Fansided

5 reasons the Sacramento Kings need to hire Sam Hinkie

By Ian Levy

Feb 10, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie prior to a game against the Sacramento Kings at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 10, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie prior to a game against the Sacramento Kings at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 27, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein (00) dunks the ball against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center. The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Sacramento Kings 102-88. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 27, 2017; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein (00) dunks the ball against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center. The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Sacramento Kings 102-88. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

1. Do it for the centers

During his time in Philadelphia, Hinkie built an exquisite collection of young big men. Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor, Dario Saric, Richaun Holmes, and Ben Simmons (who was selected after Hinkie left the team). It was a group of players that were startlingly redundant but the Sixers have begun unraveling that redundancy and appear to have a strong core in place for the future.

Amazingly, the Kings also have a collection of redundant big men. DeMarcus Cousins is gone but Sacramento still has three centers on the roster — Georgios Papagiannis, Willie Cauley-Stein, Kosta Koufos — as well as a power forward in Skal Labissiere, who’s mostly playing there because there aren’t any center minutes available.

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We never got the chance to see Hinkie deal with the logjam he created in Philadelphia. This is an opportunity for him to prove that it was a workable situation and he was the man to make it work. Or, if that’s not a good enough reason to hire Hinkie, how about this — it certainly couldn’t make the Kings any worse off than they are right now.