The Philadelphia 76ers are on par to build their team like the current reigning NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers.
If I told you the Philadelphia 76ers had some similarities to the current Cleveland Cavaliers, you’d probably call me crazy. And you might be right to say that, as the Cavs have just recently won the NBA Championship, and the Sixers are coming off of a 10-win season, the second worst in NBA history.
The Sixers, however, are seemingly on the rebound, and looking to build their franchise into a championship caliber team. They currently hold the top overall pick in the NBA Draft, and that’s where the similarities to the current Cavaliers start.
Ben Simmons, the presumptive top overall pick, has drawn a likeness to James, who is regularly called the greatest athlete in the NBA, and possibly the world. Simmons has a similar build to James when he was a younger player, and functions as a point-forward just as James does.
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Simmons is the type of player that, given the right tools, could transform a team’s offense.
James is also mentoring Simmons, and has had nothing but praises to say about the young Australian.
The next place that the Sixers relate — and this is a fairly new occurrence — is in their drafting. The Sixers are reportedly seeking another lottery pick, and a high one at that. They are in talks with the New Orleans Pelicans (who hold the sixth overall pick) and the Boston Celtics (who hold the third overall pick).
The Sixers are very high on Kris Dunn, a point guard out of Providence, who they would be likely to select if they could obtain a second lottery pick where Dunn was available. Some fans are highly opposed to this, and others are not.
Dunn is not the similarity to the Cavs. Although he could be great, he is no Kyrie Irving, nor does his style draw similarity to him.
The similarity would be the positioning of the drafting. The last time a team had two picks inside the top four overall picks was the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers selected Kyrie Irving out of Duke first overall that year, and Tristan Thompson fourth overall out of Texas.
#Sixers are making a move at top-5 pick in Draft. Last team to have two top-5 picks in one year: Cavaliers (2011)[Irving, Thompson].
— The Sixer Sense (@SixerSense) June 21, 2016
It’s hard to argue that those three mentioned players (James, Irving, Thompson) are not huge pieces of the team that just won a championship, and it’s easy to see how having a player like Simmons, and another pick in the top three picks of this year’s draft could set them up well for years to come.
In addition to that the Sixers do have assets that the Cavs really didn’t have the luxury of using while they were building up to their first franchise championship. Think about guys like Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Nerlens Noel, and Jahlil Okafor. All of them were lottery picks, and all of them are expected to be very good on the Sixers.
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Of course, luring LeBron James back to his hometown in free agency was one of the best moves for the Cavs, and the Sixers may have to eventually get a huge free agent deal done down the road. But if the Sixers can manage to trade and get inside the top three this year, I find it hard to come up with an argument that says the Cavs were better built for a title dating back to 2011.