Phoenix Suns: 5 candidates to replace Ryan McDonough as GM

4. Sam Hinkie

After firing their GM nine days before the start of the regular season, the last thing the Suns need right now is a laughable hire. With the reputation of the organization in danger of somehow sinking even lower, Phoenix has to get this one right. There’s no question hiring Sam Hinkie would come with its fair share of derision, skepticism and yes, plenty of jokes.

However, Hinkie was ultimately proven to be a pretty solid evaluator of talent. He had his fair share of misses like Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams, sure, but his maneuvering also landed the Philadelphia 76ers their franchise pillars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, not to mention the draft assets that became Dario Saric and Markelle Fultz. He was also the one who gave Robert Covington a chance after signing him from the D-League.

He can evaluate talent, and is better than the current alternative.

The problematic question here — and one the Sixers unfortunately never let him answer — is whether he would’ve actually been able to do anything with all the assets he stockpiled. The drafting and trading for extra picks was great, but it was simply tearing down the old regime and laying a new foundation. Would he have been able to build upon it? Could he have traded for a Kawhi Leonard or signed a LeBron James had he been in charge?

McDonough stockpiled plenty of assets for the Suns, but he wasn’t able to do anything with them. Though his checkered track record in the draft ultimately helped do him in, it was most likely his inability to trade for a starting-caliber point guard or ever turn all those assets into an established star that got him canned. There’s no guarantee Hinkie would be any different. The Suns already have their foundation; now they need someone to build upon it.