Sam Hinkie Finishes 10th In NBA Executive Of The Year Voting

Sam Hinkie is the now-departed general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, famous for his tank and “trust the process” philosophy. Now he can brag that he somehow finished 10th in NBA Executive of the Year voting. No, seriously, that’s a thing that actually happened.

Fellow general managers vote on the award and apparently someone thought Hinkie did such a bang-up job that he got a second-place vote and two third-place vote. Bear in mind, the 76ers were an NBA-worst 10-72 this year and finished seven games behind the second-worst squad.

I’m not really sure what, exactly, Hinkie did to make other general managers take notice, but clearly they were appreciative of something. Maybe it was his 13-page resignation letter. I’ve read it and maybe it was his quoting of Bill Belichick, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Or maybe it was the references to Max Planck, Charlie Munger and Atul Gawande that got their juices flowing. Or they could have just felt bad for him because he used fake Abraham Lincoln quotes. Heck, maybe they just trusted the process.

Oh we kid Sam Hinkie, despite results he was clearly one of the league’s—nah man, I can’t even make it through that sentence. He was awful. Downright horrendously awful. We can all “get” what he was trying to do, but acquiring top picks is only good if you use them wisely. He didn’t. Now he’s gone and apparently some general managers who still have their jobs feel bad for him.

So all Hinkie has to show for three years in charge of the 76ers is a 47-199 record, two last-place finishes in the Atlantic Division and a 10th-place finish in Executive of the Year voting. Here’s hoping the 38-year-old enjoys retirement.