Constructing a baseball team and a basketball roster are apples and oranges. We just can’t juxtapose the two and compare them. Nevertheless, not a few people have noticed the similarities between the newly-minted World Series champions Houston Astros and the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers in terms of the philosophy both franchises have shared over the past few years: tank the hell out each season for future success.
And when the Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers yesterday in a Game 7 to take home the organization’s first-ever World Series title, Sam Hinkie, the former general manager of the Sixers surfaced on Twitter and tried to use Houston’s success to validate “The Process” he ushered the 76ers into during his regime in Philly.
I love it when a plan comes together.https://t.co/JVEq8ScDGC
— Sam Hinkie (@samhinkie) November 2, 2017
Before winning the World Series, the Astros had to go through a grim stretch of consecutive losing seasons that included three-straight 100-loss campaigns from 2011 to 2013. The shameless tanking obviously paid off for the Astros, as among the key figures that helped them win were previous high top draft picks they got in return of all the losing. (George Springer, the 11th overall pick in 2011, was named the World Series MVP.)
Astros general manager Jeff Lunhow was there from the start of Houston’s tanking and remains to be the team’s architect to this day. Sam Hinkie, on the other hand, is no longer the Sixers’ GM after stepping down from the role last year, so he’ll have to wait and see whether Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and company would have the same success somewhere else.
The Astros trusted the process and they succeeded. Sam Hinkie believes it’ll happen to the Sixers eventually.
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