’s leadership, New York went 17-65 in 2014-15 and has gone 31-48 this season. But that 17-65 record wasn’t a real tank; the Knicks came by that honest.
And on this New York roster is an old Carmelo Anthony, a young Kristaps Porzingis and a bunch of guys that would fit in well with the anonymous Sixers.
Oh, Arron Afflalo is a valuable hand, but he’s 30. Robin Lopez is not a bad center. But seriously. The Knicks’ point guard is 34-year-old Jose Calderon.
And the Knicks don’t have a first-round draft pick in 2016.
You tell me who has the brighter future.
The answer might be the Knickerbockers, because of their hope in free agency and the lure of New York. Jackson was supposed to enhance that hope and maybe he has and maybe he will.
But in the congruent leaderships of Hinkie and Jackson, the Knicks have been more interesting and more competitive but not really any more relevant, with far fewer assets.