Rumors, Rumors, Rumors!!!

With the lottery over and the official draft order now set, it’s now time to begin collecting and analyzing all the draft rumors surfacing around the Sixers. Tuesday night the Sixers received the 3^rd and 10^th overall picks in the first round of this year’s draft. Immediately rumors began to surface about all the possible draft picks that could be sporting a Sixers uniform next season. Fans and bloggers began to voice their opinions on certain players and what GM Sam Hinkie should do with the picks. Over the course of the last few days, we’ve heard some rumors that could potentially become a reality, and others that seem laughable and nearly impossible. Rumors are fun to read and they can get some buzz flowing around a fan base. So let’s get the rumor mill underway with a few potential rumors we should watch out for over the next few weeks.

First, I’m going to go way out on a limb here by saying what are the odds the Sixers make a draft day trade for Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star forward Kevin Love. Could you imagine that? In my opinion, Hinkie would have to trade the 3^rd overall pick, two of his five 2^nd round picks, and veteran forward Thad Young to acquire Love. This would be a lot to give up, but the reward would be much greater. The lineup next season would be as follows: PG- Michael Carter-Williams, SG- 10^th overall selection, SF- Free Agent signing, potentially another star, PF- Kevin Love, C- Nerlens Noel. That’s a playoff team people that could go deep into the Eastern Conference. The move would also help Minnesota. They would have the 3^rd overall pick, 13^th overall pick, a veteran player in Thad Young, and two 2^nd round picks that they can possibly package into another deal that would enable them to jump back into the first round. The chances of this happening are probably slim to none but don’t count it out.

Next, I want to take a close look at a possible MCW trade for Australian PG Dante Exum. Now, if you read my article a few days ago about this specific rumor, I said that this trade could very possibly come true if the Sixers received the 4^th or 5^th overall pick on Tuesday night. Even though the Sixers received the 3^rd overall pick I still feel that this trade could still happen. I’m not entirely sure how it would happen but if the Sixers are sitting at #3 with Parker and Wiggins off the board, and uncertainty and red flags all over the place when it comes to Embiid, where do they go? There have been recent reports saying if this is the case comes true, the Sixers could just draft Exum with the 3^rd pick and make him a Shooting Guard in the offense, while MCW still runs the point. I wouldn’t like to see this play out because both Exum and MCW have natural PG skills. They love to get to the rim and create shots off the dribble. I don’t know how well this would play out and with the opportunity to have another great draft I don’t feel like taking any chances. We have to be 100% sure the player we draft fits in our style of play and where we’re going in the future. If we take a chance on Exum, it could go good or it could be horrible, and we can’t afford to make a mistake. This is without a doubt something to watch for.

The final rumor swirling around the Sixers that could very possibly pan out is a trade with the Sacramento Kings. Here’s how things would go down. The Sixers would receive the 8^th overall pick in this year’s draft, while the Kings would acquire veteran forward Thad Young and two 2^nd round picks from the Sixers. The reason this rumor is being thrown around the most, is because the Kings attempted to trade for Thad Young last year during the draft. They’ve always like Thad and their owner came out yesterday virtually saying we are shopping the 8^th overall pick, and looking to receive a quality veteran in return. If this trade were to go down, the Sixers would then have the 3^rd, 8^th, and 10^th, overall picks in a draft full of possible NBA studs across the board. That’s three top-ten picks, which is insane and it would be fun to watch where the Sixers go if this were to happen.  This could be a serious possibility and we should definitely watch how these talks play out over the next few weeks.

Finally, let me finish this piece off by saying Sam Hinkie didn’t acquire all those 2^nd round picks for no reason. I firmly believe the Sixers will use a few of those picks to trade for a third 1^st round pick during the draft. Look for Hinkie and the Sixers to be very active and look for many more possible rumors surfacing around the team in the coming weeks. All we can do is sit back, watch, and invest all our faith into the mind of Sam Hinkie.   

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