Charles Barkley Defends Former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie

Was the Philadelphia 76ers' 'process' a success? Sixers legend Charles Barkley believes it was, in a sense considering they are "set up to win for the next five years or more." While many Sixers fans like to frequently credit the former Sixers GM for essentially sacrificing his job in order to help the team build for the future, Barkley believes the entire Hinkie ordeal is "overrated."

He might be right -- but Philly doesn't care. For years, Sam Hinkie's short-lived stint in the Philly front office has been debated. On one side, fans believe he was nothing short of spectacular, and the Sixers wouldn't be contenders without him.

On the other side, there are anti-Hinkie Sixers fans, who believe the philosophy of tanking isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Regardless of which side you may or may not be on, the debate is still very much relevant today. And recently, the folks over at 94WIP in Philly are back to debating whether or not Hinkie was a solid GM.

On Wednesday, Charles Barkley dished in his two cents on the topic. Despite believing Hinkie's time with the Sixers is often overblown, Barkley seems to think that the former 76ers General Manager did a satisfactory job during his few years in the front office.

"He didn’t trade away good players, those guys weren't going to win. The way this thing is now, you either have to be a contender or you are just going to be mediocre. That's the way the game is played now. You can't be a number seven, eight seed every year and lose. I have no problem with teams building through the draft trying to get into the lottery. Teams have always done it."

Does Barkley's thought process settle the debate? Not entirely. Since Hinkie never actually had the chance to keep his spot in the Sixers' front office when the team transitioned to a playoff contender, nobody could predict what might've happened since he was always connected to a losing squad.

But Barkley does raise some valid points. The Sixers weren't contenders with the standout players they had on board -- so Hinkie's decision to trade them for future assets shouldn't justify calling him a bad GM. At the same time, though, Barkley thinks that as much as Hinkie got "too much blame," he also got too much credit for the Sixers' most recent success.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_