The ping pong balls once again did not fall in favor of the Philadelphia 76ers at the NBA Draft Lottery at the New York Hilton Midtown.
We can’t even win at tanking.
In a stunning turn of events, the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were not even in the lottery came out of nowhere and stole the number one pick again. I’m completely kidding. However, for the second year in a row the Sixers were left in the dust in the quest for number one and ended up at number three.
Optimism reigned supreme in the days leading up to the lottery. The best chance for the Sixers to acquire the first round picks from both the Lakers and the Heat weighed in at a scant 2.3 percent, with just under a 10 percent chance of the Lakers falling to the number six overall pick. Oh NBA, you have such a sense of humor; the Lakers would prevail with the number two overall pick and the Minnesota Timberwolves nabbing the coveted top spot. All of Sam Hinkie’s wheeling and dealing appears to have been for naught.
With the number one overall pick, the Timberwolves are only the fourth team with the best odds of winning getting the pick since the lottery system was instituted in 1990. However, considering that Minnesota and Los Angeles both are in need of big men, that should leave D’Angelo Russell waiting for the Sixers at number three.
At the start of the lottery, the Knicks had the second best odds at getting the number one overall, but were bumped back to number four overall. This is the one glimmer of hope the Sixers have, as the Knicks would have been their only real competition for Russell based on similar needs.
Let’s just hope that if he is out there they don’t take him and trade him away for more picks. No more picks, Hinkie, I am so sick of picks.
Representing the Sixers, Nerlens Noel showed up with Sixers jerseys stitched inside of his suit for good luck. Was this the jersey that the Sixers are unveiling June 18? If Noel did in fact leak the new Sixers jersey it is merely the old jersey with just “Phila” in place of “Sixers.” Hopefully we can be a little bit more creative than that guys, think Lehigh Valley Iron Pig’s bacon logo.
It wasn’t the worst case scenario, but it was pretty close. At the very least the Sixers guy should be out there waiting for them at number three. But with only one first round pick in this year’s draft, all of those trades sting pretty bad right now.
At least Noel took it better than Dr. J last year. Who can forget that face?
The NBA Draft is set for June 25, 2015 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Let the month of speculation commence!
I just hope that neither of the top two projected get injured, that’s the Sixers M.O. to draft injured players, no one else’s.
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