Michael Levin, during the live broadcast of last year’s Liberty Ballers NBA Draft Lottery party.
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A flurry of activity surrounded the Philadelphia 76ers front office during the final week of the regular season, beginning with the resignation of GM Sam Hinkie, a figure beloved by some and misunderstood and hated by others. Michael Levin, editor of SB Nation’s Liberty Ballers and co-host of the Sixers podcast “The Rights to Ricky Sanchez,” joins us to discuss the trials and tribulations of covering the Sixers during Hinkie’s tenure and why throughout the unprecedented amount of losing, he still trusted the process and remained optimistic about the future. Now that former chairman Jerry Colangelo has installed his son, Bryan Colangelo, as the new GM and President of Basketball Operations before stepping down himself, who knows what that future may hold for Philadelphia? Choice excerpts below:
1:40-1:50 on Sam Hinkie’s 13-page resignation letter:
“I could have done with 13 more pages. I would have liked 50. I would have liked a novel.”
3:55-4:25 on why diehard Sixers fans were so accepting of Hinkie’s “process”:
“It’s what we wanted for years and years and years because the foundation they were building on for so long was flawed and faulty and totally capped: at best, a scrappy playoff team that would win maybe a round, and at worst just a terrible team. We all were very excited when Hinkie came in. We’ve been very supportive of the process… we never really lost a tremendous amount of faith.”