This was the unspoken agreement that the Sixers defied, and for following the incentives that the league itself had established, for not overpaying for second-tier veterans who could never deliver a championship, for the heretical refusal to keep up appearances and gin up false hopes, Hinkie became a pariah. He might be the biggest in the league's boardrooms and offices now, but he wasn't the first. Remember, it wasn't long ago that former commissioner David Stern lashed out at Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs for sitting Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili — for prizing the long-term benefits of resting superstars in the belief that it would help the Spurs be fresher for the games that mattered most. That fight ironically turned Popovich, the coach of the NBA's crown-jewel franchise, into a hero of the league's counterculture. Don't think for a second that Sixers coach Brett Brown, a Popovich disciple, doesn't appreciate that he himself is in a similar position now, and don't underestimate what a powerful motivational tool that anti-establishment pose might yet be. The league doesn't like how we got here, fellas, but we're here anyway. Joel and Dario got screwed. Ben and Markelle probably will, too. Doesn't matter. We do what we do how we do it. Let's go.