Fansided

Philadelphia 76ers drafting Jahlil Okafor might be a waste of time

By Josh Hill

Jun 25, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Jahlil Okafor (Duke) greets NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number three overall pick to the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 25, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Jahlil Okafor (Duke) greets NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number three overall pick to the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Philadelphia 76ers are trying to find a way to win in 2015-16 but that could elude them once again thanks to another poor draft. 

When the Philadelphia 76ers tanked yet again last season, they didn’t even try to hide what they were doing. The team was starkly against the idea of an anti-tanking rule for at least one more season — which basically screamed to the rest of the world that they didn’t care how much they suck.

Philly doesn’t seem interested at all in playing basketball anymore, and that’s a shame given the history of their franchise. But it’s been a dark day for many years for the 76ers, and the sun looks like it’s going to continue to be blocked out for the foreseeable future.

As opined by Bob Ford of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Sixers drafting Jahlil Okafor doesn’t get the team any closer to winning — which begs the question of whether or not this is all just a giant waste of time.

The real question is are the 76ers a giant waste of space in the NBA? They’re a D-League team at best most of the time and they didn’t do much to improve themselves in the draft this year.

Drafting Jahlil Okafor in the year’s draft gave them one of the best available players on board but it failed to fill any holes they had on the roster. Philly already has Nerlens Noel to play power forward and Joel Embiid is the center of the future, for now.

The only way this might work out is if Embiid’s foot never heals up and he becomes expendable in a way that allows Okafor to replace him. That’s hardly a win though, as it means the 76ers wasted a No. 3 overall pick last season and would end up with two players out of three drafts.

If Embiid’s foot does heal and he ends up being a success in the NBA, then the 76ers still lose as they simply traded trade bait with a top lottery pick. Most teams try to fill holes and fix needs with top picks, not draft players they’re going to trade later.

Michael Carter-Williams was rookie of the year and a top lottery pick for the 76ers — and he plays for the Milwaukee Bucks now. Embiid, Noel and/or Okafor might be in that same boat in the near future, as despite having three talented young big men for the future, Philly has no outside shooting and now quarterback to run everything.

It takes a special kind of incompetence to have as many lottery picks as the 76ers have owned in the past handful of years and still have managed to make no progress whatsoever.

More from FanSided

Home/NBA Draft