Sixers Will Keep Bringing Youth in Underneath Talent
By Josh Wilson
The Philadelphia 76ers have brought in some nice talent as well as veteran pieces, but their constant flow of youth is important.
With the incredible start to 2017 that the Philadelphia 76ers are having, some general NBA fans and fans of other teams are trying to find any way they can to make the success of the Sixers illegitamite, and prove that the tanking method put in place by Sam Hinkie over the last few years — that has now been picked up and altered in some ways by Bryan Colangelo — was ineffective.
Those attempts at discrediting have been unsuccessful, however, and one of the major arguments about the Sixers running out of fresh talent to develop underneath their nucleus right now is that the team will get competitive and no longer have draft picks to work with, therefore not giving them a next regime to come and take over once the (currently) young players are past their prime. That argument isn’t a good one.
Additionally, those youthful pieces (that the Sixers actually will acquire) can be nice compliments for the core that is in place now.
The Sixers (and more so, Hinkie) have looked towards the future and made sure that the youth doesn’t stop coming in. One of the things that has kept the San Antonio Spurs competitive for so long is their willingness to latch onto young talent and develop it around their already good pieces. The Sixers could, in some ways, emulate that model. By stockpiling current assets as well as future assets, the Sixers can always look forward, and hopefully be competitive for a very long time because of that.
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The talent the Sixers have on hand will be able to keep going for at least three years, and that’s with just the assets the Sixers have obtained up to now. Over the next three years, the Sixers could get more and more assets that relate to future players and younger players that make that length go far beyond three years.
This upcoming offseason is where the most obvious pool of young talent is for the Sixers. While some immediately think that the team winning more and more and pushing for the playoffs hurts that, in all reality, it helps them out if they’re in the playoffs.
Not only would the Sixers be considered a competitive team — to an extent — at that point, but they would also still likely have two lottery picks. The Los Angeles Lakers pick is theirs as long as it falls outside of the top three picks, and the Sixers have the right to swap their pick with the Sacramento Kings. The Lakers currently sit at No. 3 in the lottery, and the Kings No. 9.
The Sixers, the way they are positioned now, look to have a guaranteed pick in the top 10, and possibly two. Even if their pick comes in at No. 9 overall, the selection in this year’s draft class appears to be deeper than anything we’ve seen as of late, and that should get the Sixers and their fans excited for the future.
2017-18
Draft picks
- Own first round (or Kings, whichever is better)
- Lakers pick if it falls outside of the top 3
- Warriors, Knicks, Pistons, or Jazz second round, whichever is most favorable
- Warriors, Knicks, Pistons, Jazz second round, whichever is least favorable
Draft rights
The Sixers upcoming offseason is one that is obviously full of opportunities to bring in young talent. The Sixers look like they’ll have two draft picks in the lottery this year, and potentially two in the top five if things fall the right way for them. With that many opportunities to select from the pretty heavy amount of potential in this year’s draft, the Sixers will easily be able to supplement established Sixers pieces with brand new young players next season.
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Additionally, the Sixers could bring over Furkan Korkmaz (it doesn’t look like Micic will ever come over) this offseason, but it’s more likely that the team takes a route similar to Dario Saric — Korkmaz’s former teammate on the Anadolu Efes — with the draft and stash approach they’re taking with him, waiting two seasons after he’s initially drafted to bring him over.
2018-19
Draft picks:
- Own first round pick
- Own second round pick
- Nets or Cavaliers second round, whichever is more favorable
- Clippers or Kings second round, whichever is more favorable
Draft rights
- Vasilije Micic
- Furkan Korkmaz
Sam Hinkie’s 2018 planning wasn’t completely done when he left, because the Sixers will probably not have a great first round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft leading up to the 2018-19 season. Perhaps he would have changed that if he had more time to orchestrate this rebuild before he was pushed out.
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Still, the Sixers have their own first round pick to work with, and then three (count em, three!) draft picks to use in the second round. It’s doubtful that the Sixers use all of those draft picks, and could end up packaging one or two of those in a trade at some point.
With the 2018 draft not having that many attractive draft picks, this should be the year the Sixers bring Korkmaz over to keep the youthful intake flowing underneath the — at this point in the future — steadily developing core.
2019-20
Draft picks:
- Own first round pick
- Kings first round pick
- Own second round pick
- Bucks or Kings second round pick, whichever is more favorable
- Knicks second round pick
Draft rights
- Vasilije Micic
This year, the Sixers get right back to where they want to be if they want to layer things with veterans and youth to develop underneath those vets — the draft. The Sixers not only have their own first round pick, but have the Kings first round pick with no conditions.
On top of that, the Sixers have two second round picks.
The positioning of these picks is absolutely a huge mystery at this point, but if the Kings stay on the same trajectory that they’re on now, the Sixers could have at least one pick in the lottery. But if these picks both happen to be between 18-30 overall — of course, there could be more draft picks by this point due to a possible expansion of the NBA — the Sixers could still get some decent talent or some overseas players to stash overseas.
The following years
Beyond this, the Sixers have two first round picks (one that could potentially turn into two second round picks) in 2020, and three second round draft picks. The following year, the team has one first round pick and two second round picks.
Those years are so far out that it’s tough to say what the Sixers can and can’t do with those, because not only do we not know what players will be available, but the Sixers could also bring in more draft picks or send some away.
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Still, there’s a lot of time between now and then, and by the looks of things, the Sixers will have a lot of youth to work with over the next few years. The team may get wiser and older, but won’t lose the youthful pep in their step as things move on.