Why Philadelphia 76ers Will Continue Draft And Stash Strategy
By Bret Stuter
Despite new CBA creation of two roster spots for teams to send raw players to NBA development league while retaining exclusive rights, the old “draft and stash” strategy has never been more valuable. The Philadelphia 76ers are masters at it.
The Philadelphia 76ers drafted Dario Saric in 2014 only to sign him as an NBA rookie in 2016. That same draft, the team team selected Vasilije Micic with the 52nd pick. He continues to play in the Euroleague. In 2016, the team selected Furkan Korkmaz with the 26th overall pick. He continues to play in the Euroleague and likely will continue to do so this year.
Why?
The Philadelphia 76ers have become masters at developing players above and beyond the artificially low 15 player roster. In short, the demands upon an NBA team exceed 15 players in a given season.
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Swarm and Sting
One And Not Done
With the predominance of “one and done” players joining the ranks each year, the NBA faces increasing demands of it’s roster with far too few slots. That 15 player roster must ensure enough talent to absorb 82 games worth of playing time. But simultaneously, the same roster must develop young talent.
The rules for the NBA development league are horrible. For a team to develop a player, that player remained on the limited 15 man roster. While those rules relax somewhat due to the new CBA, the opening of two two-way contracts on the team is simply a band-aid on the fracture.
NBA Draft Forces Overseas Reserve Bank
Young players have significant and recognizable raw talent. But the maturity of their mindset, body maturation, and even social interactions does not always match their talent level on the day a young man is drafted. That is why the need for draft and stash will remain.
With team allotted one first and one second round picks, the theoretical draft can be managed. In the draft design, one rookie fast tracks on playing time while the second learns from observation from the bench.
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Incoming!
But when the Philadelphia 76er land a haul of five or six rookies in the 2017 NBA Draft, the tsunami is simply too much for any one team to handle. Compound this with the fact that the Philadelphia 76ers will compete for post season play, and the matter of developing six rookies simultaneously seems less appealing. While there is plenty of reason to suspect the team deals some picks, the abundance of selections may overwhelm even dealing.
The team signed an NBA ready Dario Saric two years after he was drafted. The team has exclusive rights to two current International players. Fortunately, more young talent is on the way. To judge who is and isn’t ready and compatible with the Philadelphia 76ers roster, drafting and stashing players buys the team sufficient time to accumulate data for the eventual decision.
The National Basketball Association is perhaps the most international of all sports, save soccer. As such, basketball talent from around the world becomes available to the NBA each year. Remaining active internationally is good business sense for the future of the NBA. But the mechanics solves a more fundamental problem for teams.
Next: Is Trading Up An Option For The Philadelphia 76ers?
As long as the Philadelphia 76ers have raw talent in rookie form, the team will continue drafting and stashing players overseas.