Tag Archive: andrew bynum

The 76ers Hire Sam Hinkie, Now Search For Head Coach

May 12, 2013 Randy Neil

The 76ers have hired this guy, Sam Hinkie, as the new President and General Manager of Sixers’ operations. Hinkie is a welcomed outsider that replaces Tony DiLeo for overseeing a majority of the decisions on behalf of the 76ers going forward. He has spent the last 6 years in the Houston Rockets organization, going from Vice President of Basketball Operations to Executive Vice President in 2010.

This is a great move for restoring some certainty in the Sixers future. Hinkie has been a well-sought after executive and is tagged as being one of the pioneers of “analytics” in basketball. This, is being compared to the movie ‘Moneyball’ for basketball, where cap-space and efficiency percentages are taken into consideration with much more regard than say, individual points-per-game.

An interesting example of that is this year’s 2012-13 Houston Rockets team, which intentionally stacked their roster to make 3-point attempts, so that even if only a 3rd of them were made, the opposing team would have to make at least 50% of their field goal attempts to break even. That was something Hinkie was responsible for engineering, and in the case of the Houston Rockets, it worked.

The point is, Hinkie is much better at restructuring a team from the inside-out. Someone of his notoriety allows for better coaching prospects, as well. The turn-around time for success under a system like that is much quicker and bodes well for cultivating draft picks and salary space.

With all the speculation about whom the 76ers will hire as head coach, they have not actively interviewed anyone yet. Tony DiLeo intends on resigning publicly this week, and I imagine the interview process will carry on from there.

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Reggie Miller Tweets About Andrew Bynum

March 19, 2013 Randy Neil

Reggie Miller decided to post his 2 cents on the Andrew Bynum debacle recently and it might be the best summation of the Andrew Bynum situation that I’ve heard all year.

The reality, is however, that Andrew Bynum’s career could quite possibly be over. I don’t think Reggie Miller took that into consideration when he tweeted this:

Coach Collins was really polite and considerate in his address of the Bynum situation last night during the post-game conference of the 76ers 101-100 victory over the Portland Trailblazers. He wished Bynum well and empathized with the situation. Unfortunately, though, Mr. Miller, that lame brain GM could be our very own….

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Thoughts on Andrew Bynum and the Sixers Future

March 6, 2013 Randy Neil

Last week Andrew Bynum announced to the public that he basically isn’t going to play for the Sixers this season. The announcement was vague at best, but in summation, Bynum was questioned about his future here, his knees, his chances of playing basketball next season, and where that may be. All of his answers were dismissive or apathetic. Later that week, CSN writer John Gonzalez sat down with Sixers’ CEO Adam Aron to talk about the Andrew Bynum situation, if we plan on resigning him, and where the Sixers are headed in the future.

It’s a great interview, and if you missed it you can catch it here. I’ll have it below, too.

adamaronAdam Aron seems to be balk at the notion that the Sixers ownership knew Andrew Bynum wouldn’t play and continued to market him anyway, and I strangely believe him. Of course it is his fault, but I do believe that he is falling for the same charade of Bynum that we all are. It is true that he played 60 of 66 games last year, he was the starting All-Star center for the West last year, and 4 doctors cleared him for this trade. Like Aron said, “This should have worked.”

But it didn’t work. So here are my theories:

1) Bynum was playing through and incredible amount of pain last year, but the medical staff in LA knew that his knee condition was degenerate and threw him out on the trading block because of that fact. Of the 4 team doctors that cleared him, I’d bet that not one of them was on the Philadelphia 76ers staff. I keep picturing James Woods’ skeezy character in Any Given Sunday. They knew they were dumping a lemon, and we simply fell for it.

2) Bynum’s knee conditions aren’t anywhere near as bad as he’s leading on. No doctors treating Andrew have publicly addressed the media, so we’re getting an unprofessional, washed down version of Bynum’s condition, from Bynum. After being traded to Philadelphia, he was skeptical of the team’s roster and decided to milk a ‘knee injury’ to evaluate our chances for contention. After not liking what he saw, Bynum decided to essentially ‘sit out’ for the remainder of the season, allowing him to still collect a paycheck and opt for free-agency next season. Bynum will miraculously be able to play the final 10 games of the season, where he auditions for his next team, and leaves Philadephia behind.

Alright, number 2 is a little ridiculous, but I don’t care. I hate the man now.

The Sixers future looks bleak with or without Bynum at this point, which leads me to asking, “Where do we go from here?” Is it worthwhile for the Sixers to invest in another sizeable contract with Andrew with all of the questions looming around his health?

The best-case scenario is that Andrew Bynum resigns with the 76ers and is healthy enough to play the entirety of next season. That would be prolific, but I believe it’s pretty apparent that the chances for that are marginal at best. Even if that situation were to play out, we still wouldn’t have a long term solution. His health would be questioned every game. If the scrutiny of his knees wouldn’t wear him down, the actual knees eventually would. Next year would be a win-or-bust situation. Our young core would have to evolve overnight and I really don’t see all of those elements coming together.

Not resigning Bynum looks like a cursed path regardless of the outcome. The free-agent market looks pretty ugly next season, so even if the Sixers decided not to take a chance on Bynum’s knees, there’s practically no big-time players available to substitute him with. Andrew would find a team eventually, and if he had any success, we would look like dopes for not resigning him. If he continued to have health problems, we would spare ourselves the embarrassment of resigning another Greg Oden, but still have to live with the fact that our team was practically depleted for a skeleton.

We are in a very ugly situation, my friends.

Next year, the Sixers are going to be frantically skimming the free agent market in hopes of filling out the team and replacing some of the talent that’s left. Our young core needs some talented veterans. I can’t see how the Sixers would willingly pay Andrew Bynum for another season when we’ve been burned throughout this one. But… I’ve seen stranger things happen…

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The Last Andrew Bynum Update for the 2013 Season

March 1, 2013 Randy Neil

Andrew Bynum finally addressed the media after his first full-contact practice that occurred last Friday, the 22nd. Essentially, he will never play for the Philadelphia 76ers, or at least not in the 2012-13 season.

The swelling in Bynum’s knee was still evident, even after a full week. The guarantees that Bynum offered before last Friday’s practice seem like a distant memory, and he was even willing to admit that it’s late in the season and the likelihood of him playing is small.

The sad reality, for both Philadelphia and Andrew Bynum fans alike, is that the former All-Star center may not have a career in basketball because of his physical ailments. The media questioned him on his future past this season and the responses were bleak at best.

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