Quotable: Sam Hinkie on the Sixers' ‘Big Moment' and ‘One Gut-Wrenching Phone Call'

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After a pre-draft media blackout and one hell of a shakeup on Thursday night, Sixers GM Sam Hinkie finally sat down to address the media a little after 1 a.m. on Friday.

Hinkie prefaced by saying that he could not discuss certain specifics -- like the one topic everyone wants to talk about, the trade of Jrue Holiday for Nerlens Noel -- because the team's variety of draft-night deals have not yet been made official.

That said, Hinkie was able to speak on some matters in general, at least hint at Holiday in specific, and once again address Andrew Bynum, albeit without saying much on that final topic. Some notable Sam Hinkie quotes below...

On Michael Carter-Williams:

We can talk now about something I think we should be pretty excited about, and that's Michael Carter-Williams and what he could mean to a team in our situation and we could mean for our future.

He's a 21-year-old point guard with incredible size, with great passing instincts, with really, really impressive athleticism, and a guy who sees the floor and can get anywhere he wants to be on the floor. This is a player that, in time, we think we can really grow with and one we're obviously excited about.

On the draft-night shakeup:

There are also (in addition to Michael Carter-Williams) a number of other transactions, some of which you've heard about, most of which we can't say too much about until they're finalized with the league.

But I think this is a big moment in the sense that -- In some senses it should be a bit clarifying for where we stand and what's sort of gone on here and what we think needs to go here in the future. So we will take steps, like we've taken tonight, over and over and over. We will take steps to be really future-focused and to really try to build something special.

I meant that when I said that -- the last time you saw me, apparently -- I mean that when I said the ownership here and the people in this organization have a real commitment to build something lasting and to build something big. And sometimes that requires taking risks, often it requires doing things differently -- a little differently here or there, or a lot differently here and there -- and I think you've seen some of that play out tonight.

I think tonight is sort of a summation of the kinds we'll have to do moving forward.

Hinting at parting with Jrue when asked if the night went better than he expected:

Challenging night in many ways ... with one gut-wrenching phone call. All in all though, I think the right thing to do. I think the right thing to do.

Have the Sixers hired a coach?

I heard some rumors tonight. It was busy tonight. Nothing of that substance happened, I can tell you. We had a lot of things going on. That is not part of what happened in the last several hours.

In specific, has Brett Brown been hired, as reported?

Not true. Not true. Not true.

On bringing it "down a notch" (a polite way to refer to tanking) next year in the interest of a achieving long-term goal:

I think [having] the end is mind is really important about where it is we want to go and how we think about bringing talent into the team, bringing latent talent out in our own players or bringing sometimes a different set of players together. I'm comfortable with both of those.

I think everyone wants the same thing. All of players, all of coaches, when it's all in place, we all want the same thing. We all want to win and we want to build something we can be proud of.

And finally, have the Sixers had any contact with Andrew Bynum or his agent?

Ah, good question. We haven't had a whole lot of contact. There's been a whole lot of work behind the scenes. I think we'll be open-minded and respectful. Andrew is a free agent and one we'll have some discussions with. And we'll sort of see where it goes.

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