In Hinkie’s case, he never turned the oven on and made the crust with gravel instead of flour, on the assumption that he could make the proper substitution when The Recipe was in its final stages.

And his supporters were taking bites all along convinced how good a raw gravel pie was going to taste when he had…

Yes. Tanking at best and luckiest is a way to get two or three strong players, but you can’t win by surrounding them with garbage. That’s the hardest part of being an NBA GM, and even getting those core players is harder than it looks.

Successful teams absolutely must have strong players at the #4 through #8 or #9…

That’s the beauty of The Plan — drive off from your fan base everyone except for the most deluded followers, and now you have a stat that looks impressive to people who don’t know anything about stats! Today’s Sixers have 100% optimism for the future. Not even the Sixers of the days with Erving and Malone and Cheeks…

This is a sign that the money has lost faith in the other piece of “The Process” — the piece that doesn’t get enough billing after all the stuff about tanking for top draft choices.