Sixers Roundup: Sam Hinkie Profiled in Sports Illustrated

Chris Ballard's profile of former Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie highlights this week's Sixers Roundup.

After winning three games in four nights the Sixers have slipped a little bit of late, losing their last six games, five of which were at the Wells Fargo Center.

While the Sixers have struggled as a team, rookie center Joel Embiid continues to impress, picking up the Eastern Conference’s first Rookie of the Month award of the season.

The man who selected him, Sam Hinkie, was also the focus of much attention this week, due mainly to a profile written by Chris Ballard in Sports Illustrated.

We collect all of that in this week’s Sixers Roundup.

  • Chris Ballard (Sports Illustrated) spent some time with Sam Hinkie, writing one of the more in-depth profiles of the intensely private former Sixers general manager. I doubt anybody will change their opinion of Hinkie based on the article (which isn’t a slight to Chris. I doubt there’s an article capable of changing anyone’s opinion), but it’s a great read that sheds light into the way Hinkie thinks. [si.com]
  • Jake Fischer followed that up with some more tidbits about Hinkie and his approach. [si.com]
  • Going from Sam Hinkie’s process to The Process himself, Jesse Blancarte of Basketball Insiders had a good breakdown of what’s made Joel Embiid so impressive so far this season. [basketballinsiders.com]
  • Speaking of Embiid, he won the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award for games played in October and November. [phillymag.com]
  • Zach Lowe released his weekly “10 things I like and don’t like” column, which includes tidbits about Jahlil Okafor and Nik Stauskas. [espn.com]
  • Joel Embiid (who briefly qualified as the league leader in three-point shooting before sitting out last night’s game) talked about appearing in the three-point shooting contest at All-Star weekend. That’s a nice thought, but he’d probably get to about the second rack of basketballs before time ran out. [philly.com]
  • Dario Saric pulled off quite the crossover on poor Jonas Jerebko. Teammate Joel Embiid couldn’t help but chime in.
  • The Sixers moved up to 26th in NBA.com’s power rankings, although they’ve lost three straight since the rankings were released last Monday. [nba.com]
  • Also over at NBA.com is the updated Rookie Ladder. Here’s a shocker: Joel Embiid is their top-ranked rookie. Dario Saric comes in at #2. [nba.com]

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NBA Draft

College basketball is starting to really hit high gear, and the Sixers are once again in the thick of the NBA draft by having their own pick (currently the worst record in the league), the Lakers pick (currently 12th), and the right to swap picks with the Kings (currently 10th).

With that being said, it’s time to start paying attention to draft prospects.

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Podcasts

  • In the latest Sixers Beat, I discussed Joel Embiid’s minutes restrictions and took questions from listeners with co-host Kyle Neubeck of LibertyBallers.com. [sixersbeat.com]
  • The Rights to Ricky Sanchez discussed the timing of Retweet Armageddon. [rightstorickysanchez.com]
  • David Locke had Chris Ballard on to discuss his Hinkie article on this week’s Locked on NBA. [audioboom.com]

That will wrap up this week’s roundup.

Derek Bodner covers the 76ers for Philadelphia magazine. Follow @DerekBodnerNBA on Twitter.