Sam Hinkie wants the 76ers to use the Moneyball-type of thinking popularized in baseball to build a championship team in Philadelphia.

Hinkie can crunch the numbers using any formula he'd like - he'd still find the Sixers were pretty awful this season.

But that's why Hinkie was hired away from Houston, to build the 34-win Sixers into title contenders, not just by using traditional player statistics like rebounds and points, but through alternative - and complex - ways of calculating a player's value that often clash with old-school, front-office thinking.

Considered an innovator in the Rockets' cutting edge analytic efforts, the Sixers named Hinkie team president and general manager on Tuesday.

"I'm just trying to use information to make decisions," Hinkie said. "I think some people move along quickly and others don't. That's OK."

Hinkie replaced president Rod Thorn, who moved into a consulting role, and GM Tony DiLeo, fired after one year on the job and 23 years total in the front office.

Hinkie spent the past eight years in Houston and was the executive vice-president of basketball operations for the Rockets. A year after he was passed over for the GM job, Hinkie was the top choice this time by owner Joshua Harris to oversee the rebuilding of this beleaguered franchise.

Hinkie must now hire a coach after Doug Collins resigned following three seasons. Collins and Thorn are officially consultants for the team, but are now in the background of a major reconstruction project that Harris, Hinkie and a new coach will tackle.

The Sixers have a short list of coaching candidates but have not interviewed anyone.

In looking for a coach, Hinkie said all philosophies would be blended into a successful organization, not just analytics.

"I think it's all too-often overstated about how analytically minded a head coach needs to be," Hinkie said. "I think every head coach in the NBA is analytically minded. I think they all want to win. I think more and more, as they meet organizations that have really invested in this, they say this is helpful."

Hinkie replaces DiLeo, who was widely credited - and now blamed - for orchestrating the botched deal for injury-prone center Andrew Bynum.

(China Daily 05/16/2013 page24)