The Sixers earned the third pick in the June 25 NBA draft courtesy of Monday’s lottery, and that’s, I guess, good (?).
Good because a scan of recent No. 3 picks shows a lot of stars, and few duds. Bad because they are, ya know, the Sixers.
The years pass. The decision-makers change. But there is one constant: They screw this up.
This is the team that with consecutive No. 1 overall picks drafted Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz a few years ago. That once spent a No. 2 choice on Shawn Bradley, and a No. 3 on Jahlil Okafor. That once dealt away not only the top selection but the driving force behind its most recent championship – on the same day, 39 years ago.
Small wonder that its fans are left with PTDD – Post-Traumatic Draft Disorder.
The draft is to the Sixers what the iceberg was to the Titanic: Too often it’s where they’ve sunk.
So everyone in this neck of the woods can be excused for not feeling all that optimistic about what happens now, after everything that happened Monday. The Sixers entered the lottery with the league’s fifth-worst record (and needed to finish in the top six to keep the pick away from Oklahoma City). And not only did they keep their selection; they actually improved their lot. They will pick after Dallas and San Antonio, who are expected to grab Duke forward Cooper Flagg and Rutgers guard Dylan Harper, respectively.
That leaves guys like Baylor wing V.J. Edgecomb, Rutgers forward Ace Bailey, Maryland center Derik Queen, Texas guard Tre Johnson and two other Dookies, guard Kon Knueppel and center Khaman Maluach. (BTW: How did Rutgers finish 15-17 with two possible top five picks?)
In other words, there is no shortage of talented guys. History also suggests the Sixers ought to be able to find a capable player at No. 3. While the last three selections at that spot – Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard (by Houston), G-League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson (by Portland) and Auburn guard Jabari Smith Jr. (by Houston) – have yet to find their footing, the previous six guys to go at 3 were Evan Mobley, LaMelo Ball, R.J. Barrett, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
All of them are no worse than solid players, and Doncic and Tatum look like future Hall of Famers. (And it is here that we should pause and pass along some positive energy to Tatum, who shredded his right Achilles in the late stages of Boston’s loss to the Knicks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, also on Monday.)
The last real turkey to be taken third was Okafor in 2015. Right before Kristaps Porzingis (who, granted, has often been injured) and 10 spots before the Suns took Devin Booker.
And sure, nobody knew then that Booker would become the player he is. But Okafor, yuck.
(A side note about that 2015 draft – no fewer than seven of the players selected wound up playing for the Sixers at one time or another: Okafor, Cameron Payne at No. 14, Kelly Oubre Jr. at No. 15, Justin Anderson at No. 21, Montrezl Harrell at No. 32, Richaun Holmes at No, 37 and Josh Richardson at No. 40. Seems unusual, and speaks to what a revolving door they have been in recent years.)
The Sixers have had the third overall choice four times in their history: Besides Okafor, they took Charles Smith in 1988 (and traded him immediately for Hersey Hawkins), Jerry Stackhouse in 1995 and some guy named Joel Embiid in 2014. That’s an excellent shooting percentage, because Hawkins was a very solid player, Stack enjoyed a nice, long career (much of it elsewhere) and Embiid has been Embiid.
But the PTDD lingers. The worst case of it came on that aforementioned day in June 1986, when the Sixers dealt the top pick to Cleveland for Roy Hinson, and future Hall of Famer Moses Malone to Washington in a transaction that netted Jeff Ruland and Cliff Robinson. Ruland was hurt. Robinson and Hinson were meh. Moses, while not the dynamo he had been in spearheading the Sixers’ drive to the 1982-83 title, remained a force, and the Cavs used that pick to take Brad Daugherty, who made five All-Star teams in an eight-year career shortened by back problems.
Little that has happened since then has inspired confidence. Maybe this year. Maybe. But the iceberg is always looming, always forbidding.