Let’s begin with the bad news: This year, the draft-pick tracker has been cut in half. The picks that the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder owed to the Sixers became and , respectively.
- MORE ON THE SIXERS
- It appears as if Joel Embiid has officially made his nickname ‘The Process’
- Sixers notes: Holmes gets a long look, Bayless could be sidelined for a while
- Video rewind: Joel Embiid shows promise, potential, rust in NBA debut
On the bright side, the two selections with greater importance (the Lakers pick and the Sixers’ own pick) have come back for another year of tracking along with one potential pick swap with the Sacramento Kings. Let’s take a look at where things stack up the preseason:
(By the way, just so people are aware, the bad logos have always been on purpose.)
Sixers pick
We wrote about the Sixers’ over/under a few weeks ago, and with the way Las Vegas sized things up before ’ injury, Philly has some competition for the league’s cellar in the form of Brooklyn, Phoenix, and the Lakers. While I think ’s team figures to end up somewhere in the low-20s, that situation would mean they won’t run away with the league’s worst record. The ///etc. derby figures to be competitive!
Kings owner gave a fascinating interview with USA Today in which he kinda, sorta deflected everything that has happened under his watch the past three years. Sam Amick, the interviewer, even felt the need to correct some things on his Twitter:
And Delaware County native/former Kings head of basketball operations gave an interview to Deadspin where he echoed Amick’s sentiments. also isn’t one bit happy about the basketball situation in Sacramento.
The Kings are welcoming in a new coach in , and is an incredible talent that has never been able to put it all together within a team context for his entire career. At 32.5 wins, the Kings actually have the fifth lowest over/under in the NBA, an outcome the Sixers would sign up for right now if they had the chance. Sacramento has the talent to be a good bit better than that, but then again, last year’s 33-win campaign was their highest finish since 2007-08.
As always, the Kings shouldn’t be boring in 2016-17.
Lakers pick
The Lakers figure to be pretty bad, which could either be a blessing or curse for the Sixers.
After two seasons of the ping-pong balls going their way, Los Angeles has one more year of their first rounder being Top-3 protected before they would finally have to fork over an unprotected pick to Philly in 2018. Their major free-agent signings ( and ) were very questionable, but they should help stabilize this year’s rotation as long as they can stay healthy.
On the bright side for Los Angeles, is a promising coach and has the chance to blow up offensively this season. has had a subpar preseason thus far, and with his thin frame and young age, he looks like a player who Lakers fans need to be patient with.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann