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Tanking to the Top

The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports

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Tanking to the Top

Written by: Yaron Weitzman
Narrated by: Yaron Weitzman
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About this listen

Enter the City of Brotherly Love and see how the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers trusted The Process – using a bold plan to get to first by becoming the worst.

When a group of private equity bigwigs purchased the Philadelphia 76ers in 2011, the team was both bad and boring. Attendance was down. So were ratings. The Sixers had an aging coach, an antiquated front office, and a group of players that could best be described as mediocre.

Enter Sam Hinkie - a man with a plan straight out of the PE playbook, one that violated professional sports' Golden Rule: You play to win the game. In Hinkie's view, the best way to reach first was to embrace becoming the worst - to sacrifice wins in the present in order to capture championships in the future. And to those dubious, Hinkie had a response: Trust The Process, and the results will follow.

The plan, dubbed "The Process", seems to have worked. More than six years after handing Hinkie the keys, the Sixers have transformed into one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. They've emerged as a championship contender with a roster full of stars, none bigger than Joel Embiid, a captivating seven-footer known for both brutalizing opponents on the court and taunting them off of it.

Beneath the surface, though, lies a different story, one of infighting, dueling egos, and competing agendas. Hinkie, pushed out less than three years into his reign by a demoralized owner, a jealous CEO, and an embarrassed NBA, was the first casualty of The Process. He'd be far from the last.

Drawing from interviews with nearly 175 people, Tanking to the Top brings to life the palace intrigue incited by Hinkie's proposal, taking listeners into the boardroom where the Sixers laid out their plans, and onto the courts where those plans met reality. Full of uplifting, rags-to-riches stories, backroom dealings, mysterious injuries, and burner Twitter accounts, Tanking to the Top is the definitive, inside story of the Sixers' Process and a fun and lively behind-the-scenes look at one of America's most transgressive teams.

Including exclusive interviews with Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Coach Brett Brown, Sam Hinkie, and more.

©2020 Yaron Weitzman (P)2020 Grand Central Publishing
Basketball History of Sports Feel-Good
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What the critics say

"There are layers to the brilliance of this book: The reporting is generally way deeper than what's come before. Much of the writing about "The Process" only muddies the waters, adds noise where we are desperate for signal. Here, for the first time, is an account that will confuse no one: Yes, this is what Sam Hinkie was trying to do; yes, it failed in some ways, and succeeded in others. The lucky readers of TANKING TO THE TOP will gain the insight to judge what was what. And finally, even with all of this new information to impart...it's still sexy and fun to read. How in the hell did he do that?" (Henry Abbott, founder and CEO, TrueHoop)

"[A] dishy, punchy debut...Weitzman wildly entertains in this backroom NBA history." (Publishers Weekly)

"'The Process' was the boldest, brashest, diciest, most controversial roster-building exercise we've seen in the NBA. Sam Hinkie's gambit alarmed fans and outraged NBA executives - and it worked. But the Sixers' rise from laughingstock to contender was so much more complex and layered than a two-word catch phrase. In TANKING TO THE TOP, Yaron Weitzman unearths new details and fresh insights, with an insider's expertise and a deft touch, providing the definitive account of this fascinating saga." (Howard Beck, senior NBA writer, The Bleacher Report)

What listeners say about Tanking to the Top

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Inside story of an NBA front office

An interesting and detailed telling of the 76's front office and the decisions made over the last decade-plus. The subject matter is not groundbreaking but the story is well told and engaging from start to finish. If you are interested in sports management and the NBA in general, you're going to enjoy the book.

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