Sixers Made the Best Possible Pick

Apr 6, 2015 Duke Blue Devils center Jahlil Okafor (15) drives to the basket against Wisconsin on April 6, 2015 during the NCAA Men’s Division I Championship game. | Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

The Sixers made the absolute best pick they could have made in taking center Jahlil Okafor with the third pick in the NBA draft.

Now, I could end this column right there, but my editors here at Phillymag.com require something like 500 words before they will actually consider giving me any payment. So the following is for the people whom I have heard bombard this selection with the zeal of a gunnery sergeant.

I hear the screams:

 What, another big man! They needed a guard! What in hell are they going to do with three big men now? Don’t they need someone to get those big men the ball? You’re telling me your starting point guard next season is Ish Smith? What was the purpose then of trading Michael Carter-Williams if you weren’t going to replace him in this year’s draft?

I ask this: As the draft evolved, what was general manager Sam Hinkie supposed to do?

Hinkie may have had his eye on point guard D’Angelo Russell from Ohio State. Perhaps Hinkie did make a phone call to the Lakers prior to their pick and offered something to move down to pick number two to guarantee that. We should learn soon whether that in fact happened. But what’s more likely is that Hinkie was at the mercy of the Lakers, who obviously thought Russell would be the better fit in Kobe Bryant’s final year at the Staples Center. I was a little surprised too. But it is what it is. And that left Hinkie with pick number three.

All week, I had said that if I were Hinkie, I’d approach the draft with my feet up on the coffee table, swilling a glass of 20-year old, pre-war Scotch, and a fine cigar. If the Lakers took Russell, I’d say fine, I got Okafor, and then I’d call it a night. I was a little surprised that Hinkie then didn’t take some of his beloved second round picks and move back into the first round where he may have taken a guard. But beyond the first 10 picks of this draft, I didn’t see many difference making guards. So I certainly didn’t see any in the second round, when Hinkie decided to load up on even more speculative big men.

Jahlil Okafor is a stud. Trust me when I tell you that very few 7-foot players come into the league with natural offensive skills. The kid has great hands and great footwork. He can transport himself in the post from one spot to a clearer spot because of those two skills. He is going to command a double team on every half court offensive possession. And because he’s a good passer who holds the ball as if it’s a grapefruit, he’ll be able to hit any open jump shooter on the floor that’s unguarded.

And I will add this: guards are more plentiful than skilled big men. There is a D’Angelo Russell who comes out of an NBA draft nearly every year. Jahlil Okafors are scarce.

At the very best, the Sixers have three big men that no other team in the league has. It’s up to Brett Brown to use that to his team’s advantage. When you can sub one seven-footer for another, and keep that kind of length on your backline for an entire game, that’s an advantage, not a disadvantage. At the very worst, the Sixers have big men asset they can use in a trade, AND they have backed themselves up regarding the tenuous situation with Embiid.

Guards? They’re going to have to come later.

Hinkie has a lot of explaining to do now on trading Carter-Williams. He did that because he thought that both Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay were better point guards than MCW. He’s right. It’s just that the cards didn’t fall that way. And he made the best pick he could have made.

Chill. The process is still okay.