Let the Ping Pong Balls Fall Where They May

The Philadelphia 76ers organization and fans have been waiting for this day to come for about a month now. This day I speak of is the "John Wall Sweepstakes" or more well-known as the NBA Draft Lottery.

The Draft Lottery is a day for all the losers in the NBA to have a chance to turn around their organizations by getting one of the top three picks in the 2010 NBA Draft.

Going into the day, the Sixers would select sixth overall, if the ping pong balls fell in order. But, the Sixers had a 5.3 percent chance to get the first pick, 6.03 percent chance to get the second pick, and 6.97 percent chance to get the third pick of the draft. In the worst case scenario, the Sixers would stay in the Top 10, by selecting ninth overall in the upcoming draft.

But this draft for the Sixers organization is the most important draft for the franchise since the 1996 NBA Draft, where the Sixers selected shooting guard Allen Iverson. "The Answer" was the face of the franchise for a decade and helped selling out arenas throughout the NBA. Even this past year, the Sixers decided to bring back Iverson, in an attempt to drive up attendance at the Wachovia Center. But that experiment failed as Iverson appeared in 25 games, averaging 31.9 mpg, 13.9 ppg and 4.1 apg. Iverson left the team in the middle of the year due to personal and family issues.

The 2010 NBA Draft includes a handful of prospects that would be able to contribute to a franchise but two prospects are considered franchise players. Those two players include the freshman phenom sensation, John Wall, and most pro-ready prospect, Evan Turner. Many Draft guru's have said that the winner of the NBA Draft Lottery would win the right to select Wall, the 6'4" point guard out of Kentucky over Turner, the 6'7" swingman out of Ohio St., as the first pick of the 2010 NBA Draft.

After getting a solid contribution from their rookie point guard Jrue Holiday last year, it would have made no sense for the Sixers to hope for the first pick in the draft. The only use for the first pick of the Draft would be to select Wall and hear possible trade requests for Wall's rights. This way the Sixers could somehow get a greater return but that still doesn't make much sense. Selecting second overall would benefit the franchise by selecting the much needed swingman Turner.

Imagine next year having Holiday and Turner in the backcourt along, for now, the new A.I. at the three. If Thaddeus Young bounces back from a right thumb fracture and the rest of the team decides to achieve to the best of their abilities, the Sixers will end up in an annually weak Eastern Conference next year.

But I might be jumping ahead of my assertion being that the Sixers currently don't have a head coach. The door hasn't been kicked down by any particular prospective head coach for the Sixers job. The reason being the team is filled with horribly large contracts held by underachieving players. President and General Manager Ed Stefanski tried to make a splash in the summer of 2008 by signing forward Elton Brand to a $82 million deal over five years. Stefanski also signed forward/guard Andre Iguodala to a $80 million deal over six years.

Luckily, the only bright spot, before getting the second overall pick in the upcoming draft, was the fact the Sixers do having a couple of expiring contracts this year. The Sixers could finally be able to move center Samuel Dalembert and his $12 million remaining on his contract. Other flexibility and possible players on the move could be guards Willie Green and Jason Kapono with their combined $12 million currently on the Sixers books.

The Sixers organization and fans might now be able to say they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The flexibility to move the expiring contracts of Dalembert, Green and Kapono contracts gives the Sixers the chance to improve their team and give some cap relief. This will be a rebuilding process, which should be centered around Holiday and Turner. But for a change Stefanski will have to select a coach that loves to run instead of a coach who loves to slow down the game and run a complicated offense like the Princeton offense. If Stefanski doesn't select the right coach, then you might as well show Stefanski the door.