Feb 20, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Evan Turner (12) against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center. The Timberwolves defeated the 76ers 94-87. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The NBA Draft is less than two months away. With the Sixers missing the postseason after entering the season with such lofty expectations, here’s a look at some of the decisions that have led to this point.

While it is much easier to dissect a decision after the fact; for instance, the trade for Andrew Bynum. Regardless, here is the draft selections made by the Sixers over the last decade, and analysis of each draft.

2003: In a draft regarded as one of the best in NBA history with talents like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony, the Sixers had just a late-second round pick. Enough said. On the bright side, the Sixers didn’t have the second overall pick. If they had, we know that they would have made the same franchise-crippling mistake that the Detroit Pistons made, and drafted Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade.

2004: “With the ninth overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, the Philadelphia 76ers select Andre Iguodala.” It’s hard to blame the Sixers for this pick. Iguodala was a jack of all trades in Philly. He played suffocating perimeter defense, made plays for others, scored, rebounded well, and mentored younger players in his later years under Doug Collins. A few notables taken after Iguodala were Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, J.R. Smith, and Kevin Martin. With that said, the Sixers made a rare solid pick.

2005: In 2005, the Sixers may have gotten their best value in comparison to their draft position. Without a first-round pick, the team wasn’t on the clock until midway through the second round. With the 45th pick in the draft, the Sixers selected Louis Williams. Williams was the best player off the bench during his time here, and even led the team in scoring last season before heading to Atlanta.

2006: The Sixers had the 13th pick in the 2006 draft, and used it on Thabo Sefolosha. Sefolosha has been a solid pro, now with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Rajon Rondo was still on the board when the Sixers were on the clock, and was eventually taken 21st overall. Paul Millsap, soon-to-be-free-agent, slipped all the way to the second round before Utah took him 47th. It’s hard to put the blame here on the Sixers for passing on these guys in favor of Sefolosha, especially Millsap, who had a second round draft grade according to everyone.

2007: Thaddeus Young was the Sixers lone selection in the first round in 2007, taken 12th overall. Not much criticism can come of this draft; Thad has proven himself to be a capable change-of-pace power forward in the NBA. In his first season as a full-time starter, Young established himself as the most consistent, hardest working 76er.

2008: Ha! This is by far the pick that should be scrutinized the most. Not only is this easy to blame the organization for now, but the pick drew much criticism from the day of the draft. The Sixers took Marreese Speights of Florida with the 16th pick overall, passing on the likes of Roy Hibbert, Javale McGee, J.J. Hickson, Ryan Anderson, Serge Ibaka, Nicolas Batum, Nikola Pekovic, DeAndre Jordan, and Omer Asik. It is far too simple to say this pick was a bust simply because of Speights’ inability to produce, but the pain in knowing the number of impact guys remaining in the draft is astronomical.

2009: Jrue Holiday. Not much to say here. Jrue Holiday made his first All-Star appearance this season and established himself as one of the NBA’s up-and-coming stars. Ty Lawson was still on the board when the Sixers were on the clock, but no harm done.

2010: Evan Turner was selected 2nd overall in 2010, and was instantly dubbed the savior of a struggling franchise. It hasn’t been that smooth of a transition to the NBA for Turner, and he hasn’t been as consistent as expected from the Naismith Award winner at Ohio State.  Anyone who tells you the Sixers made the wrong decision here is delirious. John Wall was the consensus fist pick; Evan was the consensus second. However, DeMarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe, and Paul George all went after Turner, and have had more productive NBA careers thus far.

2011:  Ah, Nikola Vucevic. Vucevic was selected 16th overall by the Sixers, and after just one season was shipped to Orlando in the blockbuster trade for superstar center Andrew Bynum. Doug Collins has taken much criticism for hindering the growth of the 7-footer from USC in his rookie year, especially after blossoming into a budding star with the Magic. Vucevic has established himself as a double-double threat on a nightly basis after playing only sparingly in Philly. Kenneth Faried was taken after the Sixers’ selection, along with Chandler Parsons and Isaiah Thomas, who were both selected in the second round.

2012: It’s too early to tell what Maurice Harkless and Arnett Moultrie will amount to in the NBA, but both look to be promising for their respective clubs. Harkless was another piece in the Bynum trade, and showed glimpses of an above-average player in Orlando this season. Moultrie rarely played early in the season, coming back from a pre-draft ankle injury, but showed promise late in the season. The Sixers apparently had Moultrie in the top ten of their draft board so getting him late in the first round was a steal in their opinions. With a new coach and most likely more minutes, it should be interesting to see what Moultrie has to offer.

Needless to say, the Sixers have put themselves in a whole with some of their recent draft choices, but some weren’t as bad as they are made out to be. Of course it’s easier to sit here and criticize a struggling organization for not selecting players that we now know are impact players, some All-Stars, when they had the chance.

Just to give you something to ponder, here is what the Sixers’ roster could look like if they drafted differently.

• Center - Nikola Pekovic, Roy Hibbert
• Power Forward - Kenneth Faried, Serge Ibaka
• Small Forward - Andre Iguodala, Nicolas Batum
• Shooting Guard -Paul George
• Point Guard – Rajon Rondo
• Sixth Man – Louis Williams

Credit: Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE

The Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Chicago Bulls 79-78 in a dramatic ending to finish off the reeling Bulls and win the first round series 4-2. In doing so, they advanced and will play the Boston Celtics in a series that will likely prove to be as much of a bloodbath as this one.

The closing moments of the game will be remembered for a long time. The Sixers trailed by three with 24 seconds left or so and had possession. I’m not exactly sure what the plan was, but the result was a Thaddeus Young layup. The Bulls inbound with about 12 seconds left to C.J. Watson, who then avoids a foul from Jrue Holiday. He proceeds down the court and, with a defender awaiting him, passes the ball to Omer Asik, who was clotheslined by Spencer Hawes.

(Seriously, during a regular season game the foul is a borderline fragrant.)

Asik had made 4-5 free throws during the game at that point. However, the small sample doesn’t do him justice: he shot <50% from the line during the regular season and was 6-15 for the series. The decision to pass him the ball was horrendous on Watson’s part, just for that reason. He goes to the line and misses both, and Andre Iguodala grabs the rebound. The Sixers, without timeouts, immediately run down the court, led by Iguodala, who immediately goes to the rim and gets fouled by Asik. Two free throws were coming up.

Yes, two clutch free throws from Andre Iguodala. Obviously, fans were nervous. And rightfully so.

John Schuhmann, NBA.com’s statistician extraordinaire, tweeted the numbers for Iguodala in clutch situations. 7-18. That’s bad. It’s much lower than his abysmal percentage from the regular season. Making one of the two was a necessity – it was also the most likely scenario, but even then fans not unlike myself were just hoping for him to make one. Two was almost a pipe dream.

So he steps to the line, the fans eagerly and nervously cheering. Like the scene from before the game, and oftentimes during, there was a lot of nervous energy in the air.

He swishes it in.

The crowd went wild as he tied the game with just one shot to go. Overtime meant five more minutes, but at least we’d get at least that to try and win. And the second was on the way…

It also went in!

Save a miracle, the Sixers would be moving on. Jrue Holiday nearly committed the dumbest foul ever, and C.J. Watson’s 55 footer nearly went in. The miracle fell short. The Sixers would move on. The Bulls would endure one of the most miserable season-ending stretches in history, all because of bad fortune.

I can’t avoid talking about Andre Iguodala. He, the not-quite superstar with the contract of one, who was ridiculed in this town for that very reason. He’s been booed at home during player intros in playoff games. His jersey is rarely seen in the crowd. But he’s always played hard, always been a dominant defensive player, always giving 100%. Even now, he’s battling an Achilles injury, and yet taking the opposing team’s best perimeter player to task.

As mentioned earlier, Andre struggled during clutch situations. You could see it as shying away from the moment. But you could also see it as 18 shots, a small sample that was bound to regress to the mean. And when he got to the line, he got the job done.

The best part about all this, besides the win, was the post game interview with NBA TV. While I didn’t see it myself live, because I watched the local CSN broadcast, I did see what he told Cheryl Miller after the game. Here’s video, via SB Nation. Here’s the quote, on how he attacked the Bulls defense and the pressure of taking free throws:

As soon as I got (the ball), I knew I had a mismatch, and really I had to just go to the hole. And on the free throws, Tony Battie gave me some advice. He said ‘think of something that you love when you’re shooting free throws.’ Because, I had been struggling all year. I thought of my son, and it was easy after that.

How can you not feel good for the guy now?

I’ll have a breakdown of the rest of the game tomorrow. It wasn’t rosy. But for now, it doesn’t matter. We won, and it’s off to Boston for the Eastern Conference Semifinals.