Will Philadelphia 76ers NBA Draft Selections Hinge Upon Age?

The Philadelphia 76ers have incubated their roster for three years. But with a core roster now in their early 20’s, does age become the tie-breaker in ranking the Philadelphia 76ers draft board?

We’re covering an NBA team with the worst record in the league this year, but there is hardly a sense of despair here or among the fan base. You see, the Philadelphia 76ers are taking a path long thought to be the best route by a disappointed fan base, but seldom used by an NBA front office because it takes a multi-year commitment. That path is developing a roster simultaneously.  Part of the off-season roster moves are already programmed into the calendar.   We expect that Joel Embiid, a two year rookie who has yet to play an NBA game, will see his first action next season.   We also are anticipating the arrival of internationally acclaimed Dario Saric.  Those two players will give the Sixers a welcome boost before the team even selects from the 2016 NBA draft.

We had prepared our first mock draft board for the Philadelphia 76ers in mid March, and the dynamics of that board have certainly changed since we’ve placed it out for scrutiny.  But knowing that we will be publishing a new “mock draft board” upon the conclusion of the NCAA tournament, what usefulness can we continue to glean from Mock 2016 NBA Draft Board 1.0?

On slide two of the article, we have embedded our top 60 prospects of the NBA draft.  But if you expand that table to reveal all players, and sort on their date of birth, you find an interesting draft board becomes even more interesting.  In fact, here is that table.  Try it for yourself by expanding the options to 100 players and then sort by DOB to reveal the oldest player prospects projected for this year’s draft.

What do you think?

But before we proceed further, let’s step back and go over what the team has experienced this year.  The season began with head coach Brett Brown taking over on a roster with five injured players, six returning players from the previous year, and six undrafted players (Robert Covington, T.J. McConnell, Phil Pressey, JaKarr Sampson, Hollis Thompson, Christian Wood).  While three undrafted players were returning – Covington, Sampson, and Thompson – the development of all six, plus the addition of two rookies in Jahlil Okafor and Richaun Holmes, was simply too much to ask of one man.   Even if you factor in the oversight of the remaining coaching staff, there was simply too much youth and not enough experience on the team to bring everyone along at a fast enough pace to win games quickly.

Next: Great Youth, Great Mentoring