One of the most promising talents in the NBA, 76ers center Joel Embiid has asked to be referred to as “The Process.” The nickname derives from the phrase “Trust the Process,” which was coined by the 76ers franchise a few years ago when the team’s general manager at the time, Sam Hinkie, implemented a strategy to turn the team around by trading stars and tanking. For Hinkie’s three seasons from 2013-16, the Sixers lost games at a historic rate but were able to accumulate several top-five picks. Among those picks were two of the best young talents in the league, Embiid and Ben Simmons, who have helped establish the Sixers as one of the top teams in the East today.
Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that the Sixers could have used this strategy to become even better, as three top-six picks were used on Nerlens Noel, Jahlil Okafor and Markelle Fultz, who were all subsequently traded for marginal talent or pick compensation. Ultimately, however, the Sixers’ owners grew impatient with Hinkie’s strategy, and pressure from the organization forced Hinkie to resign in April 2016.
Hinkie and the Sixers exposed an underlying problem in the NBA — the lack of a viable method for mediocre teams to contend with increasingly star-studded powerhouses and a perception that tanking is the only solution. The lack of opportunity to build a championship-quality team has created a situation in which there is a belief that teams who are not one of the three to five championship contenders, especially those in smaller markets in which recruiting a top free agent is nearly impossible, essentially have to tank to turn their fortunes around. This method seems to be the only practical way of acquiring a star or two through a top five draft pick.
Hinkie embraced this solution and led an organization with the mentality of doing whatever he could to stockpile as many top picks as possible from opposing teams in trades while keeping all of their own. Hinkie hoped that with five to seven of these picks he would maximize the Sixers’ chances of drafting a few star players.
While Hinkie surely did not invent tanking, no coach has done it as overtly and as defiantly as he did. Consequently, in recent years, tanking has become far more prevalent. Hinkie’s leadership has forced the league and its fans to address the viability of tanking, turning the strategy into one of the most polarizing issues in the NBA.
Fans of bottom teams in the NBA are taking pride in their team’s losses, with the realization that the worse their team’s record, the higher their chance of getting the coveted draft prospect to turn the team around. Tanking has been around in the league since the early 1980s, indicating a long-held belief that tanking is the most effective and most necessary way to turn a franchise around. It is a bad look for the NBA, however, when five to 10 of its 30 teams are encouraging losses to increase their chances at a top pick. The method contradicts the inherently competitive nature of sports and challenges the core purpose of winning.
As the Sixers have proved, however, tanking is far from a guarantee for success. While they have been a formidable team the past few seasons, they have yet to advance past the second round of the NBA playoffs despite drafting two of the top players in the conference and leveraging their other assets such as Jimmy Butler, who was replaced in free agency by Al Horford. The Sixers gave themselves as much of an opportunity as possible to stockpile assets and still remain outside the top tier of championship contenders.
With reduced lottery odds for the league’s worst teams and the randomness of the top of the NBA draft lottery, it remains unclear if tanking is as viable as proponents like Hinkie make it out to be. The tanking remains an important issue and forces the NBA to address how it can maintain its competitive nature and appeal to its fans while providing opportunities for average teams to elevate themselves to title contenders.
