The Sixers and the cult of Sam Hinkie

There are those, like outspoken WIP program director Spike Eskin, that are true-believers when it comes to "The Process" of the Sixers being the worst team in the NBA.

Max Rappaport, one of these true believers who dubbed the movement "The Cult of Sam Hinkie," explained the thought process of his group of rabid supporters:

"We admit that the product right now is garbage, and we know tanking doesn't guarantee future success, but at the end of the day we support the plan because we're sick of the mediocrity we had come to expect year after year… We'd rather fail at being great than succeed at being okay."

Rappaport can at least admit "The Process" hasn't gone as expected, as the Sixers have been denied lottery luck and landing that transcendent player Hinkie supporters say will justify the team's intentional losing.

Maybe it will happen this year, but it looks unlikely that the Lakers pick, which is top-three protected, will fall to the Sixers. The team also owns first round picks from both the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder, but both look like they'll end up being pretty late in the first round.

The Sixers do own the right to swap first round picks with the Sacramento Kings, but it's highly unlikely the King's pick will end up higher than the Sixers. Plus, if the Sixers do edge out the Lakers as the worst team in the league, the chances of getting the top pick is only 25 percent. Hardly a lock.

As the Inquirer's Keith Pompey points out, the Sixers' strategy isn't the only way to develop your team. Not only are the Boston Celtics already contenting for a playoff spot, at the moment they have the most draft picks of any team in the upcoming draft. They also have plenty of cap space to land a potential game-changing free agent to pair with Isaiah Thomas, their all-star point guard.

"Everything has to go perfect for the Sixers to have a chance," a anonymous league executive told Pompey. "They have to get the No. 1 pick this year. Joel Embiid has to be a star player. They have to get the [Los Angeles] Lakers' pick. They have to have [Dario] Saric as a great player and [he] has come over. So everything has to to be perfect basically for the Sixers."

I do enjoy the fact that fans like Rappaport, Eskin and others are still passionate about a team that has lost 60 or more games for three straight seasons. And there was a brief time I thought Hinkie and the Sixers were actually turning the corner.

But unfortunately, that was countless losses ago, and at this point, I don't think betting on perfection is that smart of a gamble.

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Rob Tornoe is the sports cartoonist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philly.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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