76ers GM Sam Hinkie embraces patience, privacy in rebuilding effort

Time and patience are never more abundant than at the beginning, and mere hours after Sam Hinkie arrived in Philadelphia with a mandate to compete for NBA championships, he leaned into a microphone intent on leveraging those assets.

"I start with an end in mind. In everything," he explains.

Outside the 76ers' simple practice facility, a rented space at a tiny college, past the guard desk and sliding glass doors and the adjacent hotel where he'll reside for the next three-plus months, half a continent away from his young family, the vision Hinkie described that day in 2013 was largely met with optimism from national and regional media and a legion of long-suffering fans eager for change.

In some quarters, it still is, despite everything that's happened since.

Despite his intense secrecy. Despite trading the team's best player for a future first-round draft pick and an injured rookie. Despite waiting to hire a head coach until after the 2013 NBA draft. Despite jettisoning three veterans, including two starters, for little in return at the trade deadline.

Despite his decision to embrace losing.

The 76ers president and general manager, formerly the youngest vice president in the history of the NBA, is a pale-skinned 36-year-old with probing blue eyes and a conservative haircut, always neatly combed and parted on the left. He's a married father of four, who away from the cameras and microphones flashes an easy, if fleeting, smile.

He's a shrewd, bold businessman, whose actions and team have raised eyebrows and captured headlines both regionally and across the country.

He's a diligent, ultra-competitive purveyor of analytics, a pioneer of sorts in NBA circles, a man who eschews traditional statistics — points, rebounds, assists — but not traditional scouting, in favor of advanced metrics like Player Efficiency Rating, which uses a detailed formula in an attempt to quantify a player's per-minute productivity, adjusted for pace, calibrated against the rest of the league.

He's more concerned with the future than with the present, with what ought to have happened rather than what does, an approach that doesn't always sit well with the masses.

And he is fiercely private.

Hinkie resides in a realm of the professional sports universe increasingly shrouded by anonymity, often granted carte blanche by reporters reliant on ever-shrinking access, creating a media landscape where even the most benign news is often simply attributed to "sources."

He is used to operating behind the scenes, and although he pursued and accepted a role and career path that demands public scrutiny, he's answerable to no one but his conscience, his family and the team's multi-billionaire managing owner, a man whose own patience seems to run as deep as his pockets.

Hinkie will generally explain his reasoning after the fact, but steadfastly refuses to tip his hand.

The hiding, the silence, it's strategic, of course.

"I've been careful, too careful maybe, about trying to not keep the spotlight on me," Hinkie said recently, declining to discuss his upbringing in depth.

He doesn't believe his candor would help the 76ers, and he sees little value in rehashing the "Opie Taylor" stories of his youth.

"It's not the kind of thing I'm focused on," he said. "I don't have anything to hide, but prefer to shine the spotlight on others."

In other words, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Driven from an early age

It's the first Saturday night in March and the 76ers are in the midst of becoming a national laughingstock, mired in a losing streak that eventually stretches to 26 games, tying for the longest run of futility in the history of major North American professional sports.

Philadelphia fans, in a rare mood, have turned out in force.

Darkness blankets the Wells Fargo Center as the announcer's voice booms through the public address system.

"And finally, a 6-foot guard from Georgetown ..."

Columns of fire erupt from both ends of the court.

Allen Iverson, the 11-time All-Star and former league MVP, strolls onto the hardwood, and twin spotlights illuminate a banner featuring his iconic No. 3 as it rises into the rafters, buoyed by the thunderous cheers of 20,000 souls.

Sitting courtside, grayed Hall of Famers Julius Erving and Moses Malone watch the proceedings, more than 30 years removed from leading the 76ers to the franchise's most recent NBA championship in 1983.

Hinkie was only 5 at the time, swallowed by his father's old camouflage fatigues as he crawled around the woodpile behind the family's suburban South Carolina home, playing his favorite game, Army, with the little girl next door. They'd hide in silence from an imaginary enemy, plastic guns in tow, then, once the coast was clear, scurry across the yard on their bellies, finally bounding into the safety of their playhouse.

Samuel Blake Hinkie was born in The Netherlands in Dec. 1977.

His father, Ron, was laboring on an offshore oil rig in the North Sea at the time, early in his more than 40-year career with Halliburton. He began by painting the company's equipment in the early 1970s, near his hometown of Marlow, Okla., and through hard work, personal sacrifice and innovation became a senior executive who holds numerous U.S. patents related to oil and gas exploration.

When Sam was 3, his family moved to Easley, S.C., a small city in the northwest corner of the state. But his dad continued his career overseas, spending the next seven years toiling off the coast of Sicily and later Denmark. His visits home were limited, but he strove to make the most of the time he had with his family.

Sam, meanwhile, grew to become best friends with the little girl next door, Kimberly Hampton. They were both outstanding students, successful amateur athletes and remained close long after the Hinkies relocated to Marlow, a tiny town about 70 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, when Sam was 10 and his father was promoted to a position that brought him home.

Sam had one sibling, who was seven years older. One morning, just weeks after the move, in the midst of his senior year of high school, Bill Hinkie picked up a 12-gauge shotgun, according to public records.

Sam Hinkie declines to discuss his brother's death.

After the tragedy, Hinkie threw himself into schoolwork and athletics, eventually starting at defensive back and point guard for the Marlow High football and basketball teams. He'd often show up at the gym more than once a day, and with whatever spare time he had left, started a lawn care business. He graduated valedictorian.

Hinkie once told a classmate at the University of Oklahoma that his exceptional drive stemmed from the fourth grade, when he received a "B" and promised himself it would never happen again.

A pragmatic approach

The first basketball player Hinkie scouted was himself. He could have played at a small school or tried to walk on to a major college program, and he thought long and hard about it before determining his true talents lie elsewhere.

He chose to attend Oklahoma in large part because he thought it provided the most bang for the buck. He became president of the student business association, chairman of the dean's roundtable and served on the advisory board for the business school's leadership center, his strong work ethic and confidence apparent to instructors and classmates from the start.

Through a school program, Hinkie served as CEO of a business that sold football T-shirts, with all proceeds donated to charity. His team was determined to set the program's all-time revenue record, which they crushed.

He also met fellow student Alison Burness.

Hinkie knew he wanted to marry her within a week, but waited a year before whisking her to Paris, a destination he kept secret until they arrived at the airport. He proposed on a bench beside the Arc de Triomphe.

In 2000, Hinkie was named among the top 60 undergraduates in the nation by USA TODAY. He graduated with a 4.0 grade point average, a bachelor's degree in finance and an offer of employment from Bain and Company, a global consulting firm.

The job was based in Dallas, but required Hinkie to travel throughout North America. He later took a position with a Bain Capital subsidiary in Australia, analyzing and identifying businesses to purchase, before enrolling in graduate school to pursue an MBA.

Hinkie turned down Harvard to attend Stanford, swayed by the business school's close relationship with NFL teams. It allowed him to work part-time with the San Francisco 49ers and later the Houston Texans, devising strategies for player pricing, salary cap analysis and identifying opportunities within the draft.

While in Houston, Hinkie convinced Rockets owner Leslie Alexander that he could help the NBA franchise improve its decision-making by using more objective analysis. He worked part-time for the Rockets while he finished his graduate work in California, flying back and forth to Houston one day each week.

Hinkie's childhood friend, Kimberly Hampton, also was supremely motivated, intelligent and pioneering. As a college senior, she became only the second woman to serve as ROTC battalion commander at Presbyterian College, and went on to become an Army helicopter pilot.

On Jan. 2, 2004, Hampton was killed in action in Iraq.

Kimberly's Flight: The Story of Captain Kimberly Hampton, America's First Woman Combat Pilot Killed in Battle was published in 2012 and co-written by her mother, who in the book describes how the Hinkies, having also known the pain of losing a child, rushed to her family's aid when her daughter's helicopter was shot down over Fallujah.

Kimberly was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Air Medal and Purple Heart, and for her championship exploits on the tennis court, was inducted into the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame.

The next year, after graduating from Stanford, Hinkie began working for the Rockets as a full-time special assistant to the general manager, helping to manage the salary cap and evaluate players.

A year later, Daryl Morey, who founded the groundbreaking MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, of which Hinkie was an original contributor, was promoted to GM, and the two become close friends and confidantes.

Hinkie, 29 at the time, was soon named team vice president, the youngest in the history of the NBA.

He and Alison began their family.

In 2009, Hinkie was instrumental in orchestrating a three-team trade that cost the Rockets starting point guard Rafer Alston, but net reserve guard Kyle Lowry, a deal that in 2012 proved critical in acquiring star shooting guard James Harden, whose presence a year later helped the Rockets attract star center Dwight Howard.

The 76ers ownership group, after initially interviewing Hinkie in 2012, cleaned house and handed him the keys to the operation in May 2013.

"I knew whatever he did, he would be in charge of it," Ron Hinkie told The Oklahoman in March. "Just from his actions and the way he went about things. More than anything, how he handled his time. He allocated a certain amount of time for whatever the task was. Did the background work."

The "secret" weapon

Hinkie uses secrecy as a tactical weapon and voraciously reads the work of NBA reporters, studying other GMs to try to decipher what makes them tick.

Hinkie remained incommunicado for nearly seven weeks after his introductory press conference last year, drawing the ire of Philadelphia media as a record number of NBA coaching vacancies were filled and the 76ers' own search failed to launch, choosing to enter the 2013 NBA draft in stealth mode and undermanned.

He finally broke radio silence in the early morning hours after the draft, after his first official move in his new role stole headlines across the country.

Hinkie dealt All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday and a second-round draft pick to the New Orleans Pelicans for injured rookie center Nerlens Noel, the presumptive top overall selection before he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and a top-five protected 2014 first-round pick. Hinkie then drafted Syracuse point guard Michael Carter-Williams, the eventual NBA Rookie of the Year, with the 11th overall selection before a whirlwind of activity in the second round.

Without saying a word publicly, Hinkie had charted a clear course for the 76ers — the bottom of the NBA standings, where they'd acquire one of the top picks in the talent-rich 2014 NBA draft to pair with the probable lottery pick they had just received from the Pelicans.

He had positioned the 76ers as the poster child for institutional tanking, the act of fielding a non-competitive roster in order to increase the odds of acquiring a high pick and potential franchise-altering talent in the draft.

Once his post-draft press conference began, well after 1 a.m., Hinkie refused to explicitly confirm the trade, which was still pending.

Noel wasn't introduced for another month, by which time chronically injured star center Andrew Bynum, who never played a game for the 76ers after the previous administration acquired him in a four-team trade in the summer of 2012, was allowed to leave in free agency, leaving a wealth of room under the salary cap.

Three more silent weeks passed before Hinkie hired Brett Brown as the 76ers' eighth head coach in 10 seasons, becoming the last of a record 13 NBA franchises to fill their vacancy.

Soon, Hinkie's wife and two children left Houston and joined him in the hotel beside the practice facility, where they lived for another four weeks.

Hinkie again faded into the background.

He declined to comment about that wretched, historic losing streak.

He made himself unavailable for interviews at the end of the season, when the 76ers finished with a 19-63 record, the second-worst in the league.

He was nowhere to be seen when Carter-Williams became the first 76er since Iverson to accept the NBA Rookie of the Year award.

And until the night of May 20, at the NBA draft lottery in New York City, where he was swarmed by reporters in the ABC Times Square Studios after the 76ers landed the No. 3 and No. 10 overall picks in this summer's draft, had not spoken to the media at large since dealing away three veterans, including two starters, for a stockpile of second-round draft picks at the trade deadline in late February.

"I came in saying I sort of know what the odds are, and you hope for good luck," Hinkie said. "But I'm not under any illusions my hope really helps. And so what you do is you say, 'Can you live with these scenarios?' "

Hunt for hidden gems

Building a championship roster is a year-round enterprise, which is why, on the night of Iverson's number retirement ceremony, Hinkie was far more interested in Jarvis Varnado, a 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward who he signed to a 10-day contract earlier in the day.

Varnado, with his 7-foot-4 wingspan, was a three-time Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Mississippi State and only the second player in NCAA history to surpass 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 career blocks, joining David Robinson.

But that day was his 26th birthday, and he had bounced around since Miami drafted him in the second round in 2010, playing in Italy, Israel, and the NBA Development League, along with brief stints with the Celtics, Heat and Bulls.

The 76ers signed five players to eight 10-day contracts combined last season, more than any other team in the NBA, according to hoopsrumors.com.

"When the draft comes and goes, there's a certain set of players you acquire and there's a whole bunch of others you had interest in acquiring. That doesn't die," Hinkie said in an interview with The News Journal of Wilmington, Del. before the penultimate home game of the season. "The reasons you had interests in them has validity. Even if it doesn't come to fruition for 24 or 48 or 60 months, there's often still things there that are of interest, and there's lots of players, even players who will be playing in May and June, who found that route, who have come along."

One is Patrick Beverley. Hinkie scouted the point guard for years during his time with the Rockets, through his college career at Arkansas to a season in Ukraine to his being drafted in the second round by the Lakers in 2009 to his exploits in Greece to his summer league stint with the Heat and throughout his playing days in Russia, where he was named the 2011-12 Eurocup MVP.

In Jan. 2013, Hinkie negotiated a deal with Beverley's agent to pay a big chunk of his buyout and signed him to a three-year contract.

Beverley is now the Rockets' starting point guard. They went 54-28 last season.

"Over and over and over, this happens all the time, where guys, just because it doesn't click in the first 30 days," Hinkie said, snapping his fingers, "doesn't mean they may not be able to play. And you can't talk as much as we do about player development and then not be willing to watch players develop."

On March 29, Varnado scored nine points, grabbed three rebounds and blocked six shots in 21 minutes as the 76ers routed the Detroit Pistons to snap their epic losing streak.

Before Varnado's 10-day contract expired, Hinkie had signed him to a two-year deal.

"Sam is a straight down the fairway guy ..." Morey, the Rockets GM, told The News Journal. "He won't stop until he builds a dynasty up there in Philly. He's going to build Lego brick by Lego brick, and there's no chance he won't succeed."

Always moving

It's Friday, three days before Carter-Williams is officially named the NBA Rookie of the Year, and Hinkie, his basketball operations staff and scouts are gathered from around the country, wrapping up a week of intensive meetings with a celebratory dinner.

Hinkie will return to work at 6:30 the next morning. He often gets by on four hours of sleep a night, and he still has to pack for Sunday, when he'll leave for a week-long scouting trip in Europe, where he'll wake up in a different bed each day.

Within the next two weeks, Alison will give birth to twin boys, the couple's third and fourth children. Hinkie will travel to Chicago and Denver, and the Cleveland Cavaliers will beat long odds to win the top overall draft pick in the NBA lottery in New York, dropping the 76ers to third. Hinkie will tell reporters there that in the last 21 days, he's spent just 18 hours at home.

In the morning, he'll leave for Los Angeles, where he'll spend the next three days before catching a redeye to Philadelphia, where he'll spend the next several weeks, including Memorial Day, overseeing closed pre-draft workouts, including one for Kansas freshman forward Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins will bypass a group of reporters, slipping out a side door and into a black SUV. He'll later be drafted No. 1 by the Cavaliers.

The 76ers, meanwhile, will receive $82 million in tax breaks to build a palatial practice facility and team headquarters in Camden, N.J., a 120,000-square foot complex that will rank as the largest in the NBA. Hinkie's fingerprints are all over the blueprints.

A few days later, 7-foot Cameroon native Joel Embiid will fracture a bone in his right foot. After a week of research, Hinkie, ever consistent, ever patient, will repeat his gamble of a year earlier, and use the third overall pick to select another hobbled center, one widely considered the top talent in the draft before the injury. Surgery will keep Embiid sidelined for most, if not all, of next season.

Hinkie will then put his sleuthing and silence to work, curiously selecting point guard Elfrid Payton with the 10th pick, acquired from New Orleans, before flipping him to the Orlando Magic, whom he correctly surmises are waiting for the player to drop to 12th. In exchange, the 76ers re-acquire the future first-round pick originally surrendered in the disastrous Bynum deal, along with a 2015 second-rounder and the rights to Croatian forward Dario Saric, the reigning Adriatic League MVP, who is contractually obligated to play at least the next two seasons overseas.

The moves will send a portion of the 76ers fan base into an uproar.

About a week later, Hinkie's patience will begin to pay off when Noel plays his first game in 17 months, making his 76ers debut in the Orlando Pro Summer League.

But now, on this afternoon in early May, Hinkie doesn't know when — or even if — the 76ers will win another NBA championship. There are factors outside his control, and though he innovates and crunches numbers and masters the probabilities, Lady Luck will have her say.

"It's wild in some ways," he told OU's Price Magazine in 2008. "The story of my life, I've been very lucky along the way and I also worked hard to try to make my own luck."

He's still grinding, persevering, preparing, remaining patient. He's building toward the future, and trying to make the most of time and opportunity, like his father years ago, not only in his business pursuits but in his personal life as well.

Hinkie concludes a lunch meeting, his final work-related obligation before leaving for that scouting trip to Europe.

There are six hours until his kids go to bed, and he's running late for a T-ball game.

Jason Wolf writes for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., a Gannett affiliate.