Dei Lynam Believes Draft Night Was Just The Beginning For Daryl Morey

Contributor- Ryan Straub

It is safe to say that this offseason will be very interesting for the Sixers, with President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey holding the reigns to a surplus of options that will help round out the roster come late October. Morey and the Sixers have the ability to create more than $60 Million in cap space, which can be used to sign a high-profile player like Paul George, Jimmy Butler, or LeBron James in free agency to side with the likes of Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.

But first up on the offseason agenda was the NBA Draft, held last night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Sixers used their only first-round pick to take guard Jared McCain out of Duke. McCain, standing at 6’2 197 pounds, averaged 14.3 points per game and shot an impressive 41% from three during his only season with the Blue Devils, even rising to 50% during the NCAA tournament in which they advanced to the Elite Eight.

On the defensive end of the floor, McCain makes up for his lack of size by being a tough and gritty perimeter defender who often took the task of guarding the opposition's best player. Whether he will be able to defend at an NBA level is still to be determined.

While McCain, only 20 years old, certainly has a lot of upside, questions are being raised about Daryl Morey’s ideals regarding this selection. He has been quoted many times saying that younger players don’t necessarily help you win an NBA championship right away. On the board was Dalton Knecht, the 6’6 wing out of Tennessee who is 23 and can also shoot the lights out. Perhaps Morey went against his own better judgment when selecting McCain?

Dei Lynam thinks that this offseason is just getting started and that the draft was just step 1 for Morey: “I do believe he has a grand plan. I do think that. McCain was the best available at the time they picked [...] I take Daryl at his word that he became a better defender. I’d like to see that because we all know that’s one of the big things here. You know, you got to be able to keep the guy in front of you. You got to be able to, you know, guard the pick and roll and know what you’re doing. So, yeah, an interesting player with, you know, obviously a lot of personality.”

When asked if her optimism level for the upcoming season lessened in any way after the McCain selection, she said “No, because I actually did not think his biggest work was going to be done on draft night.”

In regards to what exactly this “biggest work” might be, Lynam suggests: “Yeah, I really believe it’s either going to be, you know, in the free agency window, but some kind of sign and trade. And last night was always just going to be a part of getting a piece that somebody else could use and you getting, you know, throwing that in for your deal. [...] Now, who’s the top name that we hear the most? Jimmy Butler, because he’s already been vocal about being unhappy. So that would be my hunch more than the others”

The NBA Draft concludes tonight, with Free Agency officially beginning on June 30th at 6:00 pm. 

Who are the greatest homegrown Sixers players ever? I am not talking about guys born in Philly. We already made that list. I am talking about guys who were drafted by the Sixers, or at the very least made their pro debut in a Sixers jersey.We already did the experiment with the Phillies, now let's put together the All-Time Roster of homegrown Sixers players.

It gets complicated for them because some of their best players didn't get their starts here. Wilt Chamberlain, Dr. J, and Moses Malone, all got their pro basketball starts in other cities. So before you comment under the article and yell at me for leaving guys out, they weren't even eligible.

You had to be drafted here, or at least made your Pro debut in a 76ers jersey. Julius Erving may have played his first NBA minutes here, but he played in the ABA before that, so he can't make the list.

People who started with the Syracuse Nationals count. It is a different name and city, but the same organization. On the other hand, the Philadelphia Warriors do not count. Wilt played his first pro minutes in the city of Philadelphia but for a different organization. So the guy many would call the greatest Sixers player ever was not eligible for the list.

So who made the list? Who is the best center they ever drafted? The best point guard? Small Forward? Who would fill out their bench? We put together a roster of the best homegrown players in Sixers history. Find out who made it below.

Who else was it going to be? Ben Simmons? Hell no. Jrue Holiday? Love him, but Mo accomplished more here. Mo was an elite defender, was part of the last Sixers team to win a championship, and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Also unrelated to what he did as a player, he will always be a legend for stepping in and helping this girl who was struggling with the National Anthem.

I mean, duh. There are other great SG options, one of which we will get to. But AI defined a generation of basketball in Philly. Check that, he kind of defined a generation of Basketball period. He may not have won any rings, but he was as influential as anyone in his era.

AI carried the Sixers on his back to their one NBA Finals appearance since the 1980s. That team around him was not a Finals worthy roster. There were nice pieces, but without AI they wouldn't be competitive.

AI has a special place in this city. I saw the ovation he got when he came to Fan Fest and saw the emotional reaction it sparked in him. His time here was not without controversy, but AI will always be a legend in Philly.

A member of the 1967 championship team. Cunningham was drafted by the Sixers in 1965 and became a scoring machine for them. He was the first player in franchise history to score 50 in a playoff game.

He took a two-season break to play for Carolina in the ABA but then returned to Philly for the final two years of his career. Cunningham is in the Hall of Fame, made 4 All-NBA teams, and averaged a double-double across his career. He needed to appear on this list somewhere.

Most wasted Sixers career has a lot of competition. Allen Iverson is up there. Embiid is in danger of being there. But Charles Barkley also has a very strong case.

Barkley is a Hall of Famer but never won anything here. Then they traded him for peanuts. But when he was here, he was must watch TV. Between shattering backboards, filling up the scoreboard, and being an elite rebounder, Barkley deserved better than he got here.

Thankfully he doesn't hold it against the city. Barkley still loves the city, and will still be in and around it during his downtime.

Thankfully Wilt did not start his career here, so we don't need to start this debate. Joel is the most talented Sixers player ever, let alone being the most talented center. He is currently first in NBA history in points per minute. Add on elite defense, you get one hell of a player.

Obviously, he needs to do more come playoff time. But if you can’t appreciate how amazing Joel Embiid is, you just don't appreciate great basketball. Embiid will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer one day and will undoubtedly go down as a top 5 Sixer, if not the greatest Sixer of all time.

When he was drafted, they were still the Syracuse Nationals. But that counts. You could argue he belongs in the starter spot over AI. Greer spent his whole career here, won a Championship, and made the All-NBA team 7 times.

Even though he played his last game here 50 years ago, he still leads the franchise is games, minutes, and points. But I went with AI still, call it recency bias, or my personal bias because AI was the guy who got me into Basketball. But I had to put AI in the starting lineup.

He had one of the best nicknames ever. Chocolate Thunder, given to him by Stevie Wonder. He got the nickname because of his knack for booming dunks. The NBA literally changed the way they make their rims and backboards because he kept shattering backboards.

Iggy gets a bad rap. He was expected to be the guy here and never was. But we saw him go on and be an important piece of winning teams. That is what he is. Had the Sixers put star power around him, and he was the 3rd or 4th guy, Philly would have loved him. But from the start here he had expectations thrust onto him that he was never going to live up to.