76ers play the lottery; will Russell be winning ticket?
Since this season began, the NBA draft on June 25 has been targeted as the third stage of the 76ers' rebuilding process.
Since this season began, the NBA draft on June 25 has been targeted as the third stage of the 76ers' rebuilding process.
It served as a glimmer of hope as the team opened the season with 17 consecutive losses as part of Tanking Part II. There was a sense that a good draw in the draft would erase all the misery.
The lottery has arrived. It will be held Tuesday night at the New York Hilton Midtown.
Former college standouts in center Karl-Anthony Towns (Kentucky), center Jahlil Okafor (Duke) and combo guard D'Angelo Russell (Ohio State) and former Chinese Basketball Association point guard Emmanuel Mudiay are the headliners of this season's draft.
The Sixers have said that they're only interested in taking the best players available in the draft. However, there's a thought that they are interested in using their first pick on Russell. They might have to secure a top-two or top-three pick in the lottery to make that happen.
Russell is the explosive guard the Sixers desperately need to pair with post players Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid. The 6-foot-5, 193-pound sharpshooter would love to play for the Sixers, who provide the best opportunity to immediately showcase his skills.
"I want to go somewhere where I know I'm going to stick and I can make a legacy and help build the franchise," Russell said. "If that's even the eighth pick, I prefer that [over going first overall], honestly.
"It may sound [insane] or whatnot with the money [one loses by not going on the first overall pick]. But I'd rather be a guy that's a superstar on one team in three or four years than a guy that's bouncing around."
The only thing left to do for the Sixers is get a little luck on their side. That's part of the reason that Noel, who was named to the NBA all-rookie team on Monday, will be the team's on-stage representative at the lottery.
The optimum result would give the Sixers the No. 1 pick and their choice of any player in the draft. They also could receive the Los Angeles Lakers' and Miami Heat's first-round picks.
In the worst-case scenario, they would slide to the sixth spot and fail to acquire the Lakers' and Heat's picks.
They have a 15.6 percent chance of winning the draft lottery after finishing with the league's third-worst record at 18-64.
The Minnesota Timberwolves (25 percent) and New York Knicks (19.9) have better chances after finishing with worse records. The Lakers (11.9) and Orlando Magic (8.8) round out the teams with the best chances.
The Sixers will receive the Lakers' first-round pick unless Los Angeles finishes in the top five in the lottery. Miami's pick will go to the Sixers if it doesn't fall in the top 10. The Heat finished the season with 10th-worst record and have a 1.1 percent chance of winning the lottery.
However, the Sixers' chances of obtaining those teams' picks are slim - 16 percent for the Lakers' pick and 8.8 for Miami's.
This will be the Sixers' third consecutive lottery appearance and 15th overall. But it's their first time with third-best odds.
Teams with the third-best odds have won the lottery a league-best seven times - six since 1990. The Cleveland Cavaliers were the last team to accomplish that feat in 2013.
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