The vote wasn't to change to a wheel -- that's the dumbest idea ever. The vote was to change the lottery odds. It seemed to be a sure thing, but in the end, all the small market teams banded together and voted it down.
Funny how everyone seems to be citing the "odds" of this and the odds of that while trashing Hinkie's analytical approach. All he ever committed to doing was attempt to improve the very low odds of the Sixers ever winning a championship.
I said either the wheel or something other than the reward losing lottery system. Known teams that voted against lottery reform included, Miami, Phoenix, Washington, Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, and Chicago, pretty big markets. Supposedly they tabled it because with the salary structure set to change drastically and a new collective bargaining agreement not too far off there were too many unknowns and fear of unintended consequences. There is that fear word again.
10 Takeaways From the NBA’s Rejection of Lottery Reform
auror are you ready to give up on Greg Oden's career and admit Durant should have gone first? MCW was unquestionably bad & the Sixers copped to this but made a good trade to dump him.
Embid was supposed to be #1, but then slipped due to the injury and many teams said they wouldn't take him. Yet the Sixers took him BECAUSE he would be injured and wouldn't help them that year = more lottery picks. This on the heels of purposefully getting worse by trading Jrue Holiday for Noel (a good trade except that Noel hadn't played yet when Philly made the Emibd pick). Embid in my view was their biggest error of all and it will remain that unless, Oh I don't know HE PLAYS IN AN ACTUAL NBA GAME.
Here is my summary of the last 3 years of 7ers basketball, tell me where I'm wrong;
2014 - Trade Jrue Holiday for Noel, knowing Noel won't play and they'll be worse, both happen
63 losses.
2015 - Pick Embid knowing he won't play and they won't improve - this is the key error b/c remember Noel hadn't played yet either.
64 losses
2016 - Pick Okafor because of pressure from 2 unprecedented losing seasons to get better immediately (despite position redundancy & 3rd big man in a row). Unfortunately although his offense was as expected, Okafor's defense was also as expected and the team unexpectedly actually got worse and they had the off-court immaturity embarrassments that brought in Colangelo, possibly at the leagues urging. His power eroded and his team at the bottom of the league Hinkie quits.
68 losses and counting
Results matter. The goal is not to keep Hinkie as GM, but in order to complete/extend the execution of his plan Hinkie certainly needed to keep his job. If Hinkie knew the team's would be this bad this many years in a row he'd also have known the pressure to fire him or odds thereof would increase and the risk of off-court troubles with a young roster would increase. He miscalculated how bad they would be, how long they would be bad and most importantly the cumulative effect of deferring lottery picks impact. Odds matter.
