FanNation - The Republic of Sport

For months now, I've been studying mock drafts. I've been reading article after article after article on players and who Ed Stefanski is interested in. Saturday, May 24th was the day the great Chad Ford put out the first version of his mock draft. His prediction, along with the majority of other mock drafts was Philadelphia selecting Marreese Speights. A month later, Marreese Speights is a Sixer. Am I satisfied? Ehh. More importantly, are you?

The draft came and went Thursday night and beside a false rumor of Kosta Koufos being the Sixers pick it was pretty uneventful. The Sixers were extremely quiet, while Kevin Pritchard and the Blazers are taking over the NBA with genius trades and stockpiling talent (According to Jason, Blazers fans refer to it as "Pritch-slapped") the Sixers seemed to be satisfied with remaining at 16 and having it as their only selection of the evening. Coming in, I thought the Sixers had a solid chance of moving up to grab Kevin Love. Didn't happen. Then Mario Chalmers unexpected fell to the 34th pick, who was then traded to Miami for two future second rounders and cash. Your telling me Stefanski couldn't put together a package like that to acquire a candidate for the point guard of the future? I love Lou Williams and all, but Chalmers is more of a pure point guard. We won't know how these players will pan out yet, but it's situations like these that make me wonder why Stefanski couldn't pull a Kevin Pritchard (Write him down for Exec. of the Year when the Blazers make the playoffs) and basically rob other NBA teams. Bill Simmons said it best, when he called it the "No Balls Association."

Now, for the pick itself. Sitting at pick number 16, I thought Speights was the guy all along. DeAndre did not interest me at all and Donte Greene, J.J. Hickson and Darrell Arthur are all undersized power forwards, which we already have in Thad Young. JaVale McGee seemed like too much of a project and not a true post-player and I didn't want Kosta Koufos anywhere near a Sixer uniform because he seems like Jason Smith 2.0 with a way goofier name. The only player I was really starting to root for at pick 16 was Anthony Randolph, but that was quickly squashed when the Warriors took him, which lead to me convincing myself, "He's just a tall small forward, I'm glad we didn't get him." Speights fits the team perfectly. He's a good post-player and has a real nice NBA body at the power forward. He can also score in bunches. He was everything the Sixers needed and should have a good amount of time to develop, assuming Philly signs a big name power forward in the coming weeks. So, he'll be playing behind Player A (Elton Brand please), Jason Smith and Reggie Evans. The Sixers received an A- from Chad Ford on their pick. Here's his analysis:

Analysis: Speights is a really nice pick for the 76ers. While I had him rated slightly behind Darrell Arthur, Speights might be a better fit for Philly. He's the kind of low-post bruiser and rebounder they need. And he's much more skilled than people realize. If he stays in shape and works hard, he could end up being like Sixers forward Thaddeus Young, one of the steals of last year's draft.


Don't get me wrong, I like the Speights pick. I'm just disappointed Ed Stefanski couldn't be more like Kevin Pritchard. I think we missed a big opportunity in not trading for Mario Chalmers. If I was a grade-giving guy, I'd give the pick an A, but I'd give the overall draft and B- just because I feel that there were some moves out there Stefanski could have made. My advice to Eddy is to put a poster of this man above his bed for the rest of the off-season.