So, I didn't want to read through the whole thread, since this entire argument has been played out many times already on this blog(), so I don't know if this has already been posted or was in the article itself.
However, it's now being reported that it's widely believed that Silver did in fact pressure Philly to hire Colangelo, which essentially pushed Hinkie out, due to the complaining of other team owners.
"NBA commissioner Adam Silver reportedly played a significant role in the 76ers hiring Jerry Colangelo — effectively ending Sam Hinkie’s Process — after other owners complained.
Silver said he only made introductions, but many around the league remain unconvinced."
http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/06/30/report-many-around-nba-believe-adam-silver-pressured-76ers-into-hiring-jerry-colangelo/
I skimmed the ESPN Hinkie article, but that was my favorite part:
Says Rockets GM Daryl Morey, Hinkie's former boss in Houston: "The common refrain I've heard is that [Hinkie] is taking the easy way out and taking advantage of the rules. The league chooses to give the most valuable asset in the game -- a high draft pick -- to the worst team. So if people want to be upset about how well Philly has set themselves up, they should get upset with the league office and the collective owners who wouldn't pass even the modest reforms that were put forward."
...
Consider too: The Kings haven't finished with a .500 record since 2005-06 and just hired their sixth coach in five years. In neither case did the NBA force a regime change.
By stepping in and facilitating the Jerry Colangelo move in Philadelphia, then, Silver sent a message: Gross incompetence is acceptable; strategic gaming of a flawed system is not.
That's spot-on.
Problem is, they've done nothing whatsoever to punish the team. They still finished out the tankjob as expected. They still landed their ultimate prize. They still are pushing forward with trying to build a team as expected. There's no way they'd still be in tank mode this season if Hinkie was still around. So it really didn't make a lick of difference. If Philly's plan proves to be fruitful, then they will have successfully gamed a flawed system.
Like in my hypothetical on the previous page. If I'm a clothing company owner who condones my production manager's plan to use child labor to pump out high quality hoodies on the cheap for 3 years... and then I just fire the manager and sell my bounty of high quality hoodies as intended for a major profit, what difference does it make to me? I'm perfectly content letting that "evil" manager be the fall guy for a plan I signed off on and will reap the rewards from.
It's totally fine that the Kings have had a losing record for 10 straight seasons. But Philly intentionally bottoming out for a few years makes everyone lose their minds. Hilarious.
Im not sure if you are slightly more or slightly less morally bankrupt than the "evil" manager.
In this situation I think its perfectly fair for people to look at you and be disgusted and hope for you to fail and also perfectly fair for them to look at your "evil" manager and be glad he got fired and hope for the worst for him. However, ultimately if you want to prevent stuff like this from happening in the future you need to fix the loopholes.
I hope Hinkie never finds another job in basketball. I hope the Philly tank operation is a failure. I hope they trade Noel for pennies on the dollar, I hope Simmons somehow busts and I hope Embiid never plays significant minutes for the 6ers. All in all I hope this Philly rebuild never reached true contention.
I also hope the NBA finds a way to make tanking a less deadly weapon in the rebuilding process.
Is anything above laughable or hilarious. I think it is a more than valid response to what has happened in Philly.