Unlike Hinkie, who eschews interviews with the press in favor of secrecy and the advantage he believes it gives him, Colangelo, who will continue to live in Arizona, has been outspoken since his hiring three months ago. And many of the things he’s said have given people the impression that his voice is the dominant one in Philadelphia and that the team’s short-term strategy may change under his direction. At the press conference announcing the hiring, Sixers managing owner Josh Harris said several times that while he still believes in the plan the team laid out in 2013, he hopes that things will move a bit faster under Colangelo.

So how does one trust The Process when there are signs that the team itself is beginning to lose faith?

“I think the addition of Jerry Colangelo was meant to bring some legitimacy to the team as they flip the script on the rebuild,” said Jake Pavorsky, the 20-year-old managing editor of the popular Sixers blog Liberty Ballers. “It's time to go out and get players who have established themselves in the league, and they apparently need Colangelo to do that.

Andrew, 24, who drove seven hours from Raleigh, N.C. to attend the game, was less positive about the move, but has faith that it will work out for a different reason.

“I mean, I don’t know how much of an effect you can have when you’re living in Phoenix. I think he’s a great basketball mind, and I’m sure it’s great to have him around, but let’s be real here—Hinkie’s calling the shots. He’s basically the Frank Underwood of the Sixers. He’s super smart, and he will get his way.”

Most who I spoke to had no real animosity toward Colangelo. In fact, most respected him quite a bit and believed his presence would only help the team as it moved out of the asset acquisition phase and into one that will be predicated largely upon the team’s ability to attract free agents and retain talent. But at the same time, we’ve all sung the praises of Sam Hinkie and the Process so loudly and so militantly that we almost care more about seeing those two things succeed than we do about seeing the team thrive. When I asked people to rank their fandom of The Process, Sam Hinkie, and the Sixers, almost all of them placed the three in that exact order.

At some point the devotion became more about a love for the culture that surrounds The Process than a belief in its merits. There are aspects of Process fandom that are more ironic than anything else, such as our undying love for NBA-ish talents like Furkan Aldemir and JaKarr Sampson. Conversely, there’s also the satisfaction of knowing that you’re in on the absolute lowest of ground floors of something that could one day be great.

“It’s Vampire Weekend before they had their first hit,” said Eskin. “I’ve said to Mike [Levin, Spike’s co-host on The Rights To Ricky Sanchez] a bunch of times that once the team gets good, we’ll have to switch to a different team. I’ll still like the Sixers when they’re eventually good, but there will never be a time like this again. We’re a club, we have a strong belief system, and people hate us and tell us that we’re bullshit, and it’s created a stronger bond amongst those people.”