If you’re tanking, don’t say you’re tanking
While transparency is something that people usually value, it is not the best to be transparent in every situation. NBA teams have been silently tanking for decades. The Spurs did it to be in position for Tim Duncan. The Cavs did it to get LeBron. Hell, at least eight other teams tanked a season or two during Hinkie’s run. The thing is, no one had ever really verbalized it. At least not as clearly as Sam Hinkie.
Hinkie made it clear as soon as he took over that the team would try to lose as many games as possible for high draft picks, until they felt like they had their franchise player. While it was met with immediate push back, the league still sat back and let the process play out. Over time, the losses piled up and Hinkie (being somewhat of a recluse) did not speak to the media enough to curve some of the criticism.
If Hinkie had gone about his business like a normal tanking GM, there would be a much higher chance he would still with the team. Letting everyone know they were losing on purpose made it easy for the frustrated fans and media to make him the scapegoat.