NBA is star driven. If you don't have a few stars you are nothing. The only way to get stars is hoping to hit the jackpot with lottery picks.
The NBA is driven by superstars, if you have one or two you can go very far, if you have none you are doomed. The system says to get the one or two
possible superstars you have to suck, and since it's a lottery you still may not get them even if you're the worst team in the league. So you may have to suck for years. Hinkie saw that, exploited it by feilding a terrible team on purpose, stockpiled picks by trading whatever marginal talent he did have, and ultimately landed what looks like rising two stars and some solid players via the draft. And for his efforts he got fired just as the trend looked to turn upwards and was replaced by someone who has so far really underwhelmed.
Sometimes it's hard and thankless to be the guy who's willing to roll up his sleeves, take the heat, and get the job done.