I had to take a step back for a while before I reacted to the Sixers draft day. When the pick was made Pete and my reaction was “eh.” Nothing surprising and nothing special. I have to admit I am a little bit disappointed but not as much as I was last night. It’s not that they didn’t select the player I preferred (J.J. Hickson), but that we walked away from this pretty talented draft with one player when the Sixers clearly have many needs.
I think it is well known the Sixers have 3 main holes in their roster:
- PF/low-post scorer. Not some cupcake PF that likes to shoot from the perimeter either. A guy that is willing and able to bang in the paint, command a double team and score with his back to the basket.
- Shooter and not just a 3pt-shooting specialist. (Rant coming) If you’re going to pay a guy to shoot, make sure he can knock it down from all over the court. I personally hate 3pt specialists who are incapable of pump faking and taking just one step in and hitting that shot. They just settle for the contested three when defenders are closing hard rather than showing the ball, making the defender look stupid by jumping completely out of the play and getting an even easier 17-foot shot.
- Back-up point guard. Preferably one who is being groomed as our future starting point guard
The Sixers probably did the best they could in this draft to address hole #1 by taking Marreese Speights with the 16th pick. Apparently this was their guy all along, and they asked every question, reviewed every aspect of his game and turned over every stone to be sure of the pick. The questions about his work ethic and on/off attitude on the court weren’t even an issue for Stefanski and DiLeo. Speights has been working extremely hard in Vegas with trainer Joe Abunassar. I did some research on Abunassar, and he is the real deal of NBA trainers. Not on the level of Tim Grover but right up there. That is very comforting for me since I was definitely in the “pass on Speights because he’s lazy” camp.
Marreese Speights may or may not be an big-time impact player this upcoming season or ever for the Sixers. Much of it will be determined by his continued hard work and development. From a skill standpoint and potential to be starting PF there is very little question there. I am actually not ruling out the chance that he actually steps in and contributes right away a la Thaddeus Young. Why? Pete and I both believe Stefanski’s big free agent move is going to be in the form of a shooter – not impact PF. I wish I could tell you what exactly that means (Pete thinks Ben Gordon), but I don’t really know. What I think everyone knows is the chance of us getting Elton Brand (via free agency) for less money than he is currently expected to make is the type of miracle Philadelphia fans rarely experience. Josh Smith is a real possibility simply because he is in our price range, but unless Atlanta was bluffing in their recent remarks about matching any deal for Smith that seems like an unlikely outcome as well.
What I will be looking for this season from Speights is his pick-and-roll game. I think he immediately becomes the best pick-and-roll big man on our roster. And I believe that is something he can step in and do successfully right away if only on a limited basis. He will need to develop his strength, NBA post game and defense, but I am going to be optimistic regarding his impact this season.
Grading the actual pick I give the Sixers an A+ based on what was available to them at 16.
That was the end of the draft for the Sixers! I progressively got more irate every time I didn’t hear “we have a trade” while Mario Chalmers was still on the board. Then almost spontaneously combusted when I heard that Miami had acquired Chalmers for two 2009 second-round picks and cash considerations. Ironically (sadly), ONE OF THOSE 2ND-ROUND PICKS WAS THE SIXERS‘, acquired by Miami in the Jason Smith/Daequan Cook trade in last year’s draft!
With the number of quality players at multiple positions I can’t understand how nearly every team was able to make some sort of move while the Sixers could not. Not only that, but there were countless opportunities with very good players unexpectedly falling that would have filled multiple needs. With so many teams willing to sell picks for cash ($3M maximum) and/or future second rounders, I am just confused by the Sixers’ non-existent maneuvers to improve the team via this draft. I keep hearing about this “plan” for the team; I just don’t understand why that plan didn’t incorporate this draft. I heard Stefanski’s post draft quotes, one of which said he tried to acquire a late-first round pick or early 2nd-round pick, but the deals fell through.
I DO believe Stefanski tried to make a move but for some undisclosed reasons teams wanted to deal with everyone BUT the Sixers. As a depressed fan with no inside information as to why some draft day deals went through and others died I feel like we got blackballed or something. I don’t think us being purposely excluded from trades is a reality nor do I plan to spew any conspiracy theories either.
Overall draft grade – C+ If Marreese Speights turns into our starting PF of the future then clearly the grade would be much better, but that remains to be seen. As of today, we got ourselves a nice young big man who management projects to be a marginal contributor at best next season.
I will leave you guys with this…
What’s next for the Sixers in the off-season?
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ll give Stefanski the benefit of the doubt “I know this wasn’t the case”, That sentence says a lot. BK has sapped the hope out of some of us. “but as a fan with no inside information”, That sentence says there is still a chance to get it back.
Marreese Speights may not have given us the level of exitement we wanted (like AI did) but he is what we expected from this draft. Now the fun begins. July 1st is coming and we’ll see what kind of GM we have here.
Dannie, nice post. I’m in agreement as far as being mystified at the lack of creativity on our part. It’s not like Miami was trading Udonis Haslem or even Dorrell Wright to acquire Chalmers…why weren’t we in the mix to pick up some 2nd round or late 1st round picks.
So much movement happens all the time with trading future picks for picks this year, see: Seattle, Detroit, Charlotte, Denver, Miami, etc…I don’t get standing pat. Not saying we’d be landing an all-star, but why not acquire some talent to shore up our bench at the backup PG position or a shooter?
My worry, really since the AI trade, has stayed the same: only one of our three 1st rounders will pan out (looking that way), the year we have FA money we won’t land a major all star piece (looking that way), and that we’ll be relying on the draft and inner growth to improve…which is fine, but takes 2-4 years.
It’s clear Stefanski isn’t going to be swinging the bat this year and risk a shakeup of our core talent now (trades involving Thad Young, Iggy, Andre Miller, etc). I think this year will be used as a giant test year to really evaluate all our talent. Probably before the all-star break in ‘09, or ‘09 offseason, is when real rumors with big shakeups with trades will happen.
I’m very, very happy with the Speights pick. We really have a legit post talent with an NBA body on our hands. He can play with his back to the basket, has a nice post game, finishes with either hand, has a decent J, is a total athletic high riser, and will be able to run ‘n gun.
I look forward to seeing if he gets it together, the one obvious knock on him…and to see if Iggy and Thad can work, or if one of them needs to go…and if we wind up cashing on on Andre Miller’s stock (which should be VERY high around the trade deadline in ‘09) and using him for a trade, or whether we hang onto him and sign him for an extension. Lot of questions, and this season should give us some clear answers for who is worth hanging onto, and the direction this team is headed.
Dre – I think I misrepresented my thought with that sentence it has now been corrected to more accurately reflect what I was trying to say.
I DO believe Stefanski tried to make a move but for some undisclosed reason teams wanted to deal with everyone BUT the Sixers – as if we were blackballed. Which I don’t have any conspiracy theories of that being reality.
I also do have hope that the team will bring in a player of value through FA. My hope is just tapered as I don’t expect any post July 1 moves will net the Sixers the kind of superstar the team and fans need right now.
DRE: What Dannie says here is more what I feel about our situation. I know it’s a process. I know it takes time and I will be patient. I didn’t mean to seem all doom and gloom, like you said. I am just a bit disappointed/frustrated/confused because we seemed to have a lot of options, but we ended up right where we started, with one pick at #16. We went in with a couple of glaring holes to fill and came out still needing to fill those holes. Just a bit of a letdown is all.
bski: I agree it was a letdown. As a fan it felt like Christmas Eve, waiting until morning only to find one gift under the tree. It still could be a very special gift but only time will tell.
On the bright side, this time last year we had little hope for the season. A blind date with a cute voice kinda thing. That “date” with Thad went really well, all things considered.
We have 11 million reasons to be optimistic, but let the record show that I’m a little puzzled by the outcome as well. I can’t wait for this date to be over.
I like Speights and I like even more that he’ll have some time to develop. Nice draft, but I’m a little disappointed Eddy didn’t make a trade.
The more I read about Speights, the more I like the pick. His college numbers were huge, he averaged 25 and 13 per 40 minutes. Being able to finish with both hands and have a solid mid range jumper is huge at his age. So many “athletic big man with upside” types (cough, Sammy, cough) can never learn those talents – Speights already can. He has the body type, and he has the athleticism to be a very good starting player on this team, a 20 and 10 guy. Probably not this year, but within 3 years for sure.
Dannie: I think ES tried, but is probably loath to over pay. Whether that proves to work out long term we will see, but it’s a nice change from King.
Also, if you saw the post draft press conference, Stefanski looked kinda pissed off, not his usually smiley self. So maybe he is upset he didn’t get a deal done
I don’t know how this is legal, but you can actually watch some Florida games w/Speights:
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/collegebroadcast/teams/jps
Instead of commercials, they just put up “Raycom Sports” for a minute or two, don’t think it’s frozen or glitched-up in any way.
I like the Speights pick. I would have liked to have seen a point guard drafted as well but I think we can get a young pg via trade (Charlotte or Memphis maybe). Those teams got guys they are going to be just giving away. The key to this offseason is coming up, how does Ed shape this team through free agency.
If I can add something to the mix here, I believe the reason the 76ers didn’t acquire any additional picks for this draft is because there are only so many roster spots available. If, let’s assume, the 76ers are going after 2 or 3 proven pieces to add to the team through agency and/or trade, ultimately that means someone currently on the roster would have to be moved (Willie Green, Rodney Carney, etc.). A pick late in round 1 or round 2 – where would that player fit on the roster? I would much rather trust in Eddie’s “plan” to bring in some proven pieces, rather than remain too young and too inexperienced to be contenders.
I hope somebody on the current roster is going to be moved. While they are fun to watch, these Sixers are not going to win a title. I am confidant enough in ES that he is going to shake up this roster some.
And this draft just reminded me of how much I hated Billy King. Those two first rounders that we got in the Iverson deal that were “keys” to our future were wasted. We got a marginal big man in the deal (plus we threw away this years second rounder, which by the way was used to get Mario Chalmers). And instead of using the one to draft a foreign player and letting him develop overseas, we trade it away for nothing. (Yes I do know that we drafted that Finnish PG, but got nothing in return).
I’ve watched some games, and I’ve finally talked myself into the newest Sixer, Mr. Marreese Speights:
1. I read somewhere that practicing with Al Horford and Joakim Noah probably helped out his game, but this isn’t true skill-wise – what has rubbed off is Horford’s and Noah’s sense of teamwork and basketball IQ. He’s a good passer with good situation recognition. The Sixers aren’t getting a dunce here. Speights plays within his talents, and I can see why all those shooting percentages are so high for him.
2. You can see where the “lazy” tag comes from when watching him play, the way he doesn’t play as intensely as other players. But I think this is because he’s so much more gifted athletically and skill-wise than the frontcourt guys he was up against that he really didn’t need to work so hard to be effective. So why didn’t he kick it up a notch and just crush the opposing big guys? I think it’s simply because they didn’t ask him to – it looked like Florida was running a more guard-oriented offense to me. If the Sixers just ask Mo to do more, I think he will. Also, I think that he’ll soon realize that he’ll have to work harder and raise his game if he’s gonna compete with the higher-quality big guys the NBA throws at you, and I believe he will.
3. He plays with emotion, but he’s high-character, coachable guy. The Sixers just gotta ask, and I believe he’ll try his best to come through.
4. I have to disagree with the comparisons to Elton Brand. Speights is much more athletic, and his low-post skills are still developing. His playing style reminds me more of the young Shaq/Amare/Dwight Howard. If he gets the ball near the basket he’s gonna try and dunk over everyone, and with his good basketball IQ, watch for him to try and cut to the basket in all sorts of ways to get his dunks.
5. All of a sudden he’s our best big guy jumpshooter. Great jumpshot (better than Josh Smith’s), maybe the only person who has a better one from 17-18 feet is Andre Miller.
6. He’s a good rebounder, not great like Sammy or Reggie, but much better than Jason (although Jason got better as the year progressed). After a couple years he’s going to be a much better rebounder than Sam.
He does have his weaknesses:
1. He’s not great at creating shots for himself, I think he’s gonna be frustrated by the Sixers’ lack of passing, and that he’ll like playing with Andre Miller and not Lou Williams.
2. He’s not that great at establishing inside position – he’s horrible at “making himself big” for post entry passes.
3. His conditioning is definitely an issue – he tires out way too quickly.
4. He rebounds well, but like Sammy he relies a lot on his athleticism to get them. He needs to get better at boxing out.