Written by Ohk Youngmisuk at ESPN.com
After losing a total of 199 games over the past three seasons, thePhiladelphia 76ers finally were rewarded for their rebuilding/tanking plan.
With head coach Brett Brown representing the team, the Sixers landed the first overall pick in Tuesday night’s NBA draft lottery and the right to choose eitherLSU freshman forward Ben Simmons or Duke freshman forward Brandon Ingram, considered to be the top two prospects in the draft.
“The city has endured a lot over the past three seasons,” Brown said after the Sixers finished ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics in the top three. “I felt like we were doing the right things all along the way. We were never skipping steps. We put in good days. Our process was questioned. At times fair enough.”
Brown said the Sixers have not decided yet who they will pick to add to a young roster that already includes Jahlil Okafor and Joel Embiid, who were selected third overall in each of the past two seasons.
Entering the lottery, Philadelphia had a 26.9 percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick (their own 25 percent chance, plus Sacramento’s 1.9 percent chance, since the 76ers had the right to swap picks with theKings from a previous trade.)
“I never felt jinxed,” Brown said of the Sixers picking third overall the past two years and averaging 66 losses a season over the past three years. “I truly believed in what we were doing, and in many ways, I feel like we have been rewarded for the patience and perseverance, especially the city’s perseverance.”
No team moved up in the lottery, but the Lakers left New York City probably feeling a bit like lottery winners too. After finishing a dreadful 17-65, the Lakers still were in danger of having to surrender their first-round pick to Philadelphia if it landed outside the top three, due to the protections negotiated into the 2012 Steve Nash trade.
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