Sticky: Sixers Draft Running Commentary
Live now through the draft… or probably the first round.
After the jump.
9:53 P.M.: Hezonja? (Take with the world’s largest grain of salt. Or … smallest.)
9:42 P.M.: According to Jake Pavorsky, the “Sixers wanted to get involved at 19,” but New York beat them out.
8:35 P.M.: Via Jake Pavorsky: “With Justise Winslow currently in free fall, Sixers are kicking around the idea of trading back into the first round for him.”
8:19 P.M.: Emmanuel Mudiay will reportedly be selected, and kept, by the Nuggets.
8:01 P.M.: With the word that the Sixers are keeping Okafor, it’s either a bad look for Embiid’s health or just Hinkie going with pure Best Player Available.
7:56 P.M.: 
7:53 P.M.: WOJ: The Sixers plan to keep Okafor — for good, sources tell Yahoo. He won’t be auctioned in a trade.
7:51 P.M.: The Sixers intend to keep Okafor, again via Woj.
7:51 P.M.: Sixers will select Okafor, via Woj.
7:46 P.M.: JoJo:
7:44 P.M.: Woj reports the Lakers will take D’Angelo Russell.
7:33 P.M.: Some semi-common sense from Woj: “If the Lakers chose Jahlil Okafor, Philadelphia is locked on selecting Ohio State’s DeAngelo Russell, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.”
6:57 P.M.: 
3:31 P.M.: Or, they haven’t decided at all:
3:16 P.M.: An LA Times beat writer is reporting that the Lakers are leaning toward taking Jahlil Okafor after all.
2:49 P.M.: The Celtics/Sixers talk is getting even muddier, as Sheridan Hoops and Assoicated Press reporter Michael Scotto reports that the Sixers are the ones who initiated the talk about the third pick, and a so-called “Godfather offer” was never made by Boston.
2:21 P.M.: ESPN’s Britt McHenry will be covering the Sixers’ draft party tonight.
2:18 P.M.: According to Wesley Share, “Woj on FS1 just said teams think LAL interest in Russell is a smokescreen. Said he thinks it’s Okafor at 2, Sixers “locked in” at Russell.”
2:16 P.M.: Chad Ford: “But here’s the truth, the Sixers are very tough to get accurate intel out of. That’s why things are all over the place. What the Sixers do I’m much less confident of. I think they go Russell, but yesterday I thought they’d go Mudiay. Tough to get good intel in Philly.”
2:07 P.M.: Chad Ford said on SportsCenter that Mitch Kupchak wants Jahlil Okafor, but Byron Scott wants D’Angelo Russell.
1:49 P.M.: Derek Bodner details the possible Celtics/Sixers package:
The player currently on the Celtics roster that is most likely to be included in such a package is Marcus Smart, who was drafted 6th overall in last year’s draft. The Celtics also have the 16th and 28th picks in the 2015 draft, but their most enticing assets are the upcoming Brooklyn Nets picks that they’ve acquired. The Nets owe the Celtics their 2016 1st round pick, and the Celtics have the right to swap their own 2017 1st round pick for Brooklyn’s 2017 1st round pick, assuming Brooklyn’s pick is the more valuable of the two.
With Brooklyn’s aging roster and poor salary cap situation, those draft picks are likely to be very valuable. It also fits with the report from earlier this morning from Ken Berger of CBS Sports about the Sixers exploring the possibility of trading down in the draft for future unprotected first round picks.”
1:41 P.M.: Michael Levin at Liberty Ballers is falling into full-on pre-draft panic mode:
As I start to sweat profusely in the hours leading up to it, I ask this: What if that superstar never comes along? Whether through injuries or poor scouting or never leaving Europe, our man doesn’t materialize. Staying flexible and focusing on development over short-term wins remains the best strategy, but it’s still dependent on getting that One Guy eventually, lest you become the 90s Clippers. At what point do they look around at the team, think “OK, we’re close enough” and make a push upwards? You don’t want to break too early, but I’m worried it’s not gonna be as clear-cut as the front office has been telling us (~oh, you’ll know when.~), and they’ll patience themselves out of an era of potentially good Sixers basketball in hopes of the perfectionist version we’ve all bought into.
1:32 P.M.: It’s all still a crapshoot.
1:02 P.M.:
Reports are coming out saying that the Lakers are leaning towards selecting D’Angelo Russell with their #2 pick. Well, maybe it’s just the one report that everyone is talking about, but they sure are talking about it loudly and confidently.
This was always a risk, and it could be a move to try to get the Sixers to make a deal with LA for their pick so they can get their protected first rounder back next year (2015’s third pick and next year’s Lakers pick for number two in this draft). But maybe the Lakers also just believe Russell is the better player. It’s the luck (or unluck) of the lottery.
And if that does happen, the Celtics could try to slide real hard into that number three spot to grab Jahlil Okafor. According to Brian Windhorst, the Celtics would assemble a mega package to try to pry the third pick away from the Sixers. By the looks of previous rumors, the proposal would likely involve Marcus Smart, two first-rounders this year, and maybe a couple of the Brooklyn Nets’ first round picks that Boston owns. And if that happens, you can bet on Hinkie trying to assemble those picks into a lottery pick in this year’s draft. Fun.
