Philadelphia 76ers: Re-Drafting The 2013 Draft
The Philadelphia 76ers could’ve been a much different spot if they landed their pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.
The Philadelphia 76ers have had some questionable draft choices since 2013, although some are still being judged. If the Philadelphia 76ers could have hit with their pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, their situation may be very different.
In the 2013 NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers traded with the New Orleans Pelicans that sent point guard Jrue Holiday to New Orleans for the 6th pick in Nerlens Noel. This was a good move considering Holiday’s injury troubles turned into a promising young rim-protecter in Noel. This scenario would not have changed.
Where the Philadelphia 76ers missed on draft night is when they selected Syracuse guard Michael Carter-Williams with the 11th pick in the draft. Carter-Williams brought the Philadelphia 76ers their second-ever rookie of the year award in franchise history, and MCW joined Allen Iverson as the only Sixers to do it. Carter-Williams has since struggled after being traded halfway through his second season to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team deal that gave the Philadelphia 76ers the Los Angeles Lakers’ top-3 protected first round pick.
The pick has yet to convey for the Sixers, and judgement on that trade has fared positive towards Philadelphia’s way since Carter-Williams has immensely struggled to find his role. The Philadelphia 76ers, as well as 14 other teams, missed the chance on grabbing Greek forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was drafted by Milwaukee with the 15th overall pick.
Antetokounmpo has been exceptionally developing in his three seasons, and had his breakout year in 2015-16, recording 5 triple doubles. He seems to be the star the Philadelphia 76ers were looking for, and they missed him. Adding Antetokounmpo would have given the team a versatile forward that could also handle the point, a position the team has struggled finding stability in the past 3 seasons.
The Philadelphia 76ers also held the 35th and 42nd pick in the draft, which gave them Glen Rice, Jr and Pierre Jackson, respectively. Jackson was traded on draft night in the Noel deal, and failed to make the Philadelphia 76ers after his time with New Orleans two years in a row due to injury. Glen Rice, Jr never played a game with the Sixers. Rice was also traded on draft night for two second round picks that year.
The Philadelphia 76ers could have held on to the Rice, Jr pick since it amounted to Nate Wolters and Arsalan Kazemi, who both never played in Sixers blue. The team instead could have drafted guard Ray McCallum. McCallum has bounced around the NBA, but at times has shown his ability to score. He would have made for a nice compliment to a weary backcourt.
The lineup for the 2013-2014 Philadelphia 76ers would have looked like this:
PG Evan Turner
SF Giannis Antetokounmpo
*Noel missed the season with a pre-existing injury
Not great, right? Let’s fast forward a few years. Assuming Antetokounmpo’s production stayed relatively the same and all deals the team made would have occurred the same way (besides the MCW trade, of course), the team would be in a much better position. Antetokounmpo’s rookie season with Milwuakee showed promise near the end, but he struggled to gain footing early on. This means the team would have been just as bad with the Antetokounmpo selection than MCW in the 2013-14 season. Meaning the team would still draft Joel Embiid.
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The Philadelphia 76ers would’ve been as bad, maybe even worse, with the hypothetical compared to the real results in 2014-2015. Antetokounmpo made a nice jump in his second year with Milwuakee, and the stats he put up there wouldn’t have been enough to make any impact on our hypothetical Sixers team. Add the fact that Nerlens Noel would have struggled for spacing with Antetokounmpo, and the Sixers would have been near the bottom of the league. The team would still snag Jahlil Okafor.
This brings us to present day. The hypothetical Sixers would have likely seen a big jump in wins, probably hitting the 25-win mark many were hoping for in 2015-16. There lineup heading into the offseason would look like this:
PG Ish Smith
SF Giannis Antetokounmpo
PF Jahlil Okafor
C Nerlens Noel
6th Man: Nik Stauskas
With Antetokounmpo’s recent spike, the franchise would seem a lot more promising than the current squad. Admittedly, this would probably take the Philadelphia 76ers out of the race for Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram in the 2016 NBA Draft, but the sentiment would be that Antetokounmpo’s development would out-value those two prospects.
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The hypotheticals are always fun in retrospect, and the Greek Freak would have been a fan favorite in Philadelphia. No one could have predicted his amazing improvement, but the Philadelphia 76ers may have been just one pick away from quicker progress.