The one tiny piece of information missing from SAM HINKIE's incredible 13-page letter of resignation from the PHILADELPHIA 76ERS, which quotes WARREN BUFFETT, JEFF BEZOS and MAX PLANCK, uses the word "zugzwang" and describes how well-positioned the SIXERS are for the future, is that at present the SIXERS are one of the worst teams in basketball history. He didn't have to say it, of course, since everybody knows it. But everybody also knows that for every team that wins a basketball game, there's a team that loses one, and HINKIE found room for an entire paragraph explaining the mathematics of that fact. The underlying point of HINKIE's letter seems to be a desire to preemptively write his own legacy, while claiming credit for championship seasons that haven't happened yet. The Process, in other words, has worked, and is still working, this season's 68 losses (and counting) notwithstanding. "Zugzwang" is a chess word, describing a situation where any move you make is likely to turn out bad. Like HINKIE, great chess players use sacrifice as strategy. Give up a piece now to put yourself in a better position to win 15 moves down the line. What great chess players don't do is give up three years' worth of matches in the hope that all those losses will better position themselves for possibly winning some matches four or five years down the line. That's just called losing. For all the awkwardness of his reign, HINKIE has plenty of defenders, of both his strategy and execution. It's taken for granted he'll find a new home in the NBA, or, as he wonderfully puts it, "I will be repotted professionally." But for now, there are consequences to losing, and no number of future draft picks or amount of cap space can make those consequences go away… ERNIE ELS had a very, very bad case of the yips... Baseball's founding father might not be who you think it is… The WHITE SOX close in on the sports signing of the year.