Sixers

Which One of These Tweets Is Dummer?

By Kyle Scott

Published: May 10th, 2018 · 9:55 AM EDT

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Welcome to the post-mortem, the day where second-guessing and I told you sos are aplenty.

First up, Kevin Callahan, of whom I’ve never heard. He knows. He knows the true path to winning an NBA championship started five years ago. The Process? No, not quite, peon. It required perfect drafting, duh. Behold, wisdom:

76ers would have won NBA title this year if in 2013 drafted Giannis Adetokunbo (The Greek Freak) instead Nerlens Noel, in 2015 drafted Devin Booker instead of Jahil Okafor & in 2018 drafted Jason Tatum instead of Markell’s Fultz-instead lost 4-1 to team without its best 2 guys

— Kevin Callahan (@CP_KCallahan) May 10, 2018

Balls.

Noteworthy: Adetokunbo* was drafted 15th in 2013, passed on by literally half of the association (Sixers twice, actually). The Cavs also drafted Anthony Bennett first overall, so IMAGINE HOW GOOD that team would’ve been the last five years had they been so omniscient on the Greek Freak.

Booker was drafted 13th in 2015– passed on by 12 teams. Callahan also missed the obvious Terry Rozier dig. He was drafted two picks later.

And the Tatum takes have been established and firmly placed in the public record.

This is the worst sort of sports journalism– second guessing draft picks five years later, especially when said picks were never really in the conversation in the first place. It wasn’t like the Sixers were wavering between Giannas and Nerlens or Booker and Okafor. We can nitpick those picks to do death, but that sort of best-talent-available drafting is also what allowed the Sixers to wind up with Embiid.

Don’t worry, it gets better, or worse, or something:

Not the same logic … when you tank games and you have the whole year to do nothing but scout college players you have to get the picks right – whiffed on three high lottery picks in last five years …Bust In Process …

— Kevin Callahan (@CP_KCallahan) May 10, 2018

This implies there are absolutes in the drafting process, that somehow there is the right answer waiting out there for some GM, and that with more time, they’ll be able to find it. While that notion is true to an extent, players develop differently. For every mid-round Giannis or Booker there are a dozen Sam Dekkers. I’m not here to debate drafting Okafor and Noel – obviously, good arguments can be made against it – but Callahan is living in some fantasy world where the Sixers stuck the landing on every pick for the last five years. Why stop there, Peter Pan? What if they drafted John Stockton in 1984? Or DeMarcus Cousins in 2010. Or Jimmy Butler in 2011. Or Draymond Green in 2012. This is a moron’s exercise that never ends.

*At first blush, it would appear that Callahan misspelled four of the six names in his Tweet. But hilariously, he actually got Giannis’ original Nigerian name (he looked it up, no doubt), while whiffing on relatively easy – but tricky! – Jayson Tatum, Jahlil Okafor and Markelle Fultz names. A symphony of ineptitude.

Jackass number two: Howard Eskin.

The 76ers had a +/- of -63 when Ben Simmons on the court this series, and +48 when he was on the bench.

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 10, 2018

This number explains a lot. Tried to tell fans during season and I got roasted. He needs to get better or the #sixers will not. https://t.co/hRbG4adZ71

— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) May 10, 2018

The rookie needs to improve for the team to truly contend for a title. Now that’s the sort of observation that will get you two hours of airtime on Saturday morning radio.