NBA Mock Draft: Sixers Take Jabari Parker, Dario Saric

The NFL Draft started yesterday. WHATEVER, FOOTBALL NERDS. We're a week and a half out from the far sexier NBA Draft Lottery (come to Miller's Philly Ale House and watch it with us!) and June 26th isn't too far behind. Draft Express has finally released their first mock incorporating team needs. Now as it is still pre-Lotto, all of this is mostly worthless. But fun is fun, and hey, if the Eagles aren't taking Johnny Manziel for fun, we've gotta step up our fun game on their too-serious behalf.

With the Hypothetical Bucks taking Andrew Wiggins, Givony and Friends has the Sixers opting for Jabari Parker at the 2 spot, citing concerns about Joel Embiid's back and how it's enough already on their plate with a refurbished Nerlens Noel. No mention of Dante Exum. The line about Jabari being a good fit with Thaddeus Young confuses me on one particular end of the court you might've heard of.

I like Jabari just fine, the LB Board likes him at #3, and his selection would do the offense wonders going forward. Defensively is another story, but as long as they address it with the 10th pick...

Oh. Givony and Friends turn heel and have the Sixers taking Dario Saric out of the Adriatic League. First, some nice things about Saric. He absolutely dominated the last few months -- as documented here -- and has some of the highest upside out of anybody in the Draft, including the precious top four we put on a pedestal. But he's not defensive-minded and certainly not a good fit alongside Michael Carter-Williams and Jabari Parker already commanding the ball.

With Aaron Gordon still on the board and the Thad Young reasoning for the Jabari pick, Saric here makes the opposite of sense. Gary Harris still around, James Young and Nik Stauskas as well. Under no circumstances does a Thad-Jabari-Saric forward rotation work on any level, this year or big picture. If Gordon falls to 10 (past a surprising and, for me, uninspired Jusuf Nurkic to the Cavs at 9), you gotta thank your momma and scoop him up.

No, the Sixers aren't in a position to "draft for need" at this point in the rebuild. But that does not mean putting your team on autodraft and having Yahoo! pick for you. The pair of guys the Sixers end up with coming out of the Lottery need to be a cohesive, smart pairing. Jabari and Dario, as delightful as their names may be, is not a smart pairing. DX missed the mark here.

Just for more fun, and since we've got five of 'em, here's who DX has the Sixers taking with their second rounders.

32nd - Walter Tavares, C, Spain
*over Isaiah Austin*

39th - Deonte Burton, PG, Nevada
*just behind Spencer Dinwiddie*

47th - Jabari Brown, SG, Missouri

52nd - LaQuinton Ross, SF, Ohio State

54th - Josh Huestis, SF, Stanford

Love DX, respect the hell out of them, but if the Sixers came away from the draft with this group, I would be immensely disappointed.

I do not anticipate being disappointed come June.

Final non-Sixers note: Even though I'm quite low on him, having the Spurs end up with Zach LaVine at 30 is just wildly unfair.