NBA Draft: Grading the Philadelphia 76ers’ last 10 first rounds

Over the past few years, the Philadelphia 76ers made it a point to maximize their ability to draft well. Let’s see how well the team did in the first round.

This past decade has been an interesting one for the Philadelphia 76ers. At the beginning under Rod Thorn, the team was a middling eighth seed that somehow snuck out of the first round. Nobody expected this to happen, but one way or another it did.

After that, the Tony DiLeo experiment led to the infamous Andrew Bynum trade. This move essentially was an “all or nothing move” where the Sixers attempted to revamp their roster with a quick fix. This blew up in the team’s face because Bynum simply was not the player he used to be. In fact, he never played a single minute for Philadelphia.

Ultimately, this move led to the inception of “the Process” in 2013, as Sam Hinkie was brought in to essentially rebuild the team through the NBA Draft. Then came Bryan Colangelo and his alleged burner accounts. After Colangelo’s departure, Elton Brand took over the team’s general manager duties.

Over that stretch, the team made a wide variety of selections in both the lottery and the mid-late first round. These selections helped shape the roster in their own unique ways. With that said, let’s take a look back at the past 10 years of the Sixers’ NBA Draft moves, both good and bad.

Here’s a quick disclaimer: we will be keeping this list to players who have actually played minutes for the Philadelphia 76ers. Because the Sixers have looked to trading away their late first-round picks, it seems quite unnecessary to focus on those players. However, the overall picture, such as the rookies that DID come out of those trades, remains important. As such, even though the Sixers didn’t officially draft certain players, they will be included in this list.