As you hear the chant "Trust the Process" in arenas around the NBA when the Philadelphia 76ers are in town, many believe that phrase is solely attributed to the newly crowned Sixers' franchise player Joel Embiid. However, there is more to that chant than just the freshman sensation out of the University of Kansas, who many compare to Hakeem Olajuwon.
Someone had to give birth to this freakishly athletic 7'2 big man. No, not his mother, but former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie.
Four years ago, many Philadelphians were stuck on how to feel about a Sixers team that was making the putrid Eastern Conference Playoffs as a number eight seed with a below .500 record - that shouldn't sound new, actually, because it still happens in today's NBA.
You might remember names such as Andre Iguodala, Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner and Lou Williams, none of which were franchise-altering players. It was time to blow this core up.
Then arrived the extinguisher, to do just that. Hinkie warned the Philadelphia fan base ahead of time that they were entering a rebuilding mode and to "trust the process." But the question many fans pondered was for "how long?"
Hinkie exterminated the Sixers from competing in the NBA, to the point where their roster was basically a team full of D-leaguers. The only bright spots to take out of these three years of horrid losing records were higher draft picks and Hinkie's mastering of trading for assets.
It looks like Hinkie's timetable was a four-year plan, and four years later, the Sixers have a team to be excited about.
With Hinkie gone, insert Jerry Colangelo, the mind behind the Toronto Raptors current nucleus of young talent. Colangelo's goal is to stop mapping out the design and start building.
You can finally start to see flashes of Sixers' head coach Brett Brown's roots (San Antonio Spurs) in their style of play with actual talent at his hands. Sharing the basketball is a beautiful thing to watch.
And who could forget Ben Simmons! The 2016 number one pick is supposedly almost back to full strength and could see him on the court paired with Embiid as soon as this year.
Thanks to a very loyal and surprisingly patient Philadelphia fan base, they're "trusting the process."
