Oh, C'mon, Philly! Stop Your Whining! What the Sixers did right in the 2013 draft...

Look, nobody expected the Sixers to contend next year…are we all in agreement there?  Even if they had kept their nucleus and just drafted out of the number eleven spot, would they have been a serious threat to win deep into the playoffs?

Of course not.  Don’t be silly.

Ok, so now that we have that clear, it makes sense to make deals that can help you be winners two, three, maybe four years from now…right?

Nobody here is going to try and tell you that Jrue Holiday is not a great player.  Of course he is!  But if you believe you can get better value for a commodity on your team (even if it is a great player like Jrue) you have to weigh the options.

Nerlens Noel was considered by most of the ESPN experts to be the likely number one overall pick at this year’s draft.  They were shocked when he dropped to the number six pick. 

It’s not like the kid played in the WAC conference or the Ivy League last year.  He played for Kentucky in the SEC.  Not too shabby, right?

Yes, he had surgery on a knee and obviously people in Philly are hesitant to hear about big men with bad knees after the Andrew Bynum debacle.

Noel is expected to be ready to play in December.  It gives him more time to bulk up some and to learn the system.  I’m actually hoping he only plays sparingly the whole year.

The kicker here is that the Sixers ALSO get a first round pick from the New Orleans Pelicans in 2014.  This pick is GOING TO BE a lottery pick.  There’s almost no doubt that will be the case.  New Orleans is not a good team.

The potential rub is that if it’s a top three selection, the Sixers will have to wait another year to get their other part to this deal.

The 2014 draft is projected to be much better than the 2013 draft and the Sixers will almost certainly be drafting within the lottery with their own pick again as well.  That means the Sixers will have TWO lottery picks to add to a healthy Noel in 2015.

Noel and a lottery pick for Holiday?  Yep!  ALL DAY!  ALL DAY!…especially when you can draft a guy like Michael Carter-Williams out of Syracuse to take over the point guard spot for Holiday.

AGAIN, they won’t win next season, but it gives the Sixers a chance to get even younger and to spend a year or two to learn the game.  Having a guy like Holiday on the roster almost becomes a luxury that isn’t worth keeping anyway.

Here’s the last piece of the puzzle….what about the money freed up by trading Holiday?  It’s a pretty decent piece of change and it can be used to get a very nice free agent… or…and you won’t like to hear this….but it could also be used to possibly broker a deal with uhmmmm….maybe Andrew Bynum?…again?

Hopefully he will come much cheaper than his first deal and the Sixers will then have TWO productive big men that can dominate the low post and protect the rim in 2014-2015.  It could happen?

Yes, a lot of factors need to happen and the moons will need to be aligned.  But let’s face it, the route the team had been headed was not going anywhere positive.  Why not try something bold and risky? 

If nothing else, you have to give kudos to the Sixers new GM Sam Hinkie.  At least the guy is TRYING!  At least the guy isn’t afraid to fail.  At least the guy is willing to make a statement right out of the chute and is throwing ALL caution to the wind!

Hinkie may wind up looking like a genius, or he’ll resemble the same failures the collection of previous Sixers GMs have endured.   

At least there’s a reason to talk about the Sixers on the back page of the Daily News again?  That’s a pretty good start for the new guy.

Bill Mattis, owner AllStarInc

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