Welcome to Sixers Draftland
Who will join these guys next year? We’ll find out soon. From left: Nerlens Noel (Howard Smith), Sam Hinkie (Eric Hartline) and Joel Embiid (Bill Streicher) | all USA Today Sports
The NBA draft has the chance to be a franchise-altering moment for any team.
Never is this truth driven home more than during the NBA Finals, as we watch the Warriors, led by two superstars drafted in the lottery, face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are relevant because the presence of one No. 1 overall pick (Kyrie Irving) and the ability to use another No. 1 overall pick to acquire Kevin Love was enough to make them an enticing destination to former No. 1 LeBron James.
Take a look at all the great teams in the NBA and you’ll notice a similar pattern: In order to get great in the NBA, finding at least one great player in the draft is a virtual prerequisite.
We’ll use this space over the next two weeks to bring you all the information you need about the upcoming NBA draft and the decisions the 76ers will have to make.
We’ll cover everything from league-wide consensus, to statistical analysis, to film breakdowns. The coverage will be geared toward trying to provide as much information as possible, but in a way that both casual fans and diehard hoopheads alike can take something away from. In essence, the goal is to be the Sixers draft equivalent to the amazing product Tim McManus and Sheil Kapadia have created over at Birds 24/7.
A brief introduction before we get into the stuff you care about: I’ve been with DraftExpress.com as a college basketball scout since 2008, and I also cover the NBA draft for USA Today. Along with the draft I cover the Philadelphia 76ers locally for 97.3 FM ESPN, and write about the Sixers for LibertyBallers. You can also find some of my thoughts on the team over at my own personal blog, and feel free to follow me on Twitter at @DerekBodnerNBA.
Read all of Derek Bodner’s Sixers Draftland coverage.
