What If the Sixers Copied the Celtics’ Rebuild Conclusion
From a quote from this Gary Dzen’s article, I believe both Noel and Embiid would still be on the Sixers.
"“’He was not red-flagged, meaning, ‘Stay away at all costs.’ said Ainge. ‘He was rated a little bit less than that with risk, but he was guy that we were looking at had he fallen.’ Asked directly if he would have selected Embiid, Ainge said, ‘Yes, we would’ve.’”"
The Sixers would still build a team that was meant to loss a lot of games during the 2013-14 season would still finish with a worse record than the Celtics. Trading Spencer Hawes and Evan Turner at the 2014 trade deadline would no longer happen, but having both stay on the Sixers to the end of the season probably wouldn’t have increased the Sixers’ 19 wins to the 25 wins needed to tie the Celtics, so they still would be in position to draft Embiid.
The Sixers would have spent money on free agents during the 2014 and 2015 off-seasons. Spending does not change much, as they wouldn’t have signed anyone with enough value to help them make the playoffs in either season.
While the Sixers wouldn’t be the 18 and 10 wins embarrassments they were during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 season, they likely would not have owned the draft picks in position to draft Jahlil Okafor and Ben Simmons. Dario Saric probably wouldn’t be a member of the Sixers either. Two lottery picks in the same draft with no playing time the following season is too risky.
However, the teams would have still traded the 10th pick to the Orlando Magic for the 12th and the Sixers’ protected first round pick they gave to the Magic during the Andrew Bynum trade.
The Phildelphia would start 2016-17 season with a team built around MCW. Add Noel, Embiid, Zach LaVine (Saric’s replacement in the 2014 draft), and Justise Winslow (Okafor’s replacement in the 2015 draft). In all this, I see a Sixers’ team that spent money on free agents still being a bottom ten team.
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