Recently, Will Griffith wrote an amazing piece on the history of Sam Hinkie focused on his time in Philadelphia.
We had him join us on Kings Pulse to dive further into Hinkie as a candidate for the current general manager opening in Sacramento.
I was surprised to realize how ahead of his time Hinkie really was in predicting the future of the league. He saw the transition to pace and three-point attempts and committed hard to a gameplan that is given an incomplete grade as he was not able to see it through.
There are many valid concerns and issues with how ‘The Process’ was conducted but at the very least you can say that Hinkie executed his plan with nothing short of a championship in mind down the road. And for a Sacramento team that seems to constantly be chasing the eight seed, that could be exactly the sort of mindset shift that is needed to move this franchise in the right direction.
Do you like Hinkie as a prospect? How do you feel about him compared to Scott Perry, whose resume we covered with Jon Macri recently? Which potential GM candidate should we dive into next?
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conflict of interest
Unbelievably curious to hear where exactly this conflict of interest lies
In lies in his “Trust the Process” thing. He would have an interest to do a deal with Philly. He would tank the Kings, giving good players to Philly for bad contracts and a couple mediocre assets. No thank you.
I mean, it earned Vlade a multi- year contract.
Great point about the Kings needing a mindset shift. Believe it or not, there are organizations out there who consider anything less than a championship to be failure. The Kings have not had that mentality as a franchise in a long time.
I think it’s pretty miraculous a GM like Hinkie is even available. If Embiid doesn’t miss two years, it likely would have bought more time, and ownership could have seen what he was building. He has pretty much been vindicated by now, although I don’t think Colangelo and Brand have done a good job of managing the stockpile of assets Hinkie accumulated in his 3 years there. Who knows what that team could have been if the architect wasn’t dumped right before his vision was realized.
I think Sam is brilliant, and I’d be ecstatic if the Kings hired him and gave him all the decision-making power.
Long time STR lurker and occasional commenter.. finally making a TKH account, because of this post. Can’t stress how much I believe a GM with Hinkies vision/priorities/expectations would help the Kings. Tired of the goal being the 8th seed
100% agreed. Welcome!
Welcome!
You are tired of having a losing team. So am I. That’s because the team drafted poorly, turned over coaches all the time, made some questionable free agency signings, and let some good players go. The goal should be to build a competitive team that keeps improving. The Warriors, Trailblazers, Jazz, and many other teams didn’t have to tank. Proposing a tank is more of an emotional response than a logical one. Try having a good scouting and player personnel department first.
Truly sucks he hasn’t been mentioned as a candidate
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