Everything You Need To Know About The 76ers And The 2015 NBA Draft

When is the NBA Draft?

The draft is Thursday! Please click the hyperlink, I beg you. Thursday is like today! Tonight's television coverage starts at 7:00 PM EDT on ESPN. Expect the draft to actually begin closer to 7:30. And expect Adrian Wojnarowski to spoil every draft selection on Twitter before NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announces it on television.

Who is Adrian Wojnarowski?

Think of Wojnarowski (Woj for short, pronounced Woah-(soft g)e) as the NBA's equivalent to ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter. Woj is a reporter for Yahoo Sports that reports almost everything newsworthy before it officially happens, due to his relentless relationship-building and the information-sharing network he's formed over years of covering the NBA as a journalist.

The NBA Draft can be spoiled if you pay attention to Twitter. If you want to feel the drama of the television broadcast, log off of twitter for the night. If you don't mind losing the television suspense as you anxiously refresh your twitter feed, then maybe set up text alerts or a single list with he and fellow reporters Marc Stein, Ken Berger, and Sam Amick.

How many draft parties are there this time? Didn't they have 76 last year?

Just one official party this time! The Sixers are hosting it at Dilworth Plaza in Center City, Philadelphia. We'll have at least one person on the ground there.

What picks do the Sixers have?

The 76ers are expected to enter the draft with six picks out of the sixty total, barring any trades before 2:00 PM EST today, which is the deadline for pre-draft trades involving picks.

Each NBA team receives two selections in advance, and through trades each may send another team one or more draft picks. Through multiple trades, the Sixers have acquired four additional second round picks. First round draft order is based on reverse order of record for non-playoff teams, following by reverse order of record for playoff teams., with a weighted lottery system determining the top 3 picks among all teams that missed the playoffs. The Sixers ended up with the third pick after the lottery was performed over a month ago. The second round is ordered on reverse order of record.

Ultimately, through all that activity, this is the result:

First Round: 3

Second Round: 35, 37, 47, 58, 60

Can the Sixers trade their draft picks on draft night?

Yes, though trades on draft night are not official until the picks are already selected as noted in the previous question, so something like this might happen, where a player is drafted by one team and traded the same night to another team.

Who is that?

That is Dario Saric, a first round pick the Sixers acquired last season from Orlando, wearing an Orlando Magic hat. The Sixers and Magic made a trade sending Saric to the Sixers on draft night. He can also be traded to any team which acquires his draft rights this year, if the Sixers choose to do that.

Why is the draft so important for teams and fans?

The Sixers, led by the team's president and general manager Sam Hinkie, have implemented a strategy to be as bad as they can possibly be short-term to draft young, talented players, with the hope that a major investment in the growth of these players may lead to long-term success. Though the path to contention has been uneven, a turn for the better in Joel Embiid's health saga and a great draft pick would go a long way to ensure that the process continues on track.

Do the Sixers really have BALLIN BEN FRANKLIN as a new logo?

Actually, YES THEY DO!

Who will the Sixers draft with all their draft picks?

Like every season, we have no idea. Between reports from Liberty Ballers writers and other media, the Sixers have been heavily linked to Emmanuel Mudiay, Kristaps Porzingis, Mario Hezonja, and D'Angelo Russell with their first round selection, four of the consensus top seven prospects in almost all projections. However, recent trade chatter might mean that the widely-projected second overall selection, Jahlil Okafor, may fall to the third pick, with Russell ascending in the draft order. So the pick can reasonably be any of those five.

Or they can trade down. Or up. Or pull a Minnesota Vikings and ask for a few more minutes. Nobody knows what will happen other than Woj five minutes before these things happen.

As for the second round picks, again, we have no idea.

Should I be disappointed if the Sixers don't draft D'Angelo Russell?

I can't tell you how you should feel, but there will be a lot of people questioning the team if they select someone other than D'Angelo Russell, if he happens to be available at 3. Russell has been the favorite for that draft slot since the NBA Draft Lottery concluded. Many fans will be upset if the Sixers select Mudiay or Porzingis instead.

Will the Sixers be using all of their draft picks?

Most likely, no. The NBA limits the team's roster size to 15, meaning that the Sixers, if they used all six picks and signed all to NBA contracts, would hit their max roster capacity. Instead, expect the Sixers to possibly package picks to move up in the draft. You may also see a trade where the Sixers trade a pick this year for a future pick or picks.

More likely than not, one or more of the second round picks will be used to draft a professional playing in Europe or elsewhere. Usually, these players are signed to international contracts and cannot come to the NBA immediately upon being drafted. However, when they choose to play professionally in America, the Sixers would have the exclusive rights to sign them. This allows the Sixers or an NBA team to "stash" the player overseas, retaining his rights for the future without having to pay him now.

Will the Sixers trade any of their current players?

Who knows? The Sixers have just nine players under contract for next season, six under the roster limit as of now, but that would not mean the roster should be ignored. Several players have contracts which could be easily added in trades for picks this year and in the future.

The team has a history of pulling off shocking trades, from the draft night swap which sent out Jrue Holiday and netted Nerlens Noel to the Michael Carter-Williams trade at the 2015 trade deadline, so anything can be and should be expected. The Sixers don't do well sitting idle.

Where can you find more information about the draft?

Anything we posted about the 2015 NBA Draft can be found in our 2015 NBA Draft Hub.

You can find the final Liberty Ballers big board ranking of the top 25 draft prospects here.

You can find the results of our first round mock draft in our StoryStream here.

And you if you want to hear draft talk instead, listen to episodes of the Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast, hosted by WIP programming director Spike Eskin and our own Michael Levin here.