You know, I can't help but think that Sam Hinkie would rather it be this way. After being strong-armed out of both the job he made infinitely easier and a league that was fearful of his tactics, any retrospective credit would just be disingenuous anyway. Plus, all the praise one man could possibly ask for can be seen in the form of imitation, which - I remind you - is the sincerest form of flattery. Listen to one Adam Silver press conference, and it's impossible to ignore the fingerprints that Sam Hinkie left on an Association that can no longer treat 'The Process' like a punchline. The NBA's tanking issue is overrunning it to the point that its commissioner has had to speak publicly about something as ridiculous as premeditated and prolonged periods of losing in professional sports. Sam Hinkie fell on the sword by doing what any good GM should do by being ahead of the curve to expose a vulnerability in the system. It certainly wasn't the most virtuous of strategies, but the fruits of its labor can't be disputed now that they are all finally beginning to ripen at a rapid pace. There's no shortage of copycats going out of their way to crap in the same litter box, and that says all you need to know about the building of an insanely promising team that will long outlive its original architect. If a national television broadcast that knows far better than to give Bryan Colangelo credit for the roster of rising stars that he largely inherited wants to conspicuously skirt around the name that's apparently considered taboo in NBA circles then so be it. His absence from any conversation about the upstart Sixers' success is obviously inexcusable. However, it actually rings louder than the goddamn Liberty Bell to anyone not financially incentivized by a league that killed a career that lives on through an entire city that bows before a man that shall otherwise remain nameless. I hope any and all NBA affiliates continue to keep Sam Hinkie's name off their lips, for I'm sure he'd rather go down in history as a martyr than as just another axed member of management.
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