Philadelphia 76ers: Grading The Offseason

The Draft

With the third overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, the Sixers were praying that D’Angelo Russell would fall to them. He had been projected as the perfect fit for a team that needed a new point guard, and for months, mock drafts had pegged the potential union as a no-brainer.

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But when the Los Angeles Lakers took Russell off the board with the second overall pick, Hinkie was once again boxed into taking another center in Duke’s Jahlil Okafor.

Now, to be fair, taking Okafor is a completely defendable decision. He’s one of the best back-to-the-basket bigs the league has seen in a decade, he’s only 19 years old, he provides long-term insurance for Embiid, he was the best available player on the board and even his defensive flaws won’t be as glaring playing alongside Nerlens Noel.

Philly made the best move it could here…although Okafor himself didn’t seem too jazzed about it.

However, even with a talented center to pair with Noel next season, it’s hard to ignore the small twinge of disappointment that the better positional fit didn’t fall to the Sixers in Russell. Sure, maybe Embiid never recovers and maybe the Sixers have their frontcourt of the future in Noel and Okafor.

But that scenario is only preferable under the assumption that Embiid’s career is over, which it most certainly is not. How do the Sixers tackle the situation if Embiid is able to return in 2016-17 and start delivering on all those Hakeem Olajuwon comparisons?

These are questions to be answered down the road, but they’re still worth asking whenever “Trust The Process” adds another fork to it.

In the second round, the Sixers snagged Richaun Holmes (No. 37), Arturas Gudaitis (No. 47), J.P. Tokoto (No. 58) and Luka Mitrovic (No. 60) with their myriad of picks. They also took ANOTHER center in Guillermo Hernangomez at No. 35, but traded him to the New York Knicks for two future draft picks and cash.

Holmes was an elite shot-blocker at Bowling Green State, averaging 14.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game in his final collegiate season. Despite breaking his elbow after three Summer League games, he was signed to a four year deal with the first two years fully guaranteed.

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Tokoto is an effective defensive, passing wing who averaged 5.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in seven Summer League games. He has yet to sign a deal with the Sixers, and will be keeping an eye on how the team treats Jordan McRae — a second round pick from last year’s draft who will be attending training camp after turning down their tender last year, but still needs a contract to attend camp.

Gudaitis and Mitrovic are draft-and-stash players.

It wasn’t a terrible draft, with the Sixers adding a player who was ranked as the No. 1 prospect for most of the year. But for the third season in a row, Philly walked away from the draft with a center and more questions than answers.

At some point, trusting the process needs to produce something more than future trade bait; ideally, it needs to produce a healthy star who can make the team’s goal for the season something more than yet another top-5 pick the following summer.

Grade: B

Next: Sacking Sacramento