Rumors: Could The Philadelphia 76ers Trade Back?

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May 17, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown represents his team during the NBA draft lottery at New York Hilton Midtown. The Philadelphia 76ers received the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /

The Philadelphia 76ers own the number one pick in the NBA draft, but rumors suggest there may be value to the team in trading back?

The best marketing strategy of any product is to make your customer believes he or she NEEDS your product. Convincing them that the life with your merchandise is so much better than any scenario without it. Then, convince them that the only seller of that euphoria is you.

So far, if the Philadelphia 76ers had ANY interest in listening to offers, they have employed a perfect marketing strategy. Initially, Bryan Colangelo seeded the market with his willingness to be open minded about trading the Philadelphia 76ers top pick:

"“It’s hard to put a number or a value on degree of aggressiveness, but we’ll certainly be open for business and listening to whatever is there,” Colangelo said at the draft combine. “I think any time you have certain assets on the table in front of you, you need to determine what your best strategic move is, and some of that is yet to be determined. To what degree we’ll be aggressive, it’s too early to say.”"

So the market sat up and took notice. The Sixers had opportunities to walk away from the NBA draft with the 1, 4, 24, and 26 draft picks. The message transmitted to the NBA was direct: Talk to us if you want a draft pick. Rumors began to fly in the belief that the Sixers might land two top five picks and be willing to deal one.

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And then, when the Philadelphia 76ers landed the top pick of the NBA draft, the path to obtaining that pick became…. a little more difficult. But the scenario for a possible trade already happened, it simply now focused on the top pick of the draft. Even Colangelo himself had to address the whispers that Philadelphia was shopping the number one pick:

"It’s pretty obvious that the answer is yes [to keeping the number one pick]. A lot of people jumped on the notion that we talked about looking at all alternatives as open to moving the pick. I think, again, you have to look at every single option and everything in front of you. But, the bottom line is, now that we’re sitting in the No. 1 position, it changes the dynamic. I think it was more in reference to, what would happen if we ended up with two top-five picks, if there was maybe, perhaps, a decision to move one of those. It’s highly unlikely that anything is done with the No. 1 pick except selecting the player."

And so, to the naked eye, it seems that a message was given, and then clarified. But to an NBA general manager, there are more dynamics at play. You see, as complex of a language as English, Bryan Colangelo is a master of the direct, and the subtle, statements

“Highly unlikely” is a far cry from “no way”. “It’s pretty obvious” is a far cry from “We are certain”. English allows those subtleties to be embedded in the message to an aficionado. Bryan, like his father Jerry, understands the dynamics of public statements quite well.

So that takes us to the value of the top overall pick in an NBA draft with a consensus of a two player draft. What type of value does the former Phoenix Sun / Toronto Raptor place on that pick?
Start with the moon….

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