Sam Hinkie By the Numbers

On April 7th, Sam Hinkie resigned as General Manager and President of Basketball Operations of the Philadelphia 76ers. Over his three-year tenure, he took the controversial approach of building through the draft by perpetually dealing players in exchange for future picks. While he leaves the 76ers with extra drafts picks through the 2021 draft the team endured the second-worst three-year stretch in NBA history, including ending the 2016 season with the second-worst record of all-time. Below are a couple of other numbers the encapsulate the absurdity of the Hinkie era. Thank goodness it's over.

Sam Hinkie drafted 16 players over 3 seasons. Only 4 remain on the 76ers roster: Jahlil Okafor, Jerami Grant, Richaun Holmes, and Joel Embiid. 10 have been traded away, including Elfrid Payton, Michael Carter-Williams, and K.J. McDaniels. One - Pierre Jackson - signed with the Sixers in the preseason only to be waived before the season, thus renouncing his rights. Vasilije Micic is the only Hinkie-drafted player that still has his draft rights retained. Nerlens Noel and the rights to Dario Saric were traded for.

The players he drafted and kept have combined for 5.3 win shares over the last two seasons, since none of them played the 2013-14 season. The players he drafted and eventually dealt away have combined for 6.9 win shares over the same span, with Glen Rice, Jr. also posting -0.1 win shares in 13-14.

Golden State's Stephen Curry leads in the NBA in win shares over the last three seasons with 46.9. Nerlens Noel paces the 76ers in win shares with 7.0.  He is followed by Robert Covington (5.9), Hollis Thompson (5.8), and Henry Sims (4.0).

There have only been six instances of a team losing 70 of more games:

• After going 9-73 in 1972-73, the 76ers would make it to the finals in 1977, falling to the Portland Trail Blazers.
• After an 11-71 1993 season, the Mavericks wouldn't win 50+ games until the 2001 season, made the finals in 2006, and then won them in 2011
• After going 11-71 in 1998, the Denver Nuggets had a stretch of success led by star forward Carmelo Anthony. They had their first 50-win season in 2008, but have declined since Anthony's departure in 2011.
• After going 12-70 in 1987, the LA Clippers would not see a 50+ win season until they posted a 56-26 record in 2013(!)
• The New Jersey Nets went 12-70 in 2010. After going all-in in light of their move to Brooklyn in 2012-13, the team is trending down without posting a 50-win season since

With the post-merger signing of Julius Erving playing a part in the 73 Sixers's meteoric rise, a Lottery Era 70-loss squad apparently has about 18 years standing between futility and championship glory.