The most important thing for the Sixers this offseason is retaining their first-round pick. They’ve put themselves in decent shape with the fifth-best NBA Draft lottery odds.
If the tanking gods smile upon them and they’re able to secure the No. 1 overall pick, Duke’s Cooper Flagg would change everything. If the pick lands anywhere between two through six, things get a bit trickier.
The Sixers are suddenly guard-heavy — imagine saying that a couple years ago — with Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and (likely) Quentin Grimes all in the mix. The top of the NBA Draft will feature immense talent at the guard position. So what will the Sixers do?
As Daryl Morey reiterated at his end-of-season presser, he’s going to take the best player available, regardless of fit.
“[We’ll] definitely [take the] best player available. It has to be that high in the draft, for sure,” Morey said. “So, it’s just a tool to make the team better, but obviously, there’s a good chance we’ll take someone. In that case, it will just be the best player. I’ve never shied from that.”
This is the correct approach. If the best player on the board when/if the Sixers are on the clock is a guard, they have to draft him — fit be damned.
If the Sixers get the second overall pick, the consensus is that Rutgers’ Dylan Harper will be the best player available. Harper is the son of five-time NBA champ Ron Harper. While the Scarlet Knights had a brutal season — despite the presence of Harper and projected top-four pick Ace Bailey — the guard showed a level of creation and playmaking that’s unmatched in this draft. Harper would go No. 1 overall in a lot of drafts. He averaged 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 48.4% from the field and 33.3% from three in his lone season in New Brunswick.
Harper is a jumbo-sized lead guard. The two loftier comps for him are Cade Cunningham and James Harden. That’s not to say he will reach the level of either player, but it feels a risk worth taking, even if you already have Maxey, McCain and Grimes in the fold. Besides, the fit could actually be great.
Listed at 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds, Harper could potentially guard wing players. His strength is one of his biggest assets. Offensively, my goodness. If Joel Embiid is actually healthy, a player like Harper is an ideal fit. Remember during Embiid’s MVP season when the team just spammed pick-and-rolls and Harden went on to lead the league in assists? Harper is a perfect partner to find Embiid in his sweet spots.
Harper’s ability to touch the paint and spray out to shooters is perfectly suited for this roster. He can take the ball-handling load off guys like Maxey, McCain and Grimes, giving them wide-open looks on the perimeter or more space to create off closeouts. Will there be enough touches? Maybe not, but having too many good shot creators is generally a good problem to have. Draft Harper, think about fit and everything else down the road. He’s way too good to pass up.
What happens if the Sixers’ pick sits at No. 3 or 4 and the best player available winds up being Baylor’s V.J. Edgecombe? You guessed it — draft him! Edgecombe is arguably the most explosive athlete in the draft and might have the best two-way potential outside of Flagg. His game overlaps somewhat with Grimes, but Edgecombe is the vastly superior athlete. Could you use three-guard lineups using Maxey, McCain, Grimes and/or Edgecombe? I don’t know, but it would be legitimately fun to find out.
I’ve already made the argument for selecting Texas’ Tre Johnson, so I won’t go too deep into it here. The bottom line is Johnson’s ability to shoot and score at 6-foot-6 is too enticing to pass up. Similar to Edgecombe, I’m not sure if that four-guard mix would work, but I’d rather find out than pass on this level of talent.
It gets trickier if the team views Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears or Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis as the best player on the board.
Fears stands only 6-foot-4, but he has the smoothest handle and arguably best creation ability in the class outside Harper. The three ball needs work, but there’s enough to convince you he’ll be able to shoot at the next level (like his 85.1% mark from the line and ability to hit midrange jumpers off the bounce). It’s a good thing the Sixers didn’t pass up the last highly-touted guard who shot poorly in college!
Jakucionis has great size, but the concerns with his athleticism are real. He’s also not the strongest guard, which is a red flag for his ability to handle NBA athletes. Still, Jakucionis’ feel and pull-up shooting are elite traits, as our Will Rucker pointed out last week. Having a true lead ball-handler to help the trio of Maxey, McCain and Grimes wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
For this writer, Fears and Jakucionis aren’t players I would take in the top six. However, if the Sixers view either as the best player available, they should (and likely will) pull the trigger. Morey has done well to trust his scouting department over the years, so he should get the benefit of the doubt there.
So, could things get a little tricky if the Sixers don’t Capture the Flagg? Sure, but those will be good problems to have if the team keeps its top-six pick.
