The 76ers and the Struggle

My weekend began Thursday afternoon as my girlfriend, Johnathan, and I headed down to Miami to celebrate a friend's wedding. We left around three and I proceeded to search the internet for a Lakers report that had Jahlil Okafor going to Los Angeles. All I could find were rumors that the Lakers were split between Okafor and D'Angelo Russell (my boy), I was very nervous from about 6:15 till the Lakers pick. Then it happened. I was hit with a Woj bomb and my dreams of D'Angelo running the city of Philadelphia for future years were crushed. You can ask anyone in that car, I was devastated for a good six hours - but I had still had hope.

Jahlil Okafor is going to be a stud in this league for a very long time. I know people are very critical, given we already have Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid, and Dario Saric, but the Sixers made the right pick. Okafor gives Philly a legit scoring option and I believe he fits perfectly alongside Noel. There are maybe four people in the world that truly know what is wrong with Embiid's foot, and due to the uncertainty surrounding it, I believe that Hinkie and company had to take Okafor.

That look you get when you hate drafting guards.

There is a ridiculous surplus of big men in Philly and here is my opinion on it all. Okafor is a throwback center who, if he stays in shape, will have success in the NBA for a long time. Noel is an elite defender and his lack of an offensive game will compliment the very skilled, but defensively challenged, Okafor very well. After that it gets tricky. Okafor and Noel are limited in their ceilings but Embiid might have the most potential of any big man in the league besides Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis, but only time will tell if he will pan out. As for Saric, well I have no idea what Saric will be in the NBA. My dream scenario with all of these big men is for Okafor and Noel to mesh well and hold down the paint for the 76ers and Embiid to get healthy, show off his immense potential and get traded away for Hinkie's favorite thing (draft picks), a couple of young guards who can shoot it, or a combination of the two.

Immediately after the 76ers selected Okafor, JK asked me if a trade that was rumored before the draft would go down between my Sixers and his Celtics. I liked the idea, especially if we could get the Celtic's 16th, 28th, and the unprotected first round pick from the Nets in next years draft. If anyone would make a trade like this, it is Danny Ainge, and I held out hope but it never materialized. I would have been a fan if the Sixers were to trade down into the lottery and pick up Emmanuel Mudiay, Cameron Payne, or Devin Booker, as long as we received a promising young player and at least two draft picks (one of them being a future first rounder). That is a lot to ask for, but I believe those are two of the best options to receive for a franchise type player like Okafor.

During my six hours of sadness, I remembered that we had five second-round picks to come. I began to believe we could sneak back into the first round to grab a guard or just pick up a sleeper with one of our picks. It is well documented that the 76ers lack any players who could even be considered a threat from behind the arc, and I thought for sure we would address this issue. Boy was I wrong, Hinkie's love for centers continued in the second round. Here are the five picks from the second round:

35. Guillermo Hernangomez, Center
37. Richaun Holmes, Power Forward
47. Arturas Gudaitis, Center
58. J. P. Tokoto, Shooting Guard/Small Forward
60. Luka Mitrovic, Power Forward

NONE OF THESE PICKS DO ANYTHING TO HELP THE SIXERS.

Hernangomez was traded to the Knicks for second round picks in 2020 and 2021, which Sam Hinkie will use on centers if he is still around. I was furious with each passing selection, especially the first three. I knew we would draft at least two draft and stash players, but I was hoping we would use them at picks 58 and 60. This team needs guards who can shoot the ball, but instead Hinkie decided he wants the 2015-2016 76ers to be the worst shooting team in NBA history. In a league centered around guard play, Hinkie completely ignored his team's biggest needs and put his love for centers before the well being of this Philadelphia franchise. What really pisses me off is the fact that we passed on Olivier Hanlan (one of my sleepers in this draft), Joseph Young and Norman Powell. All three of these players can score and Hanlan and Young can really stroke it from deep. Hanlan was a guy that I thought was a lock for Philly at either 35 or 37, but instead we decided to draft guys that do nothing to help us in any way, shape, or form.

As for the other picks, I like Richaun Holmes as a guy who will hang around in this league just to grab rebounds and yell as he dunks the ball, but we do not need that. As for Tokoto, I'm not a huge fan of the under-achieving Tar Heel who should still be wearing the Carolina blue, but I digress.

The 2016 NBA Draft will be interesting because the Sixers have a very good chance at landing four first round picks, and maybe, just maybe, they actually draft a guard (fingers crossed). Once again, Philadelphia will be near the top of the lottery for what is considered, right now, a very weak draft. The only franchise changing talent at the moment seems to be LSU's Ben Simmons. Look out for the Sixers to end up with the first pick and draft Ben Simmons and become the first team in NBA history to throw out a lineup containing a point forward and four centers. I'm hoping this will not happen, but with Hinkie, I would not be surprised.

All in all, I was extremely disappointed in the 2015 Draft as a Sixers fan but I am excited to have finally found an NBA team to cheer for. They may have already frustrated me and challenged my fanhood, but I enjoy being passionate about a team's each and every move. My Sixers continue to perplex its' fan base, and the rest of the NBA, but I am in it for the long haul. As always - well since May - GO SIXERS!

RANDOM NOTE: I hate that people are already calling next year's draft weak. Nobody saw D'Angelo Russell as a one-and-done or Karl-Anthony Towns to first overall in the summer of 2014. Let's not jump to conclusions and deem this next class weak until we have watched them play a little college basketball.