NBA News: Jerry Colangelo says former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie ‘ran out of time’

Bryan Colangelo has won over a few of the diehard Process supporters over the last year or so, but his father Jerry is not exactly the most beloved figure in Philadelphia. This blog has been no exception to that, and the vision of Uncle Jerry running the Sixers via Skype has been everyone’s favorite running joke.

The elder Colangelo sat down for an interview with 94.1 WIP’s Chris Carlin and Ike Reese, and they touched on a wide range of topics, starting with some chatter about the NBA Finals and ending on a note about Hinkie, the executive who laid the groundwork his son is now building from.

Jerry was asked to comment on how his opinion of Sam has changed since he took on a role with the Sixers, and he seemed to take some veiled shots at the job he did:

When I was asked to come in, and serve in a capacity as I was, I looked around and saw what i did, getting to know Sam—who I didn’t know up until that point—I respect the fact that he thought so much out of the box, which he really did, in terms of being the analytical guy that he is. People can look back on decisions that he made good or bad, and most everyone’s track record is full of both, and come to their own conclusions.

I would say this. Since the change in management, theres much more of a defined game plan in terms of going forward, and that’s very positive in my opinion for the franchise. Sam left some good stuff in place, no question about that. Along the line there was a lot of pain in terms of incredible losing, and that can only be sustained for a period of time.

I think in Philly’s case, I think he probably ran out of time.

This seems like a pretty transparent regurgitation of a local talking point among Hinkie skeptics, that he had “no plan” and was just losing a lot. It’s a pretty slanted depiction of what was going on, especially considering the team’s success in 2016-17 was sparked almost exclusively by acquisitions made prior to the Colangelo family arriving. All their signings to date have been of the temporary/band-aid variety, and that’s not to say they were ineffective, but it doesn’t take a mastermind to pay a bunch of money to middling free agents.

It’s also worth noting that Hinkie “ran out of time” because the Colangelo family was part of him losing his post. While the league, ownership, and other larger forces loomed large, describing your son taking a GM job with a team you worked for as the other guy simply running out of time is an interesting tactic. It would be like saying the turkey and cheese in my refrigerator “ran out of time” this afternoon after I made a sandwich with the ingredients and ate them.

Elsewhere during the interview, Colangelo spoke excitedly of the options afforded to the franchise because of all the assets they have in place, and said the team is keeping their options open at No. 3:

I would say this, and don’t overlook the fact that there are are a couple, maybe three outstanding wing prospects to go along with the guards. It’s deep, maybe 1-9 is the way I would look at it. We’re weighing all the probabilities, the possibilities, and how it all fits together.

It’s not as simple or as black and white as, ‘Okay, we’re taking a guard,’ or ‘We’re taking a wing.’ That’s not the case, I think you keep all your options open until the bewitching moment when you make your pick, but you have plan a b and c in place, and I love the fact that we have all the options available to us right now.

I think this draft could be very important for the Sixers not just this coming year, but in years to come.

Not exactly a revelation that a top-three pick is important to a team’s future, but the franchise is saying all the right things about being flexible at that spot, and they haven’t gone overboard with a love for “fit” in prospects. The Sixers have a lot of options at the No. 3 spot—trades included—and preserving the mystery is the right path to take at this point.