OKC Thunder: 10 young cores who offer templates for rebuilding

OKC Thunder won’t replicate ‘The Process’:

The 76ers owned the process and purposely tanked finally obtaining two top 15 talents which allowed them to add supplementary assets and return to the postseason.

Sam Hinkie and the Sixers made no bones about actively tanking and it became such a sore spot for the association they revamped the way the lottery was undertaken. Instead of being able to simply lose on purpose to essentially cement the top draft pick, now the bottom three teams stand an equal 14 percent chance at the top draft pick.

In the first season of the revamped lottery, the NBA got precisely what they wanted as the top three teams didn’t get the coveted first pick. Instead, it went to the Pelicans who won the Zion Williamson sweepstakes.  Entering the lottery the Knicks, Suns, and Cavaliers held the 14 percent shots to land the top pick but ended up third, sixth and fifth respectively. The Grizzlies and Lakers were projected to get the eighth and 11th picks but nabbed the second and fourth spots.

Philly, fortunately, got their superstars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons prior to the NBA reformatting the lottery. Yet the truth is (as you’ll see later) having a solid draft scouting group is essential since no draft pick is a sure thing. Being able to assess talent properly is almost a science mixed in with a good deal of luck.

Similar to the picks the Magic made, the 76ers also whiffed on a few picks or added players that didn’t pan out. The selection of Embiid in 2014 was spot on, but then followed up in 2015 with Jahlil Okafor in the draft that left all the players noted above in the Orlando segment (like Booker).

Fortunately for Thunder fans, “the process” is now obsolete — I mean who wants to spend five straight years mired in lottery purgatory?