For the eleven of you out there that understood that title, Hi! My name is JJ, and we should be friends.
I didn’t see it coming. I saw the Sixers being bumped down to 7th and losing their pick to OKC as the most logical “Philly” conclusion. As you will all be able to hear Thursday morning, I was wrong, and the result made Tyles and me rather excited. The next episode of the flagship will have the two of us reacting in real time as the draft lottery unfolded (Kev was there too, he just could not have been any less interested). And I admit I didn’t see it coming, the utilitarian calculus that keeps the metaphysical balance of the City of Brotherly Love intact. By this I mean, of course, that it was only logical that since the Flyers moved down 2 draft spots as a result of their lottery, the Sixers moved up EXACTLY 2 spots in their own lottery draw to maintain the balance of the universe here in the Free City.
And although I am not a fan of the Association, I think the city is more fun when teams succeed. And I think a top 3 pick in a fairly good draft can only benefit a Sixers team that had no expectation of being a lottery team when this travesty of a campaign began back in October. Now they will add the perfect piece in (SPOILER ALERT) Ace Bailey, probably the most utilitarian player in the draft (are you noticing a theme?!) because of his ability to realistically play 4 positions on the floor. I think he’ll end up as a winger (SF) alongside Maxey and McCain, which is the start of a nice core of talent that might be good enough to get back to losing in the second round of the playoffs after the veterans end up moving on from the Sixers. The nice thing is that I can, with the utmost certainty, say that Ace Bailey is the pick because there is a clear hierarchy of the first five prospects in this year’s draft, which is great. After all, it means Morey can’t mess it up.
Now, as Tyles will tell you on Thursday’s show, the Sixers’ terrible year and subsequent luck in this lottery means that they will, 100% run it back and attempt to Get ‘Em Next Year (see what I did there?) because the first-rounder is still owed to Oklahoma City and is now only top-4 protected for the next two seasons. While this year may have been a comedy of errors and injuries, the roster is far too talented to be in a top-4 position again. So the only logical conclusion is to run it back with the whole roster and pray that you can get like 25 games from Embiid, squeak into a non-play-in playoff spot, and get dusted eventually by the Villanova Knicks or the Pacers.
It was fitting that the net-net of the two teams in the Xfinity Mobile Arena (just testing it out, I think I hate it) would be one moves up 2 as one slides back two spots in what will amount to very important drafts for both franchises… But I really wish it were the other way around, selfishly. Oh well, back to watching Stanley Cup Playoffs and dreaming of the Flyers getting there. Remember! We’re only 2/3 years away from being 2/3 years away…