Sam Hinkie Submits an All-Star Vote for Joel Embiid on Twitter

Former president and general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, Sam Hinkie, submitted a vote for Joel Embiid to be in the All-Star game.

Without Sam Hinkie, the Philadelphia 76ers would have never drafted Joel Embiid. While one could argue that may have sped up their rebuilding process given that Embiid sat out the first two years of his NBA eligibility due to injury, that is all in retrospect, and what we know now is that Embiid is a special talent.

So special, in fact, that he’s gathered serious consideration to be a possible member of the Eastern Conference All-Star roster this year. Heck, let’s not stop there, he’s pretty darn close — according to the most recent NBA report on fan voting — to being on track to being a starter in the Eastern Conference.

But what Embiid needs is more votes. Well, today, he got one more (and a few more in the form of a retweet as well). The man who orchestrated the risky move to draft Embiid — yes, Hinkie himself — voted for him publicly on Twitter.

Embiid Tweeted at Hinkie and asked him who he was going to vote for, and, well, that answers that. Embiid has gotten endorsements from Meek Mill, his teammates, Brett Brown, and has even gotten a lot of votes from retweets on his own Tweets.

While an endorsement from Hinkie won’t put him over the top and launch him into being a starter in the game, it certainly will help. But that’s not the appeal here, anyway. Hinkie and Embiid’s relationship was one that was close, special, and probably like no other general manager and player had before.

Embiid isn’t blind, he knows what Hinkie did for him by taking a gamble on him. And while the team could have given up on his recovery last season when he was out with a second foot surgery recovery, Hinkie instead put the foot on the pedal and asked the team to put essentially all of their resources towards one man’s recovery.

That’s the type of person you want in your life, someone who is looking out for the best in your career. While Hinkie isn’t around to see his career come to fruition firsthand — and just like Hinkie planned it, too — he is clearly still invested in what the big man is doing, and very pleased. He’s around, and voting for Embiid, sort of like a guardian angel of sorts.

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