NBA Draft 2012 Results: Philadelphia 76ers Blow a Golden Opportunity

A championship should be the goal, nothing else.

Sixers co-owner Adam Aron affirmed that sentiment with a tweet Thursday afternoon, just hours before the NBA draft.

"Correct!"

Well, then... how do you explain the draft the Philadelphia 76ers just had?

The Sixers blew two golden opportunities in under an hour during this year's NBA draft. First, when Andre Drummond slid past the No. 6 pick, the Sixers failed to trade Andre Iguodala to the Golden State Warriors for some combination of the No. 7 pick and a veteran player or two.

It's not like that exact deal had been rumored earlier this month... oh, wait (per Contra Costa Times).

Then, the Warriors took Harrison Barnes at No. 7 instead of Drummond—the Sixers had another five minutes and another chance to make something happen, this time with the Raptors.

It's not like a deal with Ed Davis—a veteran—and the No. 8 pick had been rumored earlier this month... oh, wai (per CBSSports.com).

You may have hated the idea of Drummond as a top-5 pick. Understandably so.

But with the No. 7? The No. 8?

It's not a reach by any means.

Assuming Drummond clears up the questions about his motor—no sure thing at this point—he could end up being one of the top three or four players from this year's draft class.

He's a monster shot-blocker, and with his 6'11," 270-pound frame, he's ready to step in and stand up against opposing NBA centers immediately.

The Sixers have no big men besides last year's first-round pick—Nikola Vucevic—signed beyond next season. They're likely to re-sign Lavoy Allen this summer, will hopefully let Spencer Hawes earn his $7 million a year elsewhere and could very well amnesty Elton Brand.

With that in mind, it wasn't worth gambling on a player whose upside has been compared to Dwight Howard and Amar'e Stoudemire in recent weeks?

Trading Iguodala could have cleared up the Sixers' logjam with wing players, allowing the Sixers to finally roll with Evan Turner for a full season to determine if he should be part of the team's long-term future.

They can't get dinged too hard for not trading Iguodala, though. They've been reluctant to pull the trigger on a trade for years, and only the most wildly optimistic or delusional (hi!) fan would have believed a trade was coming on draft night.

The real slap in the face came with their own pick at No. 15.

With the No. 15 pick, the Philadelphia 76ers select... Moe Harkless?

The Milwaukee Bucks made it tough on the Sixers by picking UNC's John Henson one selection before the Sixers, at No. 14 overall. One could only hope the Sixers would have grabbed Henson without thinking twice had he still been available.

Still, the Sixers had a plethora of big men/Elton Brand replacements to choose from. Perry Jones III. Terrence Jones. Jared Sullinger. Arnett Moultrie. Heck, even Tyler Zeller.

Instead, they picked Moe Harkless—the Big East Rookie of the Year.

The Sixers are sure lucky Cleveland drafted Dion Waiters with the fourth pick so another team could deflect some of the negative attention due to come their way.

It's not that Harkless is a bad player (same goes for Waiters.)

He's absolutely got the potential to be a solid NBA starter someday, once he fixes his jumper.

It's that Harkless would most likely have been available five picks later.

And—barring an Iguodala trade—it makes little sense, given the needs of the team.

Houston made no secret about its efforts to keep moving up in the draft this week. The Sixers and Rockets couldn't have found a creative way to swap the No. 15 and No. 18 picks?

With so many solid bigs on the point at this point, this pick baffles the mind. The aforementioned glut of Philly swingmen just added one more to the ranks, as Harkless won't be playing much power forward in the league.

Harkless isn't a great shooter and he's not a consistent defender. He's athletic and runs in transition well, but isn't that exactly what the Sixers already have in Thaddeus Young?

To leave Perry Jones and Sullinger on the board in favor of Harkless—again—can't be explained unless Iguodala is packing his bags at the moment.

Jones and Sullinger both carried risks, even before being red-flagged by doctors in the draft process. Multiple teams held concerns about Jones' motor and Sullinger's ability to play in the low post in the NBA for a reason.

But, with the 15th pick, you're at the point in the draft where you're looking to hit a home run, not a ground-rule double.

Jones and Sullinger could have been those home runs.

Don't just listen to me. Listen to CBSSports' Gary Parrish, who said as much about Sullinger in a blog post earlier today. Or Sports Illustrated's Michael Rosenberg, who said the same yesterday.

And for anyone still not aboard the Perry Jones bandwagon, Jonathan Tjarks of RealGM explains why you're making a mistake.

A Saving Grace?

The Sixers somewhat salvaged the night by trading up to get the Miami Heat's 27th overall pick—grabbing Moultrie, one of their original targets at the No. 15.

There's a lot to like about Moultrie. He turned in one of the fastest 3/4 court sprint times at the NBA draft combine, and he led the SEC in rebounding this past season (over the No. 1 pick, Anthony Davis) with 10.5 boards a game for Mississippi State.

He'll be more of a face-up four than a post player until he adds more bulk, but he does already have the ability to step out and consistently knock down a mid-range jumper.  

At 6'11," the Sixers get the size they desperately needed in the draft, and have said size locked up on a late first-round pick rookie contract for the next few years.

This trade wasn't necessarily a total wash for the Sixers, though. To obtain the rights to draft Moultrie, they traded away the No. 45 pick in this year's draft and a future first-rounder.

Until we find out the protections on the future first-round pick, it's possible that the Sixers didn't even "win" that trade.

If it's only lottery-protected next season and the Sixers don't improve their standing in the Eastern Conference by much, Miami could be landing a top-20 pick next season (granted, next year's draft likely won't have the depth of this year's).

The bottom line is: even after trading up to grab Moultrie late in the first-round, the Sixers left much to be desired on draft night.

If your ultimate goal is a championship, you need to take risks.

At this point, let's just hope passing up Perry Jones or Jared Sullinger doesn't come back to haunt the team in the next few years.

At this point, given the presence of Harkless, one can only assume an Iguodala trade is looming.

Will the Sixers be ready to finally take that risk?