Going into tonight's NBA Draft Lottery, the Philadelphia 76ers had an 18.3% chance of landing one of the top three picks in the upcoming draft. Tonight, luck was on their side, as the Sixers ended up jumping up from the number six pick all the way up to number two, which gives them even more options than they had before and puts them in position to grab a true star in this draft.
Of course, the obvious choice if the Sixers had it would be John Wall, the point guard from Kentucky. If the Washington Wizards don't pick Wall for some reason, the Sixers should take about ten seconds to make their pick. Wall's the consensus top pick in the draft, and Jrue Holiday would have to take a backseat to Wall if he did come in to Philadelphia. That's the ideal situation, but I don't see it happening. Wall has been seen as the top pick in this draft since the mocks started coming out, so I don't see him being passed over for another talent. That doesn't mean that the Sixers would be missing out, though. They still have the number two pick, and with it, they have a few options.
The easy pick for the Sixers would be Evan Turner, the national player of the year from Ohio State. Turner is an athletic swingman who played shooting guard in college. At 6'7", 205, he has good size, and he can play small forward, shooting guard and point guard on the floor. He was a triple-double threat in college and is aggressive at getting to the basket on offense and defense. Aside from Wall, the talk of who is going to be number one has only been about Turner. That's all that it is in this draft. The Sixers are going to end up with the chance to pick one of those two players, and it likely will be Turner. Just because it is the Sixers, though, there are some issues with drafting Turner.
The biggest one is the fact that the Sixers already have several athletic swingmen that can play small forward and guard. Andre Iguodala and Thaddeus Young come to mind right away, and drafting Turner would create a logjam at that area. Honestly, the Sixers don't need another athletic swingman without getting rid of one of those two players, and Iguodala would be the odd man out. The Sixers were reportedly looking into trading Iguodala before the deadline last season, so he would be the likely target to move out of town. I wouldn't like to see him leave, but Evan Turner is a great player that could do great things in Philadelphia, so it's not a total loss. Turner can contribute from the day he steps on the court in a Sixer uniform, so to have that waiting at the number two pick is a huge thing. He still needs to work on his outside shooting a bit, and he does turn the ball over a bit too much for my tastes, but those things can be worked on once he gets into the league. The logjam issue is the biggest hangup that I have with the Sixers drafting Turner, but it would be the same situation if they were able to draft John Wall. Regardless, the Sixers are going to have to move someone to accommodate whomever they pick in the NBA Draft.
Of course, they could do something crazy and draft some foreign player that no one has heard of before. With this team, I wouldn't put it past them. They really hit the jackpot tonight, and are going to be picking at their highest spot since 1997, when they drafted Keith Van Horn. The players drafted around him? Tim Duncan and Chauncey Billups. Hopefully, they do a little bit better this time.
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