Los Angeles Lakers – Tuesday night could have been an awkward one for Lakers’ general manager Mitch Kupchak had his team fallen out of the top three and been forced to convey their 2016 first round pick to Philadelphia.
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If he goes #1, it would be the first time the Sixers would have used their first pick in the draft to select a non-big man since 2013, when they selected eventual Rookie of the Year victor Michael Carter-Williams out of Syracuse.
Although they had the highest odds (25%) to earn the No. 1 overall selection after posting a 10-72 record in the regular season, the chance of the ping pong ball not bouncing the 76ers’ way – as it has done in years past – still loomed.
Meanwhile, Sport Illustrated reported that the Sixers are “leaning toward drafting LSU’s Ben Simmons” with their top pick in the approaching National Basketball Association draft.
There were smiles, hugs and back slaps all around among the Sixers’ contingent at the New York Hilton Midtown once they realized they would have the top selection in the June 23 draft.
The Sixers, who recently hired Bryan Colangelo as president of basketball operations and Mike D’Antoni as associate coach, are determined to end their losing slump, having collected promising assets such as Joel Embiid (2014) and Jahlil Okafor (2015) over the last few years.
Any thoughts the Lakers had of trading their lottery pick should be completely dismissed now. Simmons is already being pegged as the next LeBron James, but his below average outside shooting ability could make Ingram the safer choice. The Celtics wanted to package the pick in a trade for a superstar like Jimmy Butler or DeMarcus Cousins but they would need a top two pick to pull that off. He was supposed to debut for the Sixers previous year, but setbacks had him undergo surgery again last summer. “I think this validates some of the pain we went through”. “This has been our plan, and we’re sticking with our plan and we’re moving forward”. We believe that a good player will come out of this draft and I can’t wait to continue the process.
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Barring some unforeseen injury or act of God, the top two picks in the draft are more or less secure, the one thing that remains to be seen is which of these two teams will get the top two players. It could also be that Mutombo saved a draft of an image of him together with Hall-of-Famer Allen Iverson in case Philadelphia did win for later posting. “To get the No. 1 or 2 pick in the draft, particularly the No. 1 pick, that would have been nice”, he added. But the Philadelphia 76ers, who own the No. 1 overall pick, do not appear to be looking for a trade.
