When he took over the Philadelphia 76ers, Bryan Colangelo inherited a team loaded with youth, talent, and upside. But ever so slowly, the team is siphoning off youth for veterans, even with upcoming NBA Draft picks.
The Philadelphia 76ers were not a good team when the decision was made to bring on Bryan Colangelo. In fact, the team was a very bad team heading for the best chance at the overall first pick of the 2016 NBA Draft bad.
But the outlook for the team was probably as bright if not brighter than any other team in the NBA. The reason was that the team had foregone much of the veteran presence found on most teams in a fast-track search to get very good to elite talent on the roster. The method? Hit or miss.
Bryan Colangelo arrived to the team when the team roster had little to no claim on veteran presence. Even power forward Carl Landry sought to take his chances elsewhere rather than continue to play for the 76ers youth movement in the 2016 offseason. Perhaps he bailed too soon.
Swarm and Sting
Siphoning Off Youth
Since arriving, the team has been slowly siphoning off the youth of previous years. Not only is talent maturing naturally, but Bryan Colangelo helps to nudge that process along wherever possible.
He signed three free agents to the team, getting 143 games out of the possible 246. That is good enough for a 58 percent return, which seems no better than the moves of his predecessor Sam Hinkie.
The team traded young prospect Jerami Grant for the rights to Ersan Ilyasova. The team never made any effort to retain the services of young center Nerlens Noel. Both Ilyasova and Noel would be traded at the deadline. In return, the 76ers landed a couple second round picks, and the services of third year veteran Justin Anderson and six year veteran Tiago Splitter.
New Draft Same Old Theme
While the Philadelphia 76ers are heading into the 2017 NBA Draft with five to six picks,I cannot see the team using all picks. Call it a hunch, intuition, or superstition, but the team under Bryan Colangelo is simply not the same open casting call it once was.
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The Philadelphia 76ers struggle in 2016-2017 to find playing time for her one and only true rookie in Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. The other rookie, Ben Simmons, was injured and never competed for playing time. In fact, it was not until plenty of injuries forced the team into the NBA exception role to sign a 16th player that Cabarrot truly began to see full playing minutes.
Rookie Mistake
Now, how will the team find playing time for six rookies?
I simply do not see it happening. Somehow, someway, the Philadelphia 76ers will convert four second round picks of the 2017 NBA Draft into something else: whether combined into one earlier pick, traded for 2018 picks, or packaged to trade for an NBA Veteran. In any case, the team will use those picks.
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But it will not be to obtain four rookies to this roster.