Addressing The 4 Biggest Philadelphia 76ers Draft Needs

Jun 26, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; K.J. McDaniels (Clemson) shakes hands with NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum after being selected as the number thirty-two overall pick to the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Philadelphia 76ers’ grand tanking experiment has to yield something. At the end of this 6-29 tunnel lies the 2015 NBA Draft, and just like last year, there are multiple prizes for the Sixers to land at the top. Obviously, the Sixers’ biggest need right now is talent. There’s no question there’s a severe lack of NBA-caliber players on roster, and any talented player will help improve the team. However, the Sixers have used a lot of top picks, and while talent should be the first priority, drafting players with overlapping skill sets is not ideal. As we’ve recently seen with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the pre LeBron era. and the Sacramento Kings, drafting talent for the sake of talent and sorting it out later can stunt the growth of your young prospects. With that in mind, let’s look at the biggest Philadelphia 76ers draft needs, and what players could best fill those needs in the upcoming draft pool.

Obviously the most important pick will be their own, an almost-assured top five pick. The Sixers’ only competition for number one odds are the New York Knicks, who are outperforming the Sixers with a spectacular tank of their own, and the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have the same record but will get Nikola Pekovic and Ricky Rubio back eventually. The Sixers should be picking top five. Outside of that, they also have basically a 99 percent likelihood of grabbing the Heat’s first-rounder (It’s top-10 protected, and while the Heat are struggling, it would take disaster for them to tank into the top 10). In the 2nd round, they won’t have their own pick, which goes to Boston, but they will have picks from Golden State, Houston, New Orleans, and Orlando, plus a likely additional two or three that Sam Hinkie will inevitably steal at the trade deadline. So there once again will be plenty of opportunities to find talent.

The 76ers will need that, because they have a ton of needs to fill in order to approach a complete roster.