Julius Erving takes an inefficient, low-percentage two-pointer (Getty Images)

On Monday, Philadelphia Inquirer scribe Marcus Hayes lent his byline to a column. He talked about Twinkies and Comic-Con, and new Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie. Hinkie, who was hired to replace a very expensive personnel team featuring Rod Thorn, Ed Stefanski, Tony DiLeo, and Doug Collins (a group that could not top 41 wins in six seasons’ worth of trying), has a background that includes time spent working under Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey, who is fond of actually looking at the box scores that they hand you following the game you just watched. And looking at things on his computer, weirdly.

This allowed for the Inquirer to dig in. Here are some selected passages:

Hinkie will be given a sledgehammer and a smartphone by [76ers owner Josh] Harris, a fellow geek. This Old Team could be deconstructed beyond recognition by summertime.

Pretty sure he already has a smartphone.

Followers of our blog and other blogs have long been aware that Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert is a very funny dude with very funny friends. One of those friends, comedian/writer/actress Chelsea Peretti, welcomed Hibbert to her podcast, "Call Chelsea Peretti," back in December to discuss topics ranging from youth-focused TV programs of the 1990s to next-level fashion options for NBA players of the 2010s.

In the interest of starting "something new here," Hibbert told Peretti he was ready to step his facial accessory game way the heck up.

"[...] you have to have some sort of eyewear, and I’m going with the monocle," Hibbert said on the podcast, as transcribed by Hardwood Paroxysm's Ananth Pandian. "I would be the first one to rock a monocle, like Mr. Peanut or the 'Monopoly' guy."

After Peretti noted the impracticality of in-game monocle-wearing ("I think that would inhibit your ball play. Wouldn’t you have to hold the monocle? You would get ejected from games"), she suggested he just adopt the affectation during press conferences.

"Yeah, I’m all for it," Hibbert said.

If you thought that was all just a killer bit, well, think again, smart guy. A full five months after the fact, Hibbert really is about that monocle life, going so far as to bring the lens with him to the podium for his chat after the Pacers' Game 3 win over the New York Knicks:

We were so close. (Image via @Rachel__Nichols)

Tyson Chandler is working through a lot of stuff right now (Getty Images)

After months of looking like the Eastern Conference’s bona-fide Numbah Two behind the Miami Heat, and anticipating a coronated showdown with a Heat team they have blown out twice in the regular season, the New York Knicks are in danger of not even making it out of the second round. The Indiana Pacers have earned a 2-1 series lead over New York, though in typical NBA fashion the Knicks won’t admit to any problems outside of their own particular house. Even if the house is littered with both the sick (Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith sat out Sunday's practice due to injury), and limping (Iman Shumpert missed the same practice but will play through a bruised knee).

Tyson Chandler took the lead between Games 3 and 4, talking to the New York Daily News’ Frank Isola about a fractured offense that has looked both stagnant and timid at times, two words that certainly would not have been used to describe the Knicks at their offensive best during the early stages of the 2012-13 season. Chandler has struggled terribly in this series on both ends, as the possibly-injured center has been bested by Pacers big man Roy Hibbert throughout the back and forth, so he took great pains to not single any teammate out by name.

Still, the message is clear. The team has to find away to get back to its motion-influenced, highly effective Heat-thwarting offense. Even before the team takes on the Heat. From the Daily News:

“Honestly, we’re doing it to ourselves,” Chandler said on Sunday. “I watched the tape myself and there are open looks. We have to be willing passers. You have to sacrifice yourself sometimes for the betterment of the team and for the betterment of your teammates.