What was Philly Thinking?
1-liner, NBA Draft June 29th. 2009, 3:00pmNBA Draft, Leftover Edition: The 76ers, a playoff team last season but in need of a point guard since it doesn’t want to pay an aging Andre Miller, took UCLA’s Jrue Holiday with the 17th selection. Holiday’s a fantastic athlete who struggled out of position for one year at UCLA. Immediately, the Nuggets traded up to the 18th pick to take a potential heir apparent to Chauncey Billups, UNC’s Ty Lawson. After Lawson, Atlanta scooped up Wake’s Jeff Teague, who’s a combo guard, but also was unstoppable at times in the ACC. Then the Jazz took Eric Maynor, the kid from VCU who beat Duke and nearly Pitt in the 2007 NCAA tournament. From 17-21, four teams who made the playoffs took point guards. Three of them had two or more years of experience. Of those four teams, Philly that might have benefitted most from taking an experienced point guard (in the East, healthy Elton Brand). The 76ers took the ‘upside’ guy. Brick.
25 Responses to “What was Philly Thinking?”
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June 29th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
You don’t need a point guard to compete for a title.
/bbryan
June 29th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
They took Holiday because they thought he was the best defender out of the bunch.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Philly that might have benefitted most from taking an experienced point guard (in the East, healthy Elton Brand)
drinking that Killadelphia Kool Aid already?
June 29th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
yahoo is reporting yao will be out all of next season and beyond.
fuck you china!
June 29th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Yahoo reporting that Yao’s out for this season and possibly beyond. Sorry if it’s already been posted
June 29th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Yao out for the season. I didn’t refresh before I post this, so if someone’s on it. My bad.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
lol 3 in a roll
June 29th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Yao is done for the 09-10 season.
And calling the 76ers selection of Jrue a brick is absurd.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
And, TBL, to answer your question, “What was Philly thinking,” allow me to answer: they were thinking, “holy crap, Jrue Holiday just fell into our laps!” I am no kool-aid drinker when it comes to my team, and think that the boys in charge have made a lot of mistakes in the past few years, but I’m thinking they got this one right, and the media —both locally and nationally— seem to agree, as does the Philly fanbase.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
No I said you don’t need a great one. Just a servicable one.
Would you agree these are the top 5 point guards of the last 20 years?
Nash
Kidd
Payton
Stockton
Thomas
That’s 2 championships.
You need a great big man and/or a great scorer.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I’m just messing with you bbryan
June 29th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Man I hope Rubio makes it over the pond for next year so our bet doesn’t get called off.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Actually 3 if you count the title Payton won with Miami.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
That’s cool Ruckmaker, I should have noticed I was getting teased.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Damnit I stand corrected. He wasn’t exactly the reason they won, but still I hate throwing out incorrect stats.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I like Morey, but I don’t like rebuilding. Being a Houston fan really can suck…
June 29th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Poor Yao. He had really gotten so good.
I’ll bet the fucking Chinese national team still makes him play.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
One of the worst 3 point shooting teams in the league took a guard who can’t shoot and averaged more turnovers than assists last year based on potential. Maynor is going to be a better pro.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Fantastic, in fact their “news” just reported that he’s 100% healthy and extremely grateful for the opportunity to play for the national team.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Hate to be that guy, but Teague went to Wake Forest, not Georgia Tech.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Are you referring to Holiday?
June 29th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Yeah I just saw that too. I was too busy in football wonderland to read this post, until just now.
June 29th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
That Holiday is a heck of an athlete (by heck of an athlete I mean he has the same vertical and virtually the same speed as Tyler Hansbrough)
June 29th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Jay, buddy … how is this the right pick? He DIDN’T RUN A COLLEGE TEAM and now he’s going to step in and run a pro team? Russ Westbrook this aint.
If the 76ers take Lawson/Maynor, the either could possibly start. but then again, im anti-holiday, have been since he put his name in the draft
June 29th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
I saw enough of him to know he can play… and I don’t think Maynor or Lawson are going to make good pros. I would have been fine with Teague.
It’s all a matter of opinion, but like I said, more people seem to be leaning my way on this.