McDermott to the Sixers Could Be McBuckets of Fun

The NCAA Championship hasn’t been over for 24 hours, but that isn’t going to stop every fan, analyst, and blogger on planet earth from looking forward to the NBA Draft in June — which is two months away. Naturally, I’m going to join in on the fun because I crave to be part of the cool kids clique and because I’m amped up for this draft.

Why wouldn’t anyone be if you’re a Sixers fan? This draft is LOADED with a capital “OADED”. There’s Kansas super-freshman Andrew Wiggins, his teammate Joel Embiid (who I want to avoid since he’s a 7-foot, 19-year-old kid with back problems), and Jabari Parker, the Duke standout who looked throughout the season to be thoroughly disinterested in playing defense.

Then there’s the guy I’ve been campaigning for since January — Creighton’s Doug McDermott. Let me clarify my position. In no way do I want the Sixers to draft McDermott with that potential top-5 pick — especially if that pick is #1. That pick is Wiggins and Wiggins alone. The potential second lottery pick (8-11 range) would be a decent spot to take “McBuckets”.

According to the latest mock draft from Draft XPress (my and it should be your go-to site for all things NBA Draft related), McDermott is slotted to go to the Sixers with the 10th pick. That’s perfect. This morning, Liberty Ballers — a prominent Sixers website for SB Nation — compiled a “Sixers Big Board” for potential draftees to join the kids at the Wells Fargo Center for the 2014-2015 season. Wiggins was the consensus #1 choice. McDermott was 8th. In that piece, Jake Pavorsky of Liberty Ballers said it best:

“He is the most effective offensive player in this draft. He can beat you in the post, he can knock down a three off a ball screen, and he can take you off the dribble. That’s not even half of what he’s good at; McDermott is an offensive magician, and you have no clue what the hell his next trick will be.”

This is the truest statement you can say about McDermott. He has so many ways to fill up points on a stat sheet. He can get to the rim. He has a beautiful mid-range game, and he’s amazing from beyond the arc (45% collegiate average from 3) either catching and shooting or coming off screens. McDermott’s high basketball IQ leads him to not take terrible shots, and he just knows where to be on the court.

My personal dream for this draft would be getting Wiggins and McDermott. Plug these two in with Michael Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel, and you have a lovely young nucleus that you’d easily be proud of. MCW can get to the rim. Andrew Wiggins can get to the rim. Add McDermott to that mix, and there can be some incredible slash-and-kick possibilities. Think Chandler Parsons in Houston. When he goes to the rim, he commands a double team, so Parsons often slips away from the defense’s vision. If Harden can’t finish, there’s the pass. Swish. Three points.

Any team vying for a championship HAS TO HAVE a knockdown shooter like McDermott. These guys spread the floor, and they open the driving lanes. All of this should be common knowledge. Only Hollis Thompson shoots over 40% from deep, and he barely eclipses that mark. (Let’s be honest, though. If you’re playing the Sixers, would YOU be afraid of Hollis Thompson?) The Sixers DESPERATELY need shooters. This has been a problem since Kyle Korver has been gone. It’s nearly impossible to have a fluid offense if the opposing defense is contempt with simply bottling up the paint because they know that’s essentially the offense.

McDermott fixes all of that because of his ability to tickle the nylon from beyond 25 feet. He also has the mid-range game to boot as well as the off the dribble stuff. (Admittedly, he might not want to try that against LeBron James, but you get the general idea.)

I do understand that with the pluses, you get minuses with McDermott. I do concede he isn’t the best, athletically. He’s not going to blow by anyone with some kind of next-level speed, and he’s not the best defensively. McDermott at least has flashes of defensive capability. He at least PLAYS defense — which is more than I can say for Jabari Parker. If you have MCW, Wiggins, AND Nerlens Noel in the starting five, how big of an issue could this be?

The “McDermott can’t be a starter because he isn’t a top defender” line is a little comical when you consider the Sixers could have MCW, Wiggins, and Noel backing him up, anyway. Let’s be honest. Sixers coach Brett Brown can teach defense — if he has the right collection of players. You know who wasn’t an all-world defender out of college who grew into being somewhat reliable defensively? Paul Pierce — which is who McDermott most reminds me of (not Larry Bird).

The name that gets referenced the most with that potential second lottery pick is Indiana’s Noah Vonleh. I’m not against that idea, but I like the idea of Wiggins and McDermott and adding someone like Detroit’s Greg Monroe in free agency — something in the area of $30 million over four years. Monroe hovers around 18-22 in terms of PER (career 19.4), and he’s averaging 15.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg shooting 50% from the field (including 37% from 10-16 feet which leads me to believe he has a developing mid-range game). He’s a little weak from the free throw line (67%), but in a league where Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan are in starting 5’s, let’s scale it back a bit.

This upcoming draft features a number of building blocks that the Sixers can use to easily get back in the conversation of at least making the playoffs. I’d be perfectly happy if they used this draft to make things exciting again at the Wells Fargo Center when that beautiful red, white, and blue logo shines at half court. Sixers fans would settle for that if significant strides were being made. That’s what this off-season is about: making strides.

The Sixers potentially have two lottery picks in this upcoming draft, not to mention a truckload of salary cap space. Obviously, Wiggins is the guy you take #1 overall, but pairing him with McDermott would be a fantastic way to ensure that more confetti falls from the rafters on a nightly basis down in South Philadelphia — not to mention hundreds of McDermott three pointers.