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: Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE

The results are in, and they are unfavorable.

Tyson Chandler won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He was deserving of consideration with his performance for a previously inept defensive team in New York, which has two “superstars” who for most of the year refused to defend. The Knicks were a top 5 defensive team this year, so this makes sense. He also had the dreaded “narrative” going in his favor.

(By the way, as a complete aside I’m going to rant here. It will be completely hypocritical for people to vote for Chandler in the “Knicks don’t play defense!” argument and vote for Carmelo Anthony for any all-NBA team. Considering he is (a) not a good defender and part of the reason Chandler won this award, (b) someone who played effectively for just half the year and even then isn’t a top 10 guy, (c) actively quit on his coach, resulting in his “resignation”, and (d) led a team to a 7 seed in a tame Eastern Conference, how can anyone justify Melo being an all-NBA player. Please, someone give me a convincing argument that his play, which almost doomed the Knicks’ season before Linsanity happened, is deserving of any awards).

On the surface, too, does the Serge Ibaka voting, because people like numbers that they recognize and see his absurd number of blocks. But the fact that he’s not actually a great defender seemed to elude these people. Ibaka has the highlight blocks and is a good help defender, but he can be abused in the post by most opponents. His synergy numbers suggests he’s not really much of a defender at all. And while I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, the fact that he played 27 minutes per game suggests his defensive impact was also limited by the number of minutes he played.

Meanwhile, guys like LeBron James, Tony Allen, and Andre Iguodala are regularly tasked to defend the opponent’s best player, limiting their opponents as much as possible. Each is impressive in his own way. LeBron’s versatility stands out – he can more than effectively defend any guard or forward, and he holds up reasonably well against centers. Iguodala regularly turns opposing small forwards and guards into third stringers. And Allen is the head of the league’s best pressure defense and is also tasked to guard the best perimeter player on a regular basis, though he is also limited by his minutes played.

I mentioned on Twitter that I believe LeBron should have won. However, I believed Iguodala was more than deserving of a runner-up position. The fact that he finished behind a guy who quit on his team regularly infuriates me even more. I have both ahead of Allen, as they each played more minutes.

Unfortunately, the voters tend to not look past the outdated and mostly irrelevant block and steal statistics. Sure, they are helpful, but only if the player can consistently actually stop the opponent from scoring or being effective in any way. And if you’re looking at who can actually prevent the opponent from doing anything, Iguodala is very close to being the best. Only the best player in the entire league separates him from that distinction.

In the actual voting, he finished behind (in order): Chandler, Ibaka, Howard, LeBron, Kevin Garnett, and Allen.