5 reasons Philadelphia 76ers can still improve without Ben Simmons
By John Buhler
4. Bryan Colangelo is not Sam Hinkie
For all the jokes of him being born on third base as the son of an NBA owner, Bryan Colangelo is still a two-time NBA Executive of the Year with two different franchises. Colangelo ran the front office for his father’s Phoenix Suns in the 2000s. He left for the Toronto Raptors and found success in Canada earlier this decade.
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Colangelo is a good front office executive, but more importantly, he isn’t Sam Hinkie. Hinkie was the former Daryl Morey analytics disciple of the Houston Rockets who was the primary architect behind The Process.
Mathematically, hypertanking made sense as the best course of action to land an NBA superstar. However, The Process became too big of a burden for even Hinkie to stomach. He resigned as the 76ers general manager on April 6 via a multi-page manifesto, better known as the Hinkie Letter.
What hurt Hinkie more than anything was that he was reluctant to speak with the media during the first two years of The Process. For as unconventional as it was, talking about it out loud would have helped people understand the logic behind the hypertanking.
Colangelo is going to make this team better as the year progresses. He’s not going to try to bottom out like Hinkie did for percentage chances at draft picks. Colangelo isn’t without his misgivings, but doesn’t nearly have the stigma of Hinkie. That only helps the 76ers.