2014 NBA redraft has Sixers taking Julius Randle with Joel Embiid gone
The 2014 NBA draft was an important one for the Philadelphia 76ers. In the middle of their rebuild and looking for a guy to build their team around and to lead them to success, the Sixers had the No. 3 pick in that draft.
Joel Embiid fell into their laps because he was dealing with injury issues while coming out of Kansas that scared off the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Milwaukee Bucks. Since then, Embiid has morphed into one of the elite players in the league and has established himself as a perennial MVP candidate.
Due to Embiid’s prolific scoring and what he has accomplished thus far, HoopsHype did a redraft of 2014 and has Embiid going No. 2 to the Bucks. Nikola Jokic goes No. 1 to Cleveland. It has the Sixers taking Julius Randle, who went No. 7 to the Los Angeles Lakers in this draft.
HoopsHype on Randle to Philadelphia at No. 3:
Despite a standout lone season at Kentucky, Julius Randle still took a slight tumble on draft night to No. 7 due to a perceived lack of outside shooting and his unwillingness to pass the ball in college. Few could have imagined how Randle would have blossomed in the NBA, as he’s actually now a plus-playmaker out of the frontcourt, a respectable outside shooter and an All-Star-level power forward overall.
Life would likely be far different for the Sixers had they taken Randle instead of Embiid. While Randle is a fine player and he is an All-Star, he is not quite the level of Embiid and that would have hurt Philadelphia’s rebuilding plans.
