Philadelphia 76ers Lottery Picks That Didn’t End Well: From Evan Turner To Ben Simmons
Bernd Becker 
The Philadelphia 76ers have a history of lottery picks that didn’t work out. From Evan Turner to Ben Simmons, the Sixers have had their fair share of disappointments.
The Philadelphia 76ers Lottery Picks That Didn’t End Well is a blog post about the history of the Philadelphia 76ers and their lottery picks that didn’t end well. Read more in detail here: where is ben simmons from.
Let’s face it, the process failed miserably. Despite being first in the Eastern Conference last season, the Philadelphia 76ers’ future is uncertain with the news that Ben Simmons would not return. With this news, Simmons joins a lengthy line of 76ers lottery selections who haven’t fared well.
The 76ers have had five top-10 selections since 2010, including two No. 1 overall picks. Perhaps the 76ers would have been rewarded with a title by now if they had chosen correctly? Instead, the club is trying to acquire as much as they can for Simmons in order to save a win-now situation.
The 76ers have had similar experience with lottery selections, and these lottery picks haven’t worked out either.
No. 2 Evan Turner (2010)
Turner earned the National College Player of the Year at Ohio State when he graduated. Turner was seen as a small forward/guard combination that might provide the club with quick scoring. Instead, he only averaged 7.2 and 9.4 points in his first two seasons. Turner did average a career-high 17.4 points in his fourth season, but he never made an All-Star squad. Before the deadline, he was dealt to the Indiana Pacers.
Turner was chosen immediately after John Wall, although there were a few other possibilities. DeMarcus Cousins was an option, but the club already had a center in Spencer Hawks. The club should have chosen Gordon Hayward instead, who was everything Turner wasn’t. Paul George was a possibility if Hayward was unavailable. Both were selected ninth and tenth overall in the draft.
No. 6 Nerlens Nerlens Nerlens Nerlens Nerlens Nerlens (2013)
Because Noel was seen as a top-3 selection when he was selected at No. 6, the cameras were constantly on him. Instead, he dropped to No. 6 on the list. Perhaps he should have slipped a little farther. Noel had a good rookie season, averaging 9.9 points and 8.1 rebounds, and a successful sophomore season, averaging 11.1 points and 8.1 rebounds. However, owing to an overloaded population at the center, he only lasted one more year before being moved to the Mavericks.
Granted, no one could have predicted that Joel Embiid would be available the following year. Giannis Antetokounmpo, on the other hand, was available at No. 15. Consider Giannis and Embiid together. Would the 76ers have really won a championship if this had happened?
No. 11 Michael Carter-Williams (2013)
When Carter-Williams won Rookie of the Year, the 76ers seemed to have made the correct choice. He averaged 16.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in 70 games. He averaged 15.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 7.4 assists the next season. The 76ers made the mistake of trading Carter-Williams to the Bucks in exchange for Tyler Ennis and Miles Plumlee, which backfired.
At this moment, Dennis Schroder, Tim Hardway Jr., and Rudy Gobert are all better choices than Carter-Williams. The team should have retained him for a third year and given him a chance to show himself.
No. 3 Jahlil Okafor (2015)
Okafor turned out to be one of the NBA’s greatest flops. The 76ers selected Noel and Embiid the year before, so this selection is still perplexing. You’d think the team needed a guard, yet they went with a big guy for the third year in a row. Okafor averaged 17.5 points and 7.0 rebounds when Embiid was out with an injury. His career high was set at that point, and he was ultimately sent to the Brooklyn Nets.
Kristaps Porzingis would have been a better option, and the Knicks selected him at No. 4 overall. Consider how good a shooter Porzingis would have been for the club. As long as the club selected the proper guard, he would have been a great complement to Embiid. Another possibility is Devin Booker, particularly given the team’s lack of guard depth at the moment.
No. 1 Ben Simmons (2016)
At the moment, Simmons was the best option. While both Brandon Ingram and Jaylon Brown are deserving of consideration, Simmons is a three-time All-Star and runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year. Even if he was below-average offensively in the playoffs and during his career, you can’t dispute that he was the best option given the circumstances.
Simmons had a poor deal but is an All-Star player five years later. There’s a lot of drama going on right now. While rumors indicate Simmons may not report, we’ve seen this before and the player-management connection has been mended. That doesn’t seem to be in the cards, but who is going to take Simmons and the money due to him when his offensive game is so limited?
No. 1 Markelle Fultz (2017)
We could be talking about the 76ers hoisting a Larry O’Brien trophy if they did this right. Donovan Mitchell and De’Aaron Fox are two names that spring to mind, but Jayson Tatum clearly tops the list. Simmons, Tatum, Tobias Harris, and Joel Embiid may have been enough to propel the 76ers to their first NBA Finals since 2001. This lineup might have defeated the Raptors in 2019 and the Hawks this season.
Instead, the 76ers selected a young talent with the same mindset as Russell Westbrook but who had only eight wins on his resume. This was a total blunder by the 76ers. Fultz was so awful that he only appeared in 35 games over the course of two years before being dealt to the Magic for little to nothing. The procedure was totally altered as a result of this draft. With Simmons possibly departing, the club risks losing two former No. 1 overall selections who have only made it to the second round of the playoffs.
Basketball Forever deserves credit for the concept.
Next
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