Lowe: Sam Hinkie's Analytics Staff Expected To Be Gone

Whenever there's a regime change in a sports franchise, it's pretty common for the new boss to bring in his own handpicked staff, while also getting rid of some of the people he inherited along with the job. President Bryan Colangelo has already completed the first act by bringing in the likes of Marc Eversley and Ned Cohen, and according to ESPN's Zach Lowe, act two should be coming shortly.

Orlando is the only team to rank 16th or worse in both points scored and allowed per possession over each of the last four seasons, per NBA.com. Philadelphia's old regime sees the star-less mishmash and thinks: "This is why we trusted the process."

In related news, that regime -- including deposed GM Sam Hinkie's handpicked analytics crew -- will be mostly gone by the end of August, league sources say.

The most notable names tied to Hinkie's analytics team are vice president of basketball strategy Ben Falk, and vice president of basketball operations Sachin Gupta, both of whom worked very closely with the former Sixers general manager.

Falk joined the Sixers in 2014 from the Portland Trail Blazers, and was seen as an analytics wunderkind. Gupta, known as the mastermind behind ESPN's trade machine, worked alongside Hinkie during their time with the Houston Rockets. Daryl Morey credited Gupta for a strategy Hinkie used throughout his time in Philadelphia: receiving valuable assets for taking on contract dumps from teams looking to clear salary.

These moves felt somewhat inevitable given the new pecking order of the Sixers front office, but disappointing nonetheless. Back in April, Colangelo did an interview with Sixers.com's Brian Seltzer in which he seemed fond of the analytics department Hinkie had set up.

From an analytics standpoint, Colangelo feels that the Sixers "play the right way," based upon his observations from afar.

"I’m impressed with the intelligence of the organization," said Colangelo of his new team.  "I’m going to embrace it, and I’m actually curious to see if there’s anything new that we haven’t broached."

Perhaps Colangelo will eventually revamp the analytics group with those he gets to personally select, but getting rid of Gupta and Falk will certainly put a giant hole in the program.