PHILADELPHIA – The 76ers are now just a few short hours away from a long-awaited event, the signature event, in respect to the organization’s efforts to build a team capable of winning on a sustained basis.
In the literal sense, yes, a good chunk of time has passed between the Sixers winning the draft lottery on May 17th, and tonight, when the team picks first for the third time in history. The build up has been particularly intense as the date of June 23rd has gotten closer and closer.
But, if a lengthier lens is used to look at the current state of the Sixers, and, specifically, the steps taken and tribulations endured to create the favorable conditions that lay before them this evening, a six-week stretch seems like chump change. After three years’ worth of patience and perseverance, however, a potentially transformative payoff could be delivered.
Heading into this year’s draft, not only do the Sixers have the chance to acquire whomever they’ve determined to be the best prospect available, they’re also in position to capitalize on the flexibility brought on by having two additional first round picks in their possession. Tuesday, President of Basketball Operations Bryan Colangelo reemphasized, as he has in recent weeks, that he intends to run the Sixers’ war room with an open, judicious mind.
“It’s exciting for one,” he said, “because we know we’re adding some big time talent at the top of the draft.
“What comes with that, if there is a trade that’s made, we can start to package everything and say, ‘Wow, we just really improved our basketball team.’ That’s what’s going to drive the level of excitement going forward.”
The sentiment is an understandable one. The past three years, the Sixers have experienced considerable pain, with adversity surfacing in a variety of forms. There have been the losses, the oh-so-close misses on landing the number one pick in the draft the last two years, the injuries, the people and players that have come and gone. There has been, for certain, a lot.
“We’re going to have a new name on the board officially,” said Colangelo. “We’re in the catbird seat, so we kind of know in advance of everybody else what we’re doing, because we’re going to make that first selection, so we can plan more in advance than some of the other teams.”
As of Tuesday, when he addressed reporters for nearly 30 minutes at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Colangelo had yet to publicly identify the player the Sixers feel is most worthy of going number one. Earlier that morning, the club conducted a coveted private workout with Louisiana State freshman forward Ben Simmons, whose trip to Philadelphia was the only team visit he made since declaring for the draft. Last week, on June 13th, Duke swingman Brandon Ingram came to town. Like Simmons, he wanted to convey to the Sixers that being taken first was a goal.
“It’s always important to get it right, but this is a big one for the organization,” Colangelo said of making a decision on the top pick. “I’ve said it would be hard to imagine that there’s a wrong choice here, but making the right choice is a degree of separation that I’m not sure I can put an amount to or calculate.
“You’re talking about, in Brandon Ingram or Ben Simmons, two players that are going to come in and help their organization. How quickly takes time for everybody, but I think both candidates will be in a position – especially with this particular team, with this particular stage of our evolution – to have an impact. There’s an opportunity here for these young players to come in and be part of something and part of a growth process that we’re excited about.”
Representing a positive development, the Sixers have managed to secure Simmons’ and Ingrams’ respective medical reports, as well as similar documents from every other prospect who has piqued the club’s interest. On Monday, the Sixers’ brain trust held a three-hour meeting with team doctors, pouring over findings that included physical results new and old, x-rays, and MRIs.
“If there was a surgery, a known injury, if a joint was affected, whether it’s the top of the draft, bottom of the draft, middle of the draft, we want to know,” said Colangelo, adding that he thought the Sixers might be the only franchise to have received medical information from both Simmons and Ingram.
“That indicates an agent’s desire to have a player here,” he said.
Colangelo is no stranger to dealing with the number pick in the draft. He previously chose first in 2006, four months after being hired as president and general manager of the Toronto Raptors.
Comparing the circumstances surrounding him now and those from a decade ago, Colangelo said, “Different scenario altogether, because there was no clear or consensus number one pick, much less two [like] this draft. That’s what we’ve had to deal with.”
He noted, though, that the 2006 draft “did put the seeds in place for a deal [Charlie Villanueva to Milwaukee for T.J. Ford] that ultimately turned out to be a trade that netted [Toronto] a point guard, which was, interestingly, a similar situation to what we’re hoping for here.”
Such a statement brings to the forefront another important dynamic that could arise this evening, given the Sixers hold the 24th and 26th selections in the first round as well. The squad, as Colangelo mentioned Tuesday, has not ruled out the possibility of pursuing another high-caliber prospect, particularly one that could fall inside the top 10.
“There’s some great things that we could be doing while the draft is proceeding,” said Colangelo, whose prior first-round picks have included Michael Finley (1995), Steve Nash (1996), Shawn Marion (1999), Amar’e Stoudemire (2002), Andrea Bargnani (2006), Roy Hibbert (2008), and DeMar DeRozan (2009). “The night doesn’t end when you make the first selection, or even when the first round ends. There’s a lot of things that are happening — conversations with agents, scouts working the phones, trying to figure out if there’s someone that we should be chasing for, whether it’s acquiring a second round pick, or just waiting for them to go undrafted, and have them join us in the summer.”
While the Sixers’ were doing extensive due diligence in preparation for the draft, Colangelo, who joined the team in April, had an asset to deploy in Brett Brown. The rising fourth-year head coach ended each workout session by giving the 57 prospects that passed through PCOM – either in group or individual settings – a parting pep talk and handshake.
“The message is fantastic,” Colangelo said. “I wish I could record it and play it back to you. It kind of talks about their journey that they’re about to face, what they’re going through, what it’s like to think about being about being an NBA player, a Philadelphia 76er, what it means to him, what it should mean to them. He talks about the fans, and just how passionate they are, and what they’re going to be expecting. He’s very real with the players, and it’s great.”
“I always like to talk to the group as a group and share stories on what I think their path is,” said Brown in May. “All they need is to make one team love them. You just try to share stories to help and let them know who we are.”
Brown, of course, has been on the frontline of helping the Sixers try to clear the hurdles that have popped the past three years. Despite the struggles, his constantly forward-moving, resilient, honest, and genuine demeanor has resonated strongly in a city where authenticity plays big. As an organization, the Sixers, with their fans in mind, are eager to begin accelerating a reversal of fortunes.
“There’s two groups I focus on,” Sixers Chief Executive Officer Scott O’Neil said in May, after the Sixers won the lottery. “One is our fans that have been so loyal to this team for three rough and tough years, with some bad luck, and some we put upon ourselves. And the second is for our staff, which works so hard, and is such an incredibly talented group of people. To have…a little good luck fall our way, I could not be any happier.”
It’s draft day. The moment is finally here, and the Sixers seem eager and prepared to make the most of it.
