15 best NBA moments from 2016
By Adam McGee
As the calendar year winds down on a memorable 2016 in the NBA, which moments merit being discussed as the best of the past 12 months?
For many, 2016 is already being talked about as a year to forget. Marked by the passing of a host of significant cultural icons, and with a growing sense of unrest and division emerging in societies across the globe, it’s hard to argue that 2016 has provided more than its fair share of low points.
On the other hand, in the NBA, the past 12 months have provided some of the most memorable, significant and diverse storylines to have emerged from the league in recent memory. If 2016 was a year when many fans needed basketball as real life distraction, it only seems fair to say that the NBA delivered.
Winding down on a year that won’t easily be topped for entertainment value, drama and the human elements of the most beloved basketball league in the world, it only seemed fitting to take a moment to reflect and highlight the best NBA moments of the past 12 months.
15. The Hinkie letter
There haven’t been many NBA figures as divisive as Sam Hinkie since he was hired as the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2013. As a result, when Hinkie resigned from his post in April it provoked a variety of reactions, simultaneously fueling and dampening the legends that had grown around him.
For many, Hinkie had taken on the status of the NBA’s crazed scientist. Hinkie’s approach to bottoming out in the hopes of hoarding quality assets was more extreme than any rebuilding process the NBA had seen before. The idea of “tanking” was not new to the NBA, but Hinkie’s approach was bolder than what had been attempted before.
As a man who believed he had identified a glitch in the system that was ripe for exploitation, the stakes for Hinkie’s plan were high. When his vision was suddenly cut short, with success seemingly still a long way away for the 76ers, the questions then shifted to whether the man behind the “Process” was a fraud or the genius who many had made him out to be.
Often reclusive, that could have been a debate to rage on without any further evidence for years, but when Hinkie’s resignation letter emerged, it showed a man who was creative and meticulous, as many had often speculated.
Whether Hinkie was ultimately ahead of his time will be revealed in due course, but in the meantime, a letter that quoted personalities as diverse as Warren Buffett, Bill Belichick and Abraham Lincoln acts as a memorable testament to a man whose influence on the NBA, for good or bad, cannot be overstated.