Hoops Habit
Fansided

Philadelphia 76ers And That Los Angeles Lakers’ Pick

By Quentin Haynes

Apr 8, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Injured Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) practices prior to a game against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The New York Knicks won 109-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 8, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Injured Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) practices prior to a game against the New York Knicks at Wells Fargo Center. The New York Knicks won 109-102. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

If you’re the Philadelphia 76ers, do you want the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round pick in 2016 or 2017?

There are several subplots to the 2016 NBA Draft Lottery on May 17. How high will New York’s 2016 first-round pick, destined to go to either the Toronto Raptors or Denver Nuggets, end up? Can the Minnesota Timberwolves, led by Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony Towns and now, Tom Thibodeau, win the lottery for the second consecutive year?

Can the Philadelphia 76ers finally win the lottery after three years of being the laughingstock of the league?

All pale in comparison to the situation surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers and their first-round pick. As a part of the Steve Nash trade three years ago, the Lakers sent two first-round picks, one in 2013 and one in 2015 (protected), to the Phoenix Suns, in exchange for the veteran point guard. At the time, it was merely an afterthought as the Lakers acquired a future Hall of Fame talent.

Things then flipped. Nash’s back gave out, forcing the superstar point guard to retire after two seasons plagued by injuries.

Related Story: 25 Best Players to Play for the Philadelphia 76ers

Dwight Howard, the other star player acquired that summer, bolted for Houston after feuding with Kobe Bryant.

Pau Gasol left for Chicago shortly after feuding with Mike D’Antoni.

More from Philadelphia 76ers

And Bryant, quietly chugging along with 50,000 playoff and regular season minutes on the tires, suffered a torn Achilles, battled through three injury-riddled seasons and finished his career with a 60-point performance against the Utah Jazz. 

Meanwhile, Los Angeles’ 2015 first-round pick became an excellent asset, as it continued to roll over and increased in value as Los Angeles fell off.

The Suns disagreed and traded the pick to the Milwaukee Bucks for Brandon Knight during the 2015 trade deadline. The Bucks then swapped the pick for former Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams, citing his defensive ability and length on the perimeter. ]

Now, as the Lakers finished with the second-best odds to win the lottery, they also hold decent odds in falling from second to fourth, and thus, giving up the pick to the Philadelphia 76ers.

But is that something the Sixers and Sixers fans should want?

The arguments for acquiring the pick in 2016 are sound. Do you want to risk the Los Angeles Lakers, a franchise that’s known for being creative in building the franchise and acquiring star players, another year to figure it out?

Getting the fourth pick in this year’s draft would eliminate the chance of Luke Walton somehow turning the Lakers around, moving the pick out of an undesirable spot by playing his young players and D’Angelo Russell evolving into a star.

One of the criticisms of the Sam Hinkie tenure was the talent acquired. The new level of that criticism is how Hinkie failed to acquire young wings like Josh Richardson or Norman Powell. The other, and more evolved, has been the failure to acquire a star player.

Despite Kristaps Porzingis’ reluctance to work out for Philadelphia, it’s been a criticism that Hinkie didn’t take him over Jahlil Okafor. They’ve received nothing from the Joel Embiid/Dario Saric class yet and Nerlens Noel is a fine big man, but not a star. 

Adding two draft picks in this year’s could theoretically allow the Sixers to acquire that star player.   

The first pick, assuming it lands in the top two, would provide Philadelphia with one of the best players in the draft. Ben Simmons would be slightly redundant with Saric, who has plans to come over next season, but another player who can operate and orchestrate the offense.

Brandon Ingram may be further away, but all the tools are there for him to become a dynamic two-way wing player.

Then add another pick.

That could be something to help the point guard need. Kris Dunn is projected as a top-five pick and could be an answer to Philadelphia’s lead guard question. Want to fill that hole at shooting guard? Jamal Murray, Buddy Hield and my favorite of the bunch, Timothe Luwawu, could all fill in at that shooting guard position and serve as a massive upgrade.

Maybe Dragan Bender as a Swiss army knife at the 4 could entice them, too.

However, I lean towards pushing that pick over just one more year to the 2017 NBA draft.

For starters, the 2017 NBA Draft looks to be a stronger class than its 2016 counterpart. The prospects, both from the high school level and from the international level, look much stronger for next year’s class compared to this year’s class. This season took a turn for the worse when Skal Labissiere fell, next season’s class has several strong players at the top with sizable depth in the middle.

You never truly know, but the 2017 class is shaping up to be one of the stronger classes in recent memory.

More from Hoops Habit

And 2017 is a great class for one of Philadelphia’s biggest needs: point guard. At the top, Washington’s Markelle Fultz seems like the best option, with France’s Frank Ntilikina sitting at a 1B position. North Carolina State’s Dennis Smith, Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk round out a strong class for the 2017 point guard crop.

All of them would provide Philadelphia with a long-term option at a position of need.

Lastly, Philadelphia needs to stretch some of this talent out. General manager Bryan Colangelo will probably look to shop some of the assets that Hinkie built up, but Noel is eligible for an extension next season and could get expensive, Okafor is entering year two, Embiid has yet to step the floor and Saric presumably will sign a rookie-scale deal of up to four seasons. 

Add on top of that Jeremi Grant, Robert Covington, Richaun Holmes, their own 2016 first-round pick, Oklahoma City’s 2016 first-round pick, Miami’s 2016 first-round pick. Add the Lakers 2016 first-round pick and that’s six players younger than age of 26 with four first incoming first-round picks.

Again, I’m sure Colangelo has a plan for some of those picks and I imagine using a pick or two on overseas talent is on the table, but that’s a ton of youth on the roster.

More hoops habit: 50 Greatest NBA Players Of The 1970s

The Sixers don’t have a say in the matter, as they watch the ping-pong balls determine their fate on May 17. However, if the Sixers want to get the best players and have time to properly asset and figure out their already young roster, perhaps waiting for a year for that draft pick could be the way to go.