The Philadelphia 76ers’ draft strategy for three years now has been to pick the best available player. Bryan Colangelo may represent change in the organization, but he will stick to this tactic of picking the best player available with the no. 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
This morning on the 94.1 WIP Morning Show, Colangelo discussed with Howard Eskin about what the Sixers may do with their draft pick, and how much of a role fit will play in who they pick.
“We’re going to try to find balance to a roster that ultimately takes the court in October, November. We’re going to be able to utilize, maybe, the 24th and 26th pick, or packaging those picks to move up in the draft to get somebody else, or acquiring players in trades that are going to provide more balance to the roster. That’s when you start talking about fit.
As you look at what you do have, in terms of talent on this roster currently, there are some redundancies that need to be cleaned up, I’ve openly talked about that. That’s not to say any one particular player is being shopped or we’re going to trade a particular player, as has been speculated on. There’s so much that this team needs to do to get better in terms of being competitive, we’re going to be exploring every option and every alternative.
When we start looking at perhaps picking someone at No. 1, what you do with 24 and 26 could be a pick more about fit. I would tell you if we were going to battle with the current roster as its on the board today, there may be a player that fits better than the other, but that’s not what we’re basing our selection at No. 1 on this year.”
So basically the Sixers are likely to select Ben Simmons. Simmons looks to be the best prospect in this years draft, and his upside looks like it is through the roof. He doesn’t necessarily fit the teams roster well, but Colangelo isn’t worried about that. Why would you not select the best player possible with the first pick?
Colangelo also discussed what the team will do during free agency this summer, and he mentions picking up players as “placeholders” to make the team better for a year or two, but they can get rid of these players at any time so they are still flexible.
What may be a lot of flexibility this year may be put to use on what I would call ‘shorter term deals’ or ‘placeholder deals’ that put us in a more competitive situation so that we can really turn the corner in free agency and subsequent seasons with two things: with a better story with a lot of flexibility.
The one thing we don’t want to do is race out and sign mid-level free agents — not necessarily mid-level contract free agents — but middle tier free agents that’s gonna put us in a level of mediocrity. If we feel we can get a key piece that’s gonna be a part of something for the next five years in terms of the outlook and future outlook for this team, then I think we should move on it. if not, I think we should stay flexible, we should stay short, and we should stay intent on turning the corner competitively and show those signs of progress as an organization.”
The 76ers have been losing for a long time, and the fans just want to win again, and they want to win soon. They only won 10 games this year, and while that isn’t a very sexy pitch to a big name free agent, it seems like they are building the right way so that they can offer a sexier pitch in a few years and grab a big name free agent.
