Jerry Lai – USA Today Sports
Last night, the ping-pong balls bounced exactly the way everyone expected them to for the Philadelphia 76ers. While they had a chance to move up or down during the NBA Draft Lottery, they ended up right where they had the highest probability of being. They will select 11th in the 2013 NBA Draft, which is not the most pleasant spot to be.
This year’s draft class is not very deep and it will be tough to get an All-Star caliber player with the 11th overall pick. For this place in the draft, the 76ers need to look at taking the best player available. This team needs talent across the board and since they won’t hit a homerun with this pick, they have to choose someone who can come in and contribute right away.
The 76ers have a couple of decent pieces in place with Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes. But the truth of the matter is they do not have enough to compete for a title and whoever they can take at number 11 will not be the difference maker that puts them over the top. They can, however, get value from this pick by addressing any number of their numerous needs: such as a big man, a backup point guard or a shooter.
Many are discussing Indiana’s Cody Zeller or Gonzaga’s Kelly Olynyk with this pick and I don’t disagree with either of those being the right choice. If they take one of them, they will have Hawes, Arnett Moultrie, Young and Lavoy Allen already under contract in the frontcourt. Would that mean the end of the Andrew Bynum experiment in Philadelphia? We will have to wait until June to see what the 76ers do with number 11.
Zach Slotter is a writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @zslot6, Like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.
