Sixers miss Sam Hinkie so much they tried to hire his mentor

The New York Times’ Marc Stein broke a doozy on Monday: the Sixers, still looking for a leader for their front office, tried to poach Rockets GM and reigning Executive of the Year Daryl Morey. Philadelphia’s attempt to execute a brazen and stunning coup by hiring away Morey was rebuffed, apparently by Morey himself.

This is absurdly bold! Morey is as close to a front office institution as exists in the NBA right now outside of R.C. Buford in San Antonio and Pat Riley in Miami. The Sixers would be an intriguing, fruitful job for any NBA executive, but Morey just built a team worthy of challenging the Warriors. While this summer has gone poorly for Houston, you think there’s any chance a guy so strongly obsessed with beating Golden State is going to walk away now? No chance.

The ironic twist here is that the Sixers are looking for a GM because they had to fire Bryan Colangelo for his familial Twitter fingers two years after Colangelo replaced the successful but controversial Sam Hinkie. Hinkie, of course, is Morey’s protegé. While Morey and Hinkie followed different team-building paths, the latter’s rationale stems from the former’s central philosophy: you need superstar players to compete in the NBA.

The good news for the Sixers is that Hinkie is, by all appearances, still available. For all we know Philadelphia could call him up right now and offer him the position of president of basketball operations. It’s not Morey, but it’d be a sonic boom in the NBA doldrums, it’d excite certain fans and Joel Embiid, who was one of the targets of those Colangelo family Twitter critiques.

Here’s Matt Ellentuck waxing on A’ja Wilson, the reigning WNBA No. 1 pick who is carrying the Las Vegas Aces to shocking respectability. The Aces were awful last season and started slow this year, but have a good shot at the playoffs thanks to A’ja and Kayla McBride.

No. 1 picks don’t always make this kind of impact. The Aces had the No. 1 last year too, of course, and Kelsey Plum (one of the great college scorers) is just now finding her rhythm in the pros. That makes Wilson’s early dominance look so, so impressive.

Wilson will likely be named an All-Star Tuesday evening when the pool of 22 players is announced. The WNBA’s new format is interesting: the 22 All-Stars are chosen regardless of conference by media, coaches, players, and fans. The two captains are the highest vote-getters regardless of conference, and they will draft teams regardless of conference. If it works, the NBA should adopt the last couple tweaks to convert to that system.

Guess who took over Vegas Summer League on Sunday? LeBron James and his $500 Lakers shorts, of course.

Paul Flannery talked with new Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce on what it’s like to move from assistant to head coach, defense, and more.

Since getting Eastern franchise owners to agree to open playoff seeding is a daunting task, I whipped up a proposal to bribe them into saying yes. It includes an 8-team play-in round and not that much more playoff travel.

The biggest free agency news since we last met was Jabari Parker agreeing to a 2-year, $40 million deal with the Bulls, aided by the Bucks graciously rescinding their qualifying offer to the former No. 2 pick. I wrote that despite the unsatisfying break-up, the Bucks did the right thing by picking Parker and by letting him go.

Ricky O’Donnell on the Clippers’ Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who looked like the best rookie point guard at Summer League. I’m telling you, that team is going to be frisky again.

Kristian Winfield lavishes praise on the Nets’ rebuild plan ... and I’m not seeing anything to disagree with. The only caution I’d express is that free agency has never gone super well for the Nets.

David Aldridge points out that both L.A. and New York teams will have cap space next summer.

Trae Young says an airball bothers him for 2.2 seconds before he moves on.

The Kings would reportedly have to make a “stunning offer” to pry Rodney Hood away from the Cavaliers. Your move, Vlade Divac.

Shocking news: LaVar Ball is already talking trash about LeBron.

Tim Hardaway, Jr. on his trials and tribulations.

As a mindset cult member (is there a catchy name for us?), I’m here for the Brad Stevens Book Club.

The Indiana Fever and Pacers are walking away from sponsorships with Papa John’s.

Enjoyable read from Nick Friedell on the art of schmoozing at Vegas Summer League.

What Mike Bibby eats to get swole. (Bibby’s comments about always wanting to bulk up during his career are absolutely true: he came into the 2005-06 season yoked and quickly dropped the weight because preseason went really poorly.)

The NBA coaches’ association is getting proactive on health and wellness.

Kevin Lipe on the life and death and resurrection, perhaps, of Grit and Grind.

Haley O’Shaughnessy puts three teams on Turmoil Watch going into next season.

I wrote about the folly of doubting Isaiah Thomas.

Michael Pina on why Mikal Bridges could be more than meets the eye.

The Ringer’s biggest takeaways from free agency.

Don’t freak out about Jimmy Butler rejecting the Wolves’ max extension offer ... yet.

Meet the women of SB Nation’s NBA team brands.

And finally: Collin Sexton is fricking hilarious, y’all. Brilliant twist on the old Coach K floor slap. I don’t know if the Cavaliers will be very watchable this season, but Sexton sure will be.

Back on Thursday, barring major news sooner. Be excellent to each other.