The Sixer Sense
Fansided

Sixers should have drafted Tayshaun Prince in 2002

By Lucas Johnson

facebooktwitterreddit

The Philadelphia 76ers squandered the chance of selecting a player back in the 2002 NBA Draft who was a very good defensive forward.

In the summer of 2002, the Philadelphia 76ers were coming off the previous season with 43-39 record and a first round exit of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics. The Sixers starting small forward from that season was Matt Harpring who was set to be a free agent. When Harpring left Philly for the Utah Jazz that offseason, the Sixers never found a full-time starter to replace him.

The Sixers had primarily three players split time at the starting small forward position in the 2002-03 season. Aaron McKie got the majority of starts at the position, but Kenny Thomas and Tyrone Hill also getting more than a handful of starts each as well. However, former general manager Billy King could have avoided the rotating door at small forward if he was a better talent evaluator in the draft.

More from The Sixer Sense

In the 2002 NBA Draft, the Sixer had the 16th pick in the first round. The Sixers used the pick on Jiri Welsch. Welsch’s career was forgettable, so it was good he never played for the Sixers. The 76ers ended up trading Welsch’s draft rights that same day to the Golden State Warriors. The trade package was Welsch for a first round pick in 2005, which eventually ended up being Joey Graham and a second round pick in 2004, which eventually ended up being Viktor Sanikidze.

Graham and Sanikidze never played for Philly as the rights to the picks that selected them were eventuallytraded away by the club. Trading away the first round pick that ended up being Graham scored the Sixers Thomas. While Thomas was solid, he was never more than a rotational player with starter level talent.

The Sixers should have used the 16th pick of the 2002 NBA Draft instead of trading it away. There were a handful of good players still available for the Sixers to select at the 16th spot, including small forward Tayshaun Prince. Prince could have filled the void left by Harpring and could have been a defensive ace to help Allen Iverson lock down on perimeter defense.

Prince had a career average of 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists, while shooting 45.5 percent on field goal attempts and 36.7 percent from the 3-point line. Beyond Prince’s basic stats, he was a great defender. He made All-Defense second team four times in his career. Prince would have locked down the small forward position for multiple years in Philly.

Now it was evident that King did see the need for a small forward of the future, when he traded Speedy Claxton for the draft rights to John Salmons along with Mark Bryant and Randy Holcomb from the San Antonio Spurs. Salmons was the 26th pick of the 2002 NBA Draft and ended up having a solid career, just not when he was in Philly. Salmons only averaged 5.1 points during his stint with the 76ers.

Next: Sixers draft profile: Issuf Sanon

If King would have selected Prince with the 16th pick, King wouldn’t have had to trade Claxton and the Philadelphia 76ers would have gotten an elite defender at small forward. Prince would have solidified the small forward position, while Iverson would have had another young wing player that could have made an impact immediately.