Philadelphia 76ers Keeping All Options Open

The Philadelphia 76ers are keeping all of their options open as the NBA Draft and trade market approaches.

The NBA Draft is next week, and the trade market is very close to opening up for the summer. The Philadelphia 76ers are likely to be large players in both of those areas, but leading up to that, they are keeping all of their options open, which may be a good thing.

Starting off with the NBA Draft, the Sixers are in one of the best possible positions as they won the top overall pick during the NBA Draft Lottery. This is the first time the Sixers hold the top pick since the 1996 Draft when they selected Allen Iverson, a player who completely shifted the franchise.

Two players, Brandon Ingram and Ben Simmons, seem to be in the running for selection with the top overall pick. As time goes on, it looks as if Simmons is the favorite, and reports have said that the Sixers are leaning towards Simmons.

More from The Sixer Sense

Still, the Sixers aren’t going to dedicate to a specific player.

Teams sometimes take different approaches. When the Orlando Magic won the lottery in 1992, they came out with a Magic jersey made with “O’Neal” on the back, indicating that Shaquille O’Neal would be their pick. Months later, they made that official, selecting him with the top overall pick.

You won’t see the Sixers doing that though. In fact, you won’t see team president Bryan Colangelo really mentioning very many players by name in reference to the first pick, only to the draft first overall. All indications point to the Sixers taking Ben Simmons first overall, but the options are open. They recently had Brandon Ingram in town for a workout, and they are making it look as if there’s a possibility that they could take Ingram with the top overall pick.

This is all about strategy. Sometimes, it’s best to be transparent. Let players and other teams know what you’re doing, and they may respect you more. Other times, there’s reason to be secretive. Most teams are probably assuming that the team is selecting Simmons, but by keeping that a mystery, they are making it harder for other teams to build a draft strategy.

The options are open in the draft.

In the trade market, the options are also open.

It’s hard to deny that eventually, the Sixers will end up shipping off one of their big men. With Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel, and Jahlil Okafor all currently members of the roster, there’s not many scenarios where all three of those players can play on the same team and get decent starting minutes, especially since none of the three have demonstrated that they can fit well into the power forward role.

The way they’ve approached shipping one out, however, has been one that keeps options open. There have been rumors that the team was shopping Nerlens Noel for Jeff Teague (since stopped because of a preexisting Teague injury) and there also have been rumors that the team would rather ship off Jahlil Okafor.

The motive of the team has not been made clear, making teams looking to strike a deal with the Sixers a bit confused. This is good for Philly, because it allows them to optimize the return for whichever player they end up dealing.

Teams would lowball if they knew that the Sixers definitely wanted to trade Okafor (and they still might, because of recent reports). Knowing the team wants to get rid of him most allows teams to offer less than they normally would and still potentially do the trade. But since there’s no clear-cut message from Philly, the Sixers can bluff all they want by threatening to walk away from lowball conversations until teams up the ante on their side of the bargain. It’s smart.

Next: Covington & Grant Among NBA's Top Contracts

Options open is the way to go, and moving forward, Bryan Colangelo is not going to show anyone what the plan is. He should keep it that way.