Amateur draftniks have Ball at Colangelo’s expense
CAMDEN, N.J. » A full-service professional basketball program will employ coaches, scouts, analysts, video coordinators, a medical staff, an on-site psychologist, weight trainers, an effective scout team of coaches and former players, personnel experts, skill instructors, a minorleague roster and accomplished basketball executives in jackets and ties.
So with the 76ers being one of those programs, they should be able to decide what to do with the No. 3 overall pick in the June 22 NBA Draft without concern that it might not match the wisdom of the international board of draftniks and critics. Yet from the minute the final draft-lottery envelope was unsealed, the groupthought had already been that, darn it, the Sixers landed too high in
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the process to comfortably take the player most likely to help them win games of basketball.
Malik Monk, a shooter from Kentucky, the player who would best help complete their fouryear, together-we-build project, was not considered a top three pick by those know-it-alls who don’t have NBA jobs. And for that, the Sixers will be looked at sideways should Bryan Colangelo take that option and, in the process, pipe down Brett Brown, who has been yodeling about acquiring shooters since his most recent non-playoff season.
Because the economy of the draft can be tied to the consensus, the original thought was that the Sixers might be wise to trade down a tick or two, pick up a small value in exchange, and wind up with Monk anyway. But recent movement in popular opinion has thrust them into what should be an uncomfortable position. Suddenly, or so it is being gossiped, Lonzo Ball has lost enough status that he might be available at No. 3. For that, there was Colangelo the other day being badgered about the possibility of giving the talented if unorthodox UCLA guard thorough consideration.
“We’re moving along, getting as much information as possible,” Colangelo said the other day. “But it’s certainly something that we would like to arrange with Lonzo.”
Maybe he is just being polite. But just because a player with a wacky, inside-out jump shot that is not likely to translate to the NBA level is said to be dropping on draft boards that exist only in the fantasies of amateur scouts, it doesn’t mean the Sixers have to reconsider their situation.
Ball is a great player, a lottery pick. Even with a stage father whose presence can suffocate a program, he will help somebody. But he’s not right for the Sixers, and for a number of reasons. The most significant is that he is not as good as other players, in particular De’Aaron Fox of Kentucky, who spilled 39 on him in the NCAA Tournament, causing him such public stress that he checked out with a pulled muscle.
And who, anyway, will leave a playoff game at any level with a pulled muscle? Another reason is that he is as much a facilitator as a shooter, and the Sixers already have committed to Ben Simmons for that. Yet, the absurdity of evergrowing draft-mania somehow could make Colangelo answer why he didn’t select Ball if he has that chance, for, after all, wasn’t he once considered the second best player in the draft?
Though the foundation of the Sixers’ “Process” was that in order to eventually win championships, a superstar is required, and that the best way to acquire one was to win a top pick in a draft, this hardly is one of those drafts. The Sixers believe the last one was, and that they have a once-a-generation talent in Simmons. But how can there be an undisputed top pick this year?
The draft politburo has planted Markelle Fultz of Washington in that No. 1 spot. And typically, once that is done, it is a lifetime appointment. But if Fultz was so special, why didn’t Washington play better than .290 basketball last season, including 2-16 in an over-valued Pac-12? The whole draft is that way this time. There are plenty of fine players, but none necessarily so much better than the others that anybody should apologize for ad-libbing on draft night.
“Sitting at three, we’re in a really good position to add a very talented player that’s going to help this organization both short and long term,” Colangelo said. “Should we move? If there’s a transaction that comes up and gives us a chance to perhaps increase what impact No. 3 can have in terms of its return, we will look at it.
“There are some discussions that have been fairly interesting, and it’s not that we’re motivated to move it. But this is that time of year where you find out exactly what you have, and you explore options, all options as you look to improve your basketball team.”
So, explore. That’s why Colangelo, Brown, Joel Embiid, the extensive coaching staff and a panel of scouts were watching Wednesday when six more secondround-ish prospects auditioned. But the Sixers have worked hard for four years to earn their high drafting position; it’s no simple trick to turn the ball over that many times. It’s time that they do what’s best for them, all of them, the scouts, the coaches, the executives, the players. And not the draft experts.