Porter: If You Can't See Sixers' Success Looming, Time To Open Your Eyes
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- One hour before Tuesday night's NBA Draft Lottery.
"We're at capacity."
"What?" I was shocked.
"I can take your name if you want," the hostess at Buffalo Wild Wings in Northeast Philadelphia told me. "It's a two, three hour wait."
I was attempting to go to the LibertyBallers.com / Rights to Ricky Sanchez draft lottery party, possibly definitely the largest NBA draft lottery party that ever existed.
After some deliberation, upon realizing the restaurant was out of glasses and space was extremely minimal, my friends and I chose to take our lottery talents somewhere else. Ultimately, and more importantly, the Sixers ended up with the third overall pick for the second straight year.
Finally, even the most flummoxed of Sixers fans and indignant Sam Hinkie haters are beginning to see the light. At this point, it's impossible to avoid.
The Sixers' roster is the youngest in the NBA, with an average age of 23.6.
Nerlens Noel, who turns 22 in April, is blossoming into an elite NBA defender. The 6'11" Noel, an all NBA first-team rookie, is just the second first-year player to average at least 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks. The other? David Robinson.
Noel was the only player in the league to finish in the top ten in both steals and blocks. He also finished five blocks short of a 200 point, 160 rebound, 40 steal, and 40 block month of March (243/190/41/35). The last player to achieve those lofty monthly totals was Hakeem Olajuwon in 1985-86.
Joel Embiid, a 7'0", 250-pound freakishly athletic center who can shoot the three ball, also turns 22 this spring. Embiid has been recovering from foot surgery, sitting out his first year in the NBA, but trust me, he is coming.
Embiid is expected to play this summer.
Dario Saric, a 6'10", 220-pound versatile point-forward, also turns 22 this spring. Saric was named FIBA Europe Young Player of the Year for two straight years. However, the Sixers' No. 12 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft is under contract in the Euroleague for Anadolu Efes Istanbul through the 2015-16 season.
Here are 11 Saric vines to give you a glimpse of the Toni Kukoc-type player.
With the third overall pick, the Sixers will likely (I use the word likely lightly, because you never know with Hinkie) choose between two athletic, 6'5" guards in D'Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay. Russell, is a left-handed scoring combo guard, who can flat-out stroke it. Mudiay is a true-point guard, a dynamic slasher and finisher at the rim.
And I didn't even mention the Sixers' youthful, economical, and rising role players like Robert Covington, Jerami Grant, JaKarr Sampson, Hollis Thompson, and Tony Wroten.
The draft picks that did not vest for the Sixers in Tuesday night's lottery, will more than likely convey in 2016. At the conclusion of the 2016 NBA Draft, the Sixers could be adding five first-round picks and six second-round picks, plus the aforementioned Saric from Turkey!
2015: one first-round pick (No. 3), five second-round picks (No. 35, 37, 45, 56, 60).
2016: potentially four first-round picks (their own pick, LAL top-three protected, MIA top-10 protected, OKC top-15 protected), one second-round pick (via DEN)
The Sixers have the NBA's lowest 2015-16 payroll, according to basketball-reference.com at $29,848,784. Basketballinsiders.com says the Sixers have the top 2015-16 projected cap situation, with the best-case scenario of $42.3 million to play with.
Daniel Leroux of SportingNews.com writes the, "76ers can ruin free-agency for every other team."
While the NBA salary cap is expected to soar in the near future, Hinkie has put the Sixers in an admirable financial situation.
Sixers fans are one of two things regarding the direction of the franchise---Electrified, energized, and fore-sighted or stubborn, disobliged, and irrational. Success in Philadelphia's NBA team is almost inevitable at this point and if you can't see the light, you should probably open your eyes.
