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Don't cry for Sam Hinkie; he's ready to shred

Dan Devine
Senior NBA writer
Sam Hinkie's on his second cup. (Getty Images)
Sam Hinkie’s on his second cup. (Getty Images)

When we last heard from Sam Hinkie, he was explaining his decision to step down from his post as the president and general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers in a 13-page letter of resignation to the Sixers’ ownership group that — reportedly much to Hinkie’s chagrin — made its way into the hands of the press. The investor letter-style debriefing allowed the public to hear an awful lot from the famously reluctant-to-speak Hinkie — more than 7,000 words’ worth — on a variety of topics, from the relative value of hiding your light under a bushel and axe-sharpening to the importance of disruption and flouting conventional wisdom.

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It was quite a document, one that featured the following sentence: “If you need to reach me — now or later — I am available at [contact information redacted] and I suspect someday soon on Twitter via @samhinkie.”

“Someday soon” was Wednesday, more than five months after the resignation letter leaked to the public. Sam Hinkie is BACK, you guys, and he’s still sounding very much like Sam Hinkie:

So, to review: Hinkie rebounded from his Colangelo-tinged ouster by heading west to Silicon Valley to spend his “gap year” (before getting back into the NBA game, perhaps?) drinking deeply of the region’s limitless knowledge from the holy grail at the intersection of basketball and technology … well, in between mocha lattes, shredding and sculpting the minds of the next generation of Cardinal leaders, that is.

An artist's rendering of Sam Hinkie getting major air.
An artist’s rendering of Sam Hinkie getting major air.

Except, um, about that last part, from Kevin Draper at Deadspin:

Curious about what classes he would teach—and really, hoping to get the syllabuses of them—I contacted the university about Hinkie’s position. Here is what Stanford’s Graduate School of Business sent me:

Confused about how Hinkie’s tweet that he would “teach a little (at Stanford)” meshed with “will be a guest speaker in one or more class sessions in our sports management courses,” I asked for clarification. This is what I was sent:

The good news, I guess, is that you don’t have to worry about keeping the job quite so much if you don’t actually have it.

After his 10-tweet storm, Hinkie declined on-the-record comment about his tenure with the 76ers or the next stage of his professional “repotting” to Mike Sielski of Philly.com, which, given how Hinkie’s relationship with the media went during his time in Pennsylvania, is about as perfect a place to end this as any. Enjoy California as you mind your “gap year,” Sam. See you on the slopes.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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