Reason Why It Will Happen #2: The Youth Movement
Philadelphia may have been the laughingstock of the NBA for the past few seasons, but Sam Hinkie’s vision of the Process came into view (although he wasn’t in a position to really enjoy it since he got fired) when Joel Embiid finally stepped on the court.
Embiid (in limited action) put up numbers that have only been matched in NBA history by Hakeem Olaujawon. Period. Big emphasis on the period.
Embiid is undoubtedly their center of the future. The Sixers have a nice collection of young players – RoCo, McConnell, Saric, and Holmes to name a few – and could have two picks in the top 10 depending on how the balls bounce in the lottery; which they are projected to use on a PG like Dennis Smith and/or pair him with Malik Monk.
That very well might happen, but what if Lowry came to the Sixers and the Sixers get lucky (meaning they land those two picks in the top 10) and take a prospect like say, Josh Jackson? Their starting five next season could look like this:
Lowry-Monk-RoCo-Saric-Embiid
And their bench:
McConnell-Stauskas-Jackson-Holmes-Okafor
Not a bad team, huh?